Can Blind Customers Use Your Devon Business Website Properly?

Last month, I was sat in a café in Watchet with a new client who runs a holiday cottage business near Porlock. She'd called me because her bookings had dropped off a cliff. After poking around her website for five minutes, I found the problem — her booking form was completely invisible to screen readers. She'd been turning away blind customers without even knowing it.

"But Marcus," she said, "surely blind people don't book holiday cottages online?"

Wrong. Dead wrong. And that assumption was costing her thousands.

Here's the thing: making your website work for blind users isn't just about being nice (though that matters). Under the Equality Act 2010, if your website discriminates against disabled customers, you're breaking the law. I've seen businesses get nasty legal letters about this. Trust me, you don't want to be next.

How Blind People Actually Use Websites

Let me paint you a picture. Imagine trying to navigate your favourite website with your eyes closed. That's what screen reader software does — it reads everything out loud. Every heading, every button, every bit of text.

I've got a mate in Taunton who's been blind since birth. Watching him zip around websites faster than I can with my eyes open is genuinely impressive. But when he hits a badly built site? It's like watching someone try to navigate a maze in the dark.

Screen readers work brilliantly — when websites are built properly. The problem is, most aren't. Those DIY website builders everyone loves? They're often the worst offenders. Sure, they look pretty, but underneath they're a mess of code that screen readers can't make sense of.

The Most Common Problems I Fix

After 40 years in this game, I've seen every accessibility mistake in the book. Here are the ones that crop up again and again:

Images Without Descriptions

A few weeks ago, I was helping a B&B owner in Minehead fix her website. Beautiful photos of her rooms, but no alt text. To a screen reader user, those images simply don't exist. That's potential customers who can't see what they're booking.

The fix? Add proper descriptions to every image. Not "image123.jpg" but "Double bedroom with sea view and ensuite bathroom". Takes five minutes, makes a world of difference.

Forms That Make No Sense

Earlier this year, I worked with a plumber in Bridgwater whose contact form was a disaster. The labels weren't connected to the form fields properly. Imagine filling in a form where you can't tell which box is for your name and which is for your phone number. That's what screen reader users face every day.

Colour Contrast Issues

This one catches everyone out. That trendy light grey text on a white background might look sophisticated, but it's unreadable for people with low vision. I always tell clients: if you have to squint to read it, it's too light.

Why This Should Scare You (Just a Bit)

Remember that Equality Act I mentioned? It's not just for big companies. If you're providing goods or services to the public — and that includes every café, shop, B&B and tradesperson in Devon — you need to make "reasonable adjustments" for disabled customers. That includes your website.

About six months ago, I heard about a small hotel in Cornwall that got hit with a legal complaint because their booking system wasn't accessible. Cost them £15,000 to settle, plus they had to rebuild their entire website. Could've avoided the whole mess for a fraction of that cost.

But forget the legal stuff for a minute. Think about the money you're leaving on the table. The purple pound (disabled people's spending power) is worth £274 billion a year in the UK. Can you really afford to turn those customers away?

How to Check If Your Website Has Problems

Here's something you can do right now, today. Google has a free tool called Lighthouse (it's built into Chrome). Right-click on any page of your website, select "Inspect", find the Lighthouse tab, and run an accessibility audit. It'll give you a score out of 100 and tell you exactly what's wrong.

Don't panic if your score is terrible. Most small business websites score badly. The good news is, most problems are easy to fix if you know what you're doing.

Another simple test: try navigating your website using just your keyboard. No mouse, no touchpad. Can you reach every link? Can you fill in every form? If not, neither can many disabled users.

The Business Case (Because I Know You're Thinking About It)

Let's talk pounds and pence. Making your website accessible isn't just about avoiding legal trouble or doing the right thing. It's good for business:

• Accessible websites rank better on Google (they love sites that work for everyone)
• Clear, simple navigation helps all your customers, not just disabled ones
• You'll reach customers your competitors are ignoring
• Word spreads in disability communities — get it right and they'll recommend you

What You Should Do Next

First, don't panic. Unless your website is a complete disaster (and I've seen some proper disasters), fixing accessibility issues isn't as scary or expensive as you might think.

Start with the basics. Run that Lighthouse test I mentioned. Fix your image descriptions. Check your colour contrast. Make sure your forms are labelled properly. These simple changes will solve 80% of your problems.

If you're using a DIY website builder, check if they have accessibility features. Some are better than others. Wix and Squarespace have improved lately, but they're still not perfect. WordPress with the right theme and plugins can be brilliant — if you know what you're doing.

And if you're not sure where to start? Get help. Whether it's from me or someone else who knows their stuff, investing in accessibility now will save you money and hassle down the road. Plus, you'll sleep better knowing you're not turning customers away.

One last thing — this isn't a "nice to have" anymore. It's essential. Every month you wait is another month of lost customers and increased legal risk. I've been banging this drum for years, but now more businesses are finally listening. Don't be the last one to catch on.

Got questions about your website's accessibility? Drop me a line. I'll take a quick look and tell you straight if you've got problems. No sales pitch, just honest advice. Because at the end of the day, we all want the same thing — websites that work for everyone.

Sources

• RNIB Key Statistics — Official statistics on sight loss in the UK
• Equality Act 2010 Guidance — Government guidance on legal requirements for businesses
• The Purple Pound — Research on disabled consumers' spending power

About the Author: Marcus Knapman has been working with computers and building websites since the mid-1980s. Based in Somerset, he runs Exmoorweb from Williton — personally visiting customers across Minehead, Watchet, Taunton, Bridgwater, and the wider South West. With a BSc (Hons) and over 40 years of hands-on experience, he combines technical expertise with practical, no-nonsense advice.