Why website accessibility is important for People with Disabilities

Website accessibility has emerged as a fundamental aspect of online interaction. This focus on inclusivity enhances user experience and reflects an evolving understanding of technology’s role in society whose members include People with Disabilities. Website accessibility underscores a commitment to ensuring that digital platforms are accessible and user-friendly for individuals with a wide range of abilities.  This focus on inclusivity enhances user experience and reflects an evolving understanding of technology’s role in society. Kathy Marks, a digital accessibility specialist and IT accessibility coordinator at ASU’s Enterprise Technology says:  “These days, we can shop online, attend class, work, meet friends, see the doctor … practically live online. For people with disabilities, these advances in technology, coupled with the richness of online life, could be revolutionary. For this revolution to be beneficial to all, however, websites must be fully accessible.” Website accessibility is a crucial aspect of modern digital interaction. At its best, it ensures that diverse social and economic groups, especially those with disabilities, have equal access to online resources. This accessibility is increasingly integral to daily life, providing opportunities for education, employment, and social engagement. Fortunately, technological advancements have simplified creating and accessing digital content. These advancements are only beneficial if we are all committed to creating digital content that is accessible. Over the past 20 years, there have been tremendous advances in technology for both accessing and creating digital content. This progression of technology has played a pivotal role in advancing more comprehensive digital accessibility. Innovations, such as screen readers, speech recognition, touch screens, and eye tracking have expanded the possibilities for individuals with disabilities to engage with digital content.   By incorporating multi-sensory input and output methods, content creators have widened the accessibility of their content as well as their audiences. Marks explains, “Digital content creators who provide for multi-sensory input and output also increase the number of people who can participate with their content. This evolution is also reflective of a deeper understanding of disability, recognizing it as a result of societal barriers rather than individual impairments.  If we post a video without captions or a transcript, people who are deaf or hard of hearing will be ‘disabled,’ simply meaning they will not be able to access that content. This underscores the importance of adapting the digital environment to be inclusive, ensuring that accessibility is not an afterthought but a fundamental aspect of content creation. Creating an accessible website hinges on addressing common barriers with straightforward solutions. Marks suggests that people can make a huge difference with relatively simple and quick changes. A few examples of this include adding alternative descriptions to images for people with visual challenges, adding captions to videos for those with hearing challenges, organizing content with hierarchical headings similar to an outline for those with cognitive impairments, or using screen readers. Making a website accessible to users with varying levels of capabilities can be challenging, but as Marks indicates, it’s about setting realistic expectations. “It’s only challenging if people expect too much of themselves. Accessibility is a spectrum so aim to improve the accessibility of your content or website little by little.” Utilizing a systematic approach like this paves a realistic path toward accessibility. An effective first step is to start with the content you most often create and learn how to make it more accessible. From there, tackle simple tasks like adding alternative text to images and progressively move on to more complex work, such as rewriting link text for better accessibility. Over time, these cumulative efforts led to an increasingly inclusive website. Achieving a balance between aesthetic elements and accessibility is not as daunting as it might seem. Developers with the right training can make web pages look any way a designer wants while still being accessible. Committing to IT accessibility and the training to back it up is key to widespread digital accessibility. It is more efficient and cost-effective to prioritize accessibility from the earliest stages of web development. This approach helps ensure that digital products are more future-proof, able to operate on a broad range of devices and require less maintenance.  Since 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act has been protecting the rights of people with disabilities, including the right to equal access to content. And the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, which set forth standards that public entities must comply with, have been around since 1999. What has changed, however, is technology and the context within which these standards are applied. The advancement in technology and the increase in online activities, especially during the pandemic, have highlighted the internet’s role as an essential virtual space.  The United States Department of Justice has proposed making regulations of the existing standards for website accessibility in August 2023. With the growing popularity of videos and podcasts, multimedia content has become increasingly prevalent.

Platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, which prioritize video content, along with news stories that incorporate video for more engaging storytelling, are a testament to this trend. This showcases how much multimedia content is out there for audiences to consume. It also puts a spotlight on the importance of accessibility.  Captions are a simple solution to multimedia accessibility. Technology like AI-generated auto-captions and similar tools make short work of providing captions for content. They are highly accurate, typically requiring only light editing. The upside remains significant because so many people use and benefit from captions.   Those who are deaf or hard of hearing rely on captions, as do people with earaches, headaches, tinnitus, and auditory processing disorders. People use captions to aid focus and improve retention, as do non-native speakers, those in noisy environments, or even those holding a sleepy baby or watching at late night all benefit from captions. Website accessibility is more than a feature; it’s a fundamental right in the digital world we inhabit. Accessible design not only supports those with disabilities but enhances the experience for all users. By embracing the principles of inclusivity and adaptability, we can make sure that the internet remains a diverse and accessible space. As technology continues to evolve, so too must our commitment to creating digital environments where everyone can thrive.

Source: Forbes

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