Global e-government Web Accessibility: An Empirical Examination of EU, Asian and African Sites

Accessibility of government Web sites is an important factor for inclusion of disabled persons to be able to fully utilize a variety of government services and information. In this paper, we examine the levels of disability accessibility for a variety of e-government sites in the European Union (EU), Asia and Africa. The study was conducted in 2008, and the results showed that the vast majority of sites in both developed and underdeveloped countries did not meet either legal requirements or industry guidelines in providing fully accessible government sites. Sites located in countries with stronger disabilities laws did score better in the compliance levels. Through comparison of the results, it is concluded that for governments to meet the needs of their disabled constituents, they need to implement a multiphase approach to site development, including stronger legal mandates and establishing localized best practice guidelines.

Keywords: Accessibility, Disability, e-government, WCAG, W3C