The Disability Rights Commission have found that more than 80 percent of websites surveyed fail to meet basic accessibility requirements, The Guardian reported today.

It’s a good thing then, that the Usability Exchange website launched today. The organisation aims to reduce the number of unfriendly websites for disabled users by providing website testing services by disabled users.

Instead of using automated tests, oraganisations can now easily find out what disabled users think of their website. They can even watch testers attempt to navigate their website through the use of remote viewing software.

This launch comes just as the British Standards Institution published new guidance last week, PAS 78, for those who commission or maintain websites, to ensure that any site they make or maintain is user-friendly for disabled people.

Usability Exchange has been nominated for a 2006 New Media Award.