It's the law
Under EU legalisation, any public sector website must be "fully accessible to persons with disabilities".
Non-compliance with accessibility guidelines can result in a loss of funding or even legal action, with fines of up to 100 thousand euro possible.
The regulation also applies to other types of content, including Word, PowerPoint and PDFs.
It's inclusive
Globally, over 1.6 billion people live with a disability.
Over 1.1 million people in Ireland are experiencing at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty - that's one in five people. So more than likely at least one person in your family, friend group or team at work have an additional need.
The most common types of disability reported in Census 2022 were blindness or vision impairment.
In UL alone, over 1,000 students use disability services.
It’s really important to remember that a lot of the time, disabilities are invisible.
With this all in mind, you can just imagine how many people with an additional need use the UL website every day.
It makes websites easier to use for everyone
A website that is clear, easy-to-use and meets all accessibility requirements benefits every single user, regardless of their ability.
It doesn’t limit what you can create on a website, and it doesn’t automatically make your website boring. These are both really common misconceptions when it comes to digital accessibility.
Accessible content is easy to navigate, easy to read and easy to understand. It means that the user doesn’t have to ‘work it out’, and it reduces their mental load. Basically, it makes sites as easy as possible to use.
It's the right thing to do
Nobody should be excluded from information surrounding UL just because of their additional needs.
The University has a certain level of responsibility to society, and excluding such a large cohort of people simply goes against our key values.
Digital accessibility is also a basic human right according to the United Nations.
It just makes sense
The global spending power of those with additional needs is 11.5 trillion euro, so from a business perspective it simply makes sense to create accessible content.
Accessible websites have better search engine optimisation (SEO) results, meaning more site visits and a wider audience reach.
Users are more likely to stay on and return to a site that is easy to navigate, has clear content, and functions well across different devices.
It’s sustainable
Websites that are easier to use mean that people spend less time wandering around and getting lost trying to find the information they need.
Each time you load a webpage, perform a search , or do anything that requires an active internet connection, you set in motion a series of events (or requests) that result in another computer doing some kind of work in to serve you the information you seek.
These ‘servers’ are generally referred to as the cloud, and these clouds have a real environmental impact. They don’t float harmlessly above us, but on the contrary, require land and lots of power and water.
Basically, the longer someone spends online, the more CO2 is emitted.
We're proud of our accessibility rankings
Finally, the UL Web Team have worked really hard to ensure that UL.ie meets all accessibility requirements.
Currently, UL.ie is one of the best higher institution websites in Ireland when it comes to accessibility. And of course, we'd like to keep it this way.
However, with over 50,000 pages on the website across 150 different sub-sites, we also rely on our community of editors to advocate and lead by example when it comes to accessibility.
This is why we all need to be on the same page, and work together to become web accessibility advocates.
