Only five governmental websites of Ukraine are accessible for people with visual impairments

WATCH IN ENGLISH

Out of 25 official websites of Executive power bodies of Ukraine, only five are completely accessible to people with visual impairments. These are the results of the websites’ testing on the subject of web accessibility. The most accessible are the websites of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Information Policy, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Justice. This was reported by Dmytro Popov, head of the volunteer project “Web-Accessibility Detector,” during a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

“The least accessible are the websites of the Government Portal, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Healthcare, and the National Commission for State Energy and Public Utilities Regulation,” added Olena Oliynyk, Chairman of the All-Ukrainian Integration Movement “Believe in Ukraine”.

“There are websites that have had problems, but responded to our comments very quickly, made adjustments promptly, and have now become more accessible,” said Dmytro Popov. These are the websites of the Verkhovna Rada, the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Healthcare, and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.

“When there is no access to information, you are completely isolated. […] When you go on certain websites, you cannot get complete information there. There is no so-called websites’ culture because each website needs different adjustments,” said Ruslan Rubel, director of Resource Centre “Ukraine without Barriers”.

“I noticed, that there is a tendency – the newer a website, the more accessible it is,” Dmytro Popov said. “You can make any website accessible by simply making it of high quality,” he added.

A quick guide on making websites more accessible is available at accessibility.in.ua.