While French law requires digital public services to be fully accessible to people with disabilities, the government is still lagging behind. As the end of the 2022 tax return approaches, the Federation of the Blind in France denounces the lack of accessibility of the tax site, which is therefore partially inaccessible for some French citizens. In France, 1.7 million people are affected by a vision disorder.
The site’s captcha, for example, does not offer a non-visual alternative. ” A visually impaired person is unable to declare their taxes on their own, which is the first act of citizenship says Anne Renoud, president of the Federation.
In its press release, the association points the finger at the lack of accessibility of the sites of public institutions and gives some statistics. Out of 72 sites, only 28 have a home page that complies with the RGAA regulations. Less than 11% of them declare a level Fully Compliant “. In other words, 3 sites out of 72 are actually navigable for people with disabilities. They risk finding themselves out of the nails for certain procedures because of these lacks of accessibility.
But state sites are not the only ones to be singled out. In 2021, the apiDV association challenged the Secretary of State on the massive use of the Pronote school life management software. This is used in schools by teachers as well as by parents and students. The association considers it “unusable” for people with visual impairments.
And things are not better in the private sector: the association also denounced the sites of Fnac or LVMH, which it is impossible to use under correct conditions. This hindrance can be likened to a refusal to sell. According to the Federation, only 10% of websites are accessible to blind and visually impaired people.
