The Surfer and The Accessibility Statement

Monday 11 April, 2005 (11:22AM GMT)

Once upon a time, a disabled web user surfed his way to a web site.

On that web site was a tantalising link that simply said "Accessibility Statement."

"Oooo... intriguing" said The Surfer, "I will follow that link."

And lo, The Surfer did follow the link, and he was transported to a magical new page filled to the brim with a wealth of information.

The Accessibility Statement page was a grand place indeed. It explained in detail the special considerations made for disabled web users. It was all very interesting. It even listed the "accesskeys" specific to that site, so that important links could be selected quickly and easily. The Surfer promptly made a note of them so that he could use them on the rest of the site.

And at the bottom of this wonderful page were two lovely 88 by 32 pixel images, one that said "AAA" along with lots of other very official looking letters, and one that said "Bobby approved", which instilled much confidence by presenting the friendly face of an English policeman.

"How absolutely great, morally virtuous and downright clever the makers of this web site are" thought The Surfer.

The Surfer was positively jubilant and left the page to go on his merry way to use the rest of the web site, full of confidence that he now knew how best to use it.

And for the next hour or so The Surfer did visit many tens of web sites and whenever he came across an accessibility statement, he made sure he read it carefully and made a note of how best to use each web site.

The next day, The Surfer was telling his friend all about this fantastically helpful aid he had found. "Wow" said his able-bodied web surfer friend "If only every web site had general instructions explaining in detail how to use them. That would be so bloody useful."