Ability Net Claim Insurer Websites Discriminate Against the Disabled

Some insurers are leaving themselves open to potential lawsuits by not making their websites easily accessible to the disabled.

As annoying as trying to fill out all the online forms to get an insurance quote is, for some disabled people it goes beyond mere annoyance, and they can find themselves unable to complete the forms.

The Equality Act 2010 was introduced to help reduce this kind of accidental discrimination, under the ruling of providing a service, via websites. However, it is claimed that the majority of insurance companies are in breach of these regulations.

The disability and computing charity Ability Net have found issues with a lot of the major insurance providers. The head of Ability Net’s digital inclusion, Robin Christopherson, who himself is blind, has said that “none of these insurers, with the possible exception of Direct Line, are making it easy for a wide range of people to order online.”

Also reviewed were the companies Aviva, Axa, Hiscox, NFU Mutual and Zurich.

He added that the websites are not only under risk of being sued, but also losing out on a vast amount of custom, as people who simply cannot access their websites are going to go elsewhere.

The charity judged the major insurance dealers on three criteria, and found none of them to be perfect. However, Direct Line came out the best, according to Ability Net’s Accessibility Performance Index, as they found no issues with their Accessibility Help. However, the User Testing and Technical Compliance criteria received no ‘green lights’ for any of the companies.

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