The role of tool support in public policies and accessibility

It has been years since the appearance of the first automated accessibility validators, but their adoption has not been fully addressed in public policies. Even if they do not provide a complete analysis of accessibility and can sometimes provide confusing results, accessibility validators can significantly reduce the time and effort to evaluate websites, making the validation process more efficient, consistent, and reliable. Public policy stakeholders should consider the progress in this field of research for at least three reasons. First, according to several national laws on Web accessibility, public officials are obliged to ensure accessibility in online communications. Further, pushed by the recent economic crisis, many public authorities are moving their services to the Web to speed up processes, reduce costs, and optimize document management. It is important that these e-government services be accessible. Finally, for ethical reasons, public administrations have the duty to support all citizens, giving everyone the same quality of services. Automated accessibility testing tools can play an important role in making public websites more accessible.