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 had 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, we 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 staying. 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
Next came a review of the Figma designs. We gave feedback on colour contrast, navigation journeys, and the expected behaviour of interactive elements.
As the site was 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. 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 confirms 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 see very often — and it is a direct result of doing things properly from the beginning.
When the European Accessibility Act comes into force on 28 June 2025, WCAG 2.2 AA will be the standard that all companies with access to the EU will be expected to meet.
This site is part of a very select group of websites that already meet those standards. That is why getting it right now matters — not just for compliance, but because it is the right thing to do.
Going Beyond The Basics: Aiming For AAA
We always encourage clients to include AAA-level features wherever possible. While WCAG 2.2 AA is the legal requirement, AAA helps make your site genuinely inclusive.
One example is WCAG 1.4.8 (Visual Presentation), which encourages features that let users adjust text size and colour contrast. These are often the selling points of third-party accessibility toolbars — overlays that claim to solve accessibility in a single line of code.
Of course, they do not.
These tools often interfere with assistive tech and give a false sense of compliance. The right way to offer this functionality is to build it into the site’s native code.
That is exactly what Giant did. They implemented a fully integrated visual customisation feature that genuinely benefits users — no overlays required.
The Challenge Of Accessible PDFs
One of the more complex tasks came at the end. Each product that BW supplies comes with a guide in PDF format, including technical diagrams.
PDF accessibility is notoriously poor, especially when it comes to graphics.
Fortunately, we have a dedicated PDF remediation specialist who was able to fully tag and structure each document for screen readers. That was only part of the job.
We also had to write detailed descriptions of the diagrams so blind and partially sighted users could understand how to operate the devices. In some cases, the alternative text was more extensive than the diagram itself.
That is what proper accessibility looks like — going the extra mile so nobody is left behind.
A Rewarding Partnership
This project was a pleasure from start to finish. Giant Digital were open, responsive, and genuinely committed to building something better.
They implemented each recommendation with care and made steady improvements throughout.
We know their future work will reflect everything they have learned. That is how real change happens — one website at a time. One agency at a time.
We would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with them again.