After years of campaigning for companies to make websites more accessible, the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) is now backing a number of individuals to take legal action.

The cases allege that a number of websites failed to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995.

A spokeswoman for the RNIB confirmed that the organisation is acting on behalf of a number of individuals but would not say which sites were being investigated.

"It is correct [that legal action is proceeding], but at the moment we are not willing to talk about the specific cases or details," she said.

Catherine Casserle, senior legal officer at the RNIB, said that the organisation was right to combat discrimination in such cases and predicted that more lawsuits would follow.

"The DDA has been around for a while, and the provisions covering websites have been clear since 1999," she explained.

"There are increasing numbers of cases being taken under the Act and this will continue to be the case."

Under the DDA, organisations providing goods, services and facilities directly to the general public are not allowed to refuse to serve a disabled person for a reason that relates to their disability.

This may mean that some websites have to use technology to support features such as text for images, and some firms may have to consider implementing technologies for enhanced screen readers and Braille input.

In some cases, if people with disabilities such as sight problems cannot access site facilities, the owner of the site may be in breach of the law.

Although the legislation has not yet been tested in court, the RNIB is fairly confident that, whatever the outcome, the publicity will aid its cause.

"We want to raise awareness of the DDA. That is the outcome we always look for with our activities," said Casserle.

She added that one likely outcome would be that the firms in question would be forced to make changes to their site.

"Service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to their sites. But if an individual can demonstrate that something is unreasonable, then it is up to the court to decide what action to take," explained Casserle.

A similar law was tested in Australia in August 2000. The country's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found that the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games had discriminated against a partially sighted man by not developing a site that he could access properly.

The man was awarded Aus$20,000 as compensation.