This document analyzes the accessibility of websites from 9 Thai higher education institutions based on WCAG 2.0 guidelines. It finds most websites contained errors that hindered perceivability, operability, and understandability. Common universities had the highest number of errors overall. The study recommends the Thai government strengthen policies and requirements around ensuring online technologies are accessible to people with disabilities.

1. Rattanavalee Maisak
Justin Brown
Edith Cowan University

2. Over 600 million people with disabilities -
The World Health Organization (WHO)
The Thai government has been a signatory to
the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD) since 2007.
This research aims to investigate the
accessibility of Thai higher education
websites.

3. What level of web accessibility is apparent in
Thai universities against WCAG 2.0
guidelines?
Which aspects of the WCAG are the most
issues seen?

4. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
- 3 Levels: A, AA and AAA
- POUR principles
- Critical Failures: Checkpoint 1.4.2, 2.1.2, 2.2.2
and 2.3.1
Web Accessibility Evaluation
- Automated testing
- Manual Testing
Related work

5. 9 higher education websites in Thailand: 5 top
ranked Thai universities, 2 open universities, 1
special college for disabled students and 1 online
institution.
7 representative webpages according to WCAG-EM
1.0
University
Homepage
Selected
websites
Library
Webmail
login
page
Contact
us
E-learning
Content
E-learning
Homepage
E-learning
Forums

6. WCAG 2.0 guidelines (POUR principles)
Principle Level A Level AA % of total
Perceivable 9 5 36.84
Operable 9 3 31.58
Understandable 5 5 26.32
Robust 2 0 5.26
Total 25 13 100%
Automated Testing (SortSite, WAVE)
Manual Expert Testing
Scrolling : N/A, 0, 1

8. Tests of Normality
Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk
Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.
P .227 158 .000 .890 158 .000
O .192 158 .000 .906 158 .000
U .258 158 .000 .866 158 .000
R .332 158 .000 .740 158 .000
a. Lilliefors Significance Correction
Test Statisticsa,b
P O U R
Chi-Square 12.888 10.946 4.487 4.144
df 3 3 3 3
Asymp. Sig. .005 .012 .213 .246
a. Kruskal Wallis Test
b. Grouping Variable: uni_purpose

9. GROUPS P O U R
Common
Mean 2.74 2.18 1.86 .75
N 93 93 93 93
SD 1.950 1.628 1.486 .816
Open
Mean 2.15 1.94 1.39 .61
N 33 33 33 33
SD 1.839 1.478 1.116 .788
Online
Mean 2.00 2.50 1.64 .57
N 14 14 14 14
SD 1.301 1.557 1.550 .756
Special
Mean 1.22 1.06 1.17 .33
N 18 18 18 18
SD .943 1.211 1.200 .485

10. 1.1.1 1.2.1 1.2.2 1.2.3 1.2.4 1.2.5 1.3.1 1.3.2 1.3.3 1.4.1 1.4.2 1.4.3 1.4.4 1.4.5
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
No. of Errors
Common 69 5 3 3 0 3 75 4 10 13 1 33 28 8
Open 23 1 1 1 0 1 17 3 1 1 0 10 9 3
Online 9 1 0 0 0 0 10 1 1 0 0 3 2 1
Special 7 2 0 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 2 2 1

11. 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.3.1 2.4.1 2.4.2 2.4.3 2.4.4 2.4.5 2.4.6 2.4.7
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
No. of Errors
Common 21 3 1 17 3 29 10 2 64 21 28 4
Open 5 0 1 6 1 12 3 3 21 7 4 1
Online 4 0 0 4 1 5 4 0 9 5 3 0
Special 3 1 0 1 0 2 3 0 2 5 1 1

12. 1.4.2 2.1.2 2.2.2 2.3.1
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
No. of Errors
Common 1 3 17 3
Open 0 0 6 1
Online 0 0 4 1
Special 0 1 1 0

13. University
Homepage
E-learning
Homepage
Library
Contact Us
Page
Webmail Login
Page
E-learning
Forum
E-learning
Content Page
P 529 387 483 396 270 189 125
O 435 287 433 371 179 151 78
U 248 193 225 215 239 182 89
R 136 77 144 124 134 52 32
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Total Errors

14. Accessibility problems on Thai university
websites
Possible causes: Lack of awareness, lack of
policy and lack of WCAG 2.0 implementation,
testing and knowledge
Recommendation – the Thai government
strengthen its policy and requirements
around accessibility of online technologies.