I was recently given the opportunity to contribute to a debate about what new guidelines should be put forward with respect to web accessibility. I suggest that it was not new guidelines that were required, but implementation of the old guidelines.
As I recently wrote:
3. The EU needs to ensure its own sites are compliant with dyslexia guidelines.
The page entitled Focus eAccessibility (http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/accessibility/index_en.htm) is not a good example for designers. The page is too cluttered, and does not have any buttons for accessibility. If you use the menus, you can change background colours, but the clarity of navigation decreases. The EU and other recognized bodies, such as government departments and the WAI, should practise what they preach. (Dyslexia in the Digital Age, Smythe, 2010)
The trouble is that the people who ask for such advice do not have the power to implement it. What makes it worse is that those supposedly working for the good of the dyslexia community fail to provide adequate exemplars that could be a reference source for those catering for all and not just dyslexic individuals.
Perhaps what we needs is some form of Award for Dyslexia Friendly (Websites and Design) - The DyFrA's.
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