2 Why we need to produce accessible spreadsheets
The GSS Best Practice and Impact Division team have outlined three reasons why accessibility is important and why we need to follow it.
“The needs of different types of users and potential users should be considered when determining ways of presenting and releasing the statistics and data”
“The needs of people with disabilities must be considered. Statistics and data should be released using accessible communication formats and means which should work with the most commonly-used assistive technologies”
the UK legislation Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 states: “public sector bodies must comply with the accessibility requirement”, where ‘accessibility requirement’ means the requirement to make a website or mobile application accessible by making it perceivable, operable, understandable and robust – this aligns with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at the AA standard.
The Equality Act 2010 (or the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland) states that all UK service providers must consider ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled people.