As we stated in Chapter 8, Build your Product, the 1948 ANSI Barrier Free Standard (ANSI A117.1, Making Buildings Accessible to and Usable by the Physically Handicapped), which specified minimum requirements for barrier-free access to facilities for the physically disabled, could be called the beginning of accessibility guidelines.
However, current standards, including WCAG and WAI-ARIA, are just guidelines. They are not laws, so there are no legal consequences to not following them. This is beginning to change in many countries. Increasingly, countries are implementing legislation about accessibility of digital products. This is often based on applying existing human rights laws to the digital space, and often refers explicitly to the WCAG guidelines. Here are some of the legal changes happening in countries and global organizations around the world, as examples of the trend:
- Australia: This country provides the most famous case of a successful...