Case Study: Working with Giant Digital on British Wireless for the Blind
Background
When Giant Digital were commissioned to redevelop the website for British Wireless for the Blind (BW), they knew from the outset that accessibility needed to be at the heart of the project. BW is a charity that provides radios and other audio devices to blind and partially sighted people, their website simply had to be inclusive. That is why Giant got in touch with us.
They openly acknowledged that they did not have the internal expertise to deliver a website that would meet the needs of all users, especially those with disabilities. What they did have was a genuine willingness to learn and a commitment to getting it right. That made them an ideal client.
Starting with the donation page
Most of the time, I begin with an accessibility audit of an existing site. In this case, the new site was being built from scratch, but the donation page was being kept. So we started there.
Our team audited the payment page, which included a third-party Stripe integration. It worked well for screen reader users in our team, Mede, Krista, and Lleona, but not for Iona, who has a hand disability and uses voice recognition software. A feature that allowed card details to be saved across websites actually prevented her from completing the transaction. These are the kinds of real-world issues you only find through lived experience and proper testing.
Changes were made to improve this, and then we turned our attention to the rest of the website.
Accessibility from the ground up
The next step was reviewing the website's Figma designs. We gave feedback on things like colour contrast, navigation journeys, and the expected behaviour of interactive elements.
As the site was being developed, we were invited to test early versions and create a roadmap of improvements. It was a highly collaborative process, and Giant responded quickly to every recommendation. By the final stage, they had resolved the vast majority of the issues, and what they have delivered is a website to be proud of. It is not perfect, no site ever is, but it is highly accessible and a huge step forward.
Full WCAG 2.2 AA Compliance
The Accessibility Statement states that this website (www.blind.org.uk) is fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard. That is not something you often see, and it is a testament to doing things properly, with accessibility considered from the start and built in at every stage.
When the European Accessibility Act comes into force on 28 June 2025, WCAG 2.2 AA will be the standard that all companies that have access to the EU will be expected to achieve. The Act will apply to private companies that provide digital services within the EU, and non-compliance can result in serious legal and financial consequences. There will be significant improvements in website accessibility over the next few years because of the EAA but, as of now, the website is part of a very select group of websites that currently meet these standards. That is why getting it right now is so important, not just for compliance, but because it is the right thing to do.
Going beyond the basics, aiming for AAA
One of the things we always try to include in projects like this is a push towards WCAG AAA-level accessibility. While most organisations aim for AA (which is the legal minimum in many cases), aiming higher helps make your website truly inclusive.
A great example is WCAG guideline 1.4.8 (Visual Presentation), which encourages the inclusion of features that allow users to adjust things like text size and colour contrast. This is one of the main selling points of third-party accessibility toolbars, those overlays that claim to solve all your accessibility issues with a line of code.
Of course, they do not. These tools often interfere with assistive technologies and give a false sense of security. The only correct way to offer that kind of control is to build it into the site’s native code, and we were delighted to see how Giant approached this. They took on the challenge with real commitment and implemented a fully integrated visual customisation feature that genuinely benefits users.
The challenge of accessible PDFs
One of the more complex tasks came right at the end. Each product that British Wireless for the Blind supplies comes with a guide in PDF format, and these PDFs include technical diagrams. PDF accessibility is notoriously poor, especially when it comes to graphical content.
Fortunately, we have a PDF remediation specialist who was able to fully tag and structure each document for screen reader use. But that was not enough. We also needed to write detailed descriptions of the diagrams so blind and partially sighted users could understand how to operate their devices. In some cases, the alternative text was more extensive than the diagram itself, but it was the only way to do it properly.
It was a big job, but a worthwhile one. This exemplifies true accessibility, ensuring no one is excluded, going the extra mile so nobody is left behind.
A rewarding partnership
The whole project was a pleasure to work on. Giant Digital were open, responsive, and genuinely committed to building something better. They carefully implemented each recommendation and made steady improvements throughout the process. We know their future work will reflect everything they have learned, and that is how real change happens. One website at a time. One agency at a time.
We would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with Giant Digital again on future projects.