Australian Web Awards Recognise Importance of Accessibility

The Australian Web Awards aim to recognise the importance of accessibility in web design and development, and are presented by Media Access Australia – a Not for Profit organisation that works to increase access to media for people with disabilities.

The Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s main website was recognised for having the best overall accessibility at the Australian Web Awards.

Robyn Cummins, Manager of the Communication Design Team at Cerebral Palsy Alliance, said there is a growing recognition of the importance of web accessibility in Australia.

"With one in five Australians with a disability and a rapidly ageing population, it should be on every organisation's agenda,” said Cummins.

The Cerebral Palsy Alliance website was built to meet the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0 AA).

“There are so many small things that you can do that make a big difference for someone with a mobility or vision impairment. At the end of the day, good usability and accessibility benefits everyone” said Cummins.

Media Access Australia said the Alliance has produced a website which is rich in a variety of content – Audio-visual content is made accessible to Deaf and hearing impaired users through closed captions.

However, Media Access Australia said the site’s videos are yet to include audio description for people who are blind or vision impaired, proving that even the best websites can be improved.  Cummins said this is next on their agenda.

Media Access Australia’s manager of digital media, Sarah Pulis commended the Alliance for their efforts.

“The Cerebral Palsy Alliance is a good example of a website that not only meets WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility standards, and also has an engaging design. It is important that organisations and companies realise that you don’t have to compromise on the look and feel of a website for it to be accessible.”

The Australian Web Awards also gave commendation to the LEARN Foundation for Autism and Karen Williams, Candidate for Mayor.