Logan City Council’s website has been rated as one of the most inclusive and accessible in Australia.

The upgraded and redesigned corporate website was recently audited by independent accessibility consultants me2 accessiblity as being highly accessible for people with disability.

Logan City is now accredited as meeting the latest international Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which aim to provide a single shared standard for web content accessibility, in the second highest rating.

It’s the first Queensland council to win certification and is understood to also be the first in Australia to do so.

It comes after Logan, which covers more than 200 different cultures, became the first council in Australia to be awarded the gold standard in plain language for the website.

Text, audio visual and language on the website can now be used by people who are blind or vision impaired and use a screen reader.

Almost  3.5 million people visited the website in the last year, about 300,000 more than in the previous year, council says.

More than 17,000 Logan residents, about 5.6 per cent of the population, require day to day help because of disability and 26,000 people provide unpaid help to someone with disability.

Four year plan

City Lifestyle Committee Chairperson Cr Laurie Koranski says Council is proud to be showing digital leadership and creating accessible local government.

“Accessibility and plain language ensure equal access and opportunity for all of our community in using the website,” she said.

Council has also committed to creating a more accessible city through its Access and Inclusion Plan.

The four-year strategic plan upholds the rights of people of all abilities by guiding practices across the organisation and in the community.

It includes 84 actions across nine priority areas identified by the Logan community including providing accessible information.