Website designers must be more aware of the need to ensure the disabled can access their sites and take full advantage of the e-revolution.
That was the message yesterday on national disability information day, which was marked with a live computer link-up between three centres in Sligo, Dublin and Ennis where speakers looked at information technology and its value to the disabled.
The Minster of State for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Ms Mary Wallace, said there was now an opportunity to influence design at a critical stage.
She said she would ask the IT and web industries "to consider not just special needs but the provision of full access to people with disabilities".
For some disabled people, access to information technology was rapidly becoming fundamental to their independence and livelihood, she said. The Internet revolution had allowed people "to obtain jobs within the industry, to access information and to purchase as never before".
Mr Bob Murphy, who was at the Sligo event, said it was difficult to explain how much the Internet had changed his life. He has been blind for many years and a screen reader on his computer enables him to access information.
He said an example of how websites could be accessible to people with impaired vision would be to ensure there were words behind all symbols and that users would not need to be able to differentiate colours.
At the Sligo event, Ms Anne Phelan, of the National Centre for Technology in Education, explained how IT was helping children with special needs. Pupils with reading difficulties could have history lessons read to them and those who could not talk could use the computer to communicate.
Further information on www.ITability.ie.