The duty to provide accessibility is an ex ante duty, which means that it has to be provided before a person with a disability wants to use exercise his or her right, for example to enjoy access to a building, service or product, on an equal basis with others. UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, General comment No. 6 (2018) on equality and non-discrimination
New products and services are delivered in response to high level business needs. They are normally very high level, for example:
- "We need to establish an online student portal."
- "The student portal should contain links to information of key importance to students."
Business requirements are normally divided into two categories, functional and non-functional. Accessibility can either be categorized as a functional or non-functional requirement, although most often it is regarded as non-functional.
Functional requirements detail how the business requirements will be delivered. For example:
"The student portal will contain display a list of links to student subjects."
Non-functional requirements detail the qualities that are expected of the product or service. They can be thought of as implicit requirements, things that the users of the product or service expect, such as usability, security, privacy and accessibility. For example:
"Ensure that the portal can be accessed by all students, including those with disabilities."
The Importance of Accessibility Increases Over Time
Because functional requirements relate to why a product or service should exist, they are often the catalyst for projects. But as a project moves towards delivery, functional requirements become less important, in relative terms, because they have already been detailed as part of the Request for Proposal process.
Because non-functional requirements relate more to how a product or service will be used, they become more relevant as projects progress. We have a new service, but can people use it?
The Role of Procurement
Procurement plays a key role in converting business requirements into delivered services. Experienced procurement officers and project managers know that the ability of users to access services is a fundamental success criteria for any project.
For assistance or to report accessibility problems please contact:
Web Accessibility Lead
Phone: +61 3 9035 4867