IT accessibility-gap for disabled widens, says British Computer Society

Britain's eight million+ disabled sector is being left behind by the quickening pace of technological development. According to the British Computer Society, mobile phones, i-pods, microwave cookers and websites are singled out as seriously failing the disabled user, especially the visually impaired.

Chris Mairs, a spokesperson for the British Computer Society's disability specialist group said that the UK's ageing population will mean a significant proportion of people will eventually be classified as disabled, particularly with some degree of visual impairment.

The sector represents an annual spend of £50 billion, a figure growing annually by over ten percent and a failure to cater for this market represents a major oversight by British business.

"Whilst modern technology has bought great benefits to many visually disabled people, giving them control over their lives and access to things they might otherwise be denied, advances also threaten to alienate them by making some equipment too complex to be of use," said Chris Mairs.

"Voice technology has really opened up the world to the visually impaired. We have talking newspapers, easy access to online music with speech synthesized catalogues, email reading and writing and a speech interface with GPS. On the other hand, other inventions which are heavy on technology have disenfranchised the disabled. For example, microwave cookers, mobile phones, iPods and most web sites are all particularly difficult to use if you have a visual impairment."