| A summary of the seminal case relating to | | | | The Human Rights Committee did not agree that the |
| Inaccessible Websites and Disability Discrimination | | | | site was only promotional and said that it was a |
| Legislation | | | | service provided during the Sydney Olympic Games. |
| In June 1999 Bruce Maguire lodged a complaint with | | | | The Commission found that having to access pages |
| the Human Rights & Equal Opportunities | | | | by typing in a long URL did not constitute equal |
| Commission under the Australian Disability | | | | treatment, |
| Discrimination Act. His complaint was that he was | | | | "The proposed alternative is both unorthodox and |
| being discriminated against because he could not | | | | cumbersome and need not be resorted to by a |
| access the contents of the Olympic Games website. | | | | sighted person." |
| As a highly skilled user of a refreshable Braille display | | | | Expert witnesses dismissed the arguments related to |
| he was used to being able to access the content of | | | | the site being too big to change; i.e., they refuted the |
| web pages, however, he was unable to access | | | | claim that the cost, complexity and time involved |
| important content on the Olympic Games website. | | | | would mean unjustifiable hardship for SOCOG. |
| He won the case, but the Olympic Committee did | | | | Expert witnesses concluded that, |
| not make the required changes, and subsequently he | | | | - Changes would take a developer with 4-10 helpers |
| was awarded $20,000 dollars in compensation. | | | | four weeks. |
| The Olympic Games website contained the following | | | | - Only 394 templates would be required. |
| accessibility issues: | | | | - No new infrastructure would be required. |
| - There were no labels on images or imagemaps. | | | | - The cost of making the site accessible would be |
| - There was no access to the index of sport pages | | | | modest. |
| from the schedule page | | | | - Accessibility tags are not different from other tags, |
| - The contents of the results table were inaccessible. | | | | therefore, would not take any longer to add. |
| The Olympic Committee defence | | | | Expert witness Tom Worthington, expressed the |
| SOCOG said that: | | | | view that the corrections would take less time than |
| - The issues with the alt attributes had been solved - | | | | the time which was consumed talking about it. |
| and that labels had been added to all images. | | | | SOCOG lost the case and were ordered to make |
| - The sports pages could be accessed via an | | | | changes by adding alt attributes, providing access to |
| alternative route, i.e., by typing in URLs to the pages. | | | | the Sports pages and making the results tables |
| - The site was not subject to the act because it was | | | | accessible. They refused to comply and were fined |
| 'promotional'. | | | | $20,000 (Australian dollars). |
| - The site was too big and to make the website | | | | The Commission found that Bruce Maguire had been |
| accessible would entail 'unjustifiable hardship'. | | | | discriminated against and that the attitude of SOCOG |
| - It would require additional infrastructure, time and | | | | - who had not taken the complaint seriously - had |
| resources costing $2.2 million. | | | | caused 'considerable feelings of hurt, humiliation and |
| - 1, 295 templates would need to be altered. | | | | rejection'. |
| - One person working 8 hours per day would take | | | | The Maguire v the Sydney Organising Committee for |
| over a year to fix the problems. | | | | the Olympic Games set a worldwide precedent |
| SOCAG reasons were not accepted | | | | relating to the requirement for websites to be |
| All of the above reasons where conclusively | | | | accessible in countries with similar disability |
| repudiated by Australian Authorities and expert | | | | discrimination legislation. |
| witnesses. | | | | |