Findings
The general level of accessibility of the home pages reviewed was very poor with only 43% achieving even the most basic level of accessibility (priority 1) or higher. However, there was a very obvious divide between the Universities and the Colleges. Only 35% of colleges achieved priority 1 or higher, compared with 55% of Universities.
In many cases sites could easily be made compliant with the simple addition of ALT tags. However, there were also a considerable number of more serious problems. One particularly prevalent problem was the use of JavaScript which in many cases prevented users without JavaScript (currently about 5% of those using the web) from accessing important information on the site, and in some cases prevented users from accessing the site at all.
Another disturbing trend is the number of sites which rely solely on an alternative accessible version. 13% of sites provided a separate accessible site without ensuring that the "main home page" met even the most basic level of accessibility. Organisations such as the RNIB warn against such an approach saying:
"we recommend against providing a text only version as much as possible, simply because being treated differently can reinforce the feeling of marginalisation that someone with a disability experiences."