Kenya’s biggest mobile operator Safaricom has been recognised with the East African country’s first-ever ‘triple A rating’ for a website that is friendly to navigate for visually impaired people.

inAble, a body that assists visually impaired persons through technology, has awarded Safaricom with the accolade owing to the telecom firm’s corporate website meeting the necessary requirements.

Site users with visual impairments can ‘easily’ zoom in and out using keyboard shortcuts on the site without having to scroll sideways as the images fill the screen, according to Safaricom and inAble. Just like responsive design, the site also rearranges its elements to fit into the screen.

Visually impaired persons can further use keyboard shortcuts to move around the site. With special equipment including a headset, voice prompts also guide the users while surfing the site.

“In Kenya today, there are more than 300,000 people who are visually impaired or blind, and can therefore not benefit from the wealth of information on the internet,” said Safaricom’s director of corporate affairs Nzioka Waita.

“According to the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation, only 5% of all published works are currently available in formats accessible to the visually impaired persons community. With this move, we are making it possible for our customers who suffer visual impairment to access all Safaricom content, just like our sighted customers.”

A UN convention enforced in 2008 requires that the rights of people with disabilities be included in the design of new information technologies and systems.

Apart from inAble certifying the Safaricom website, Kenya’s National Council of Persons with Disabilities has also certified that the website is fully accessible to persons with visual disabilities.

The new site is said to be responsive for easy viewing on tablets, smartphones and feature phones and it has now included a directory of frequently used Paybill numbers.