Web Accessibility Primer
A brief overview of web accessibility and why it's important to develop accessible content.
What is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. Specifically, they can perceive that web based content exists, navigate through and understand it, as well as interact with the content.
Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the web content, including hearing, vision, speech, physical, and neurological.
Web accessibility also benefits people without disabilities, such as people using mobile phones, smart watches, smart TVs, and other devices with small screens.
As you age you can be affected by increasing changes such as difficulty with low contrast, reading small fonts, and decreasing dexterity.
If you have a temporary disability, such as a lost glasses or carpal tunnel treatment, an accessible page makes it easier for you to use it.
Often there are limitations due to the situation, such as using a device in bright sunlight or perhaps somewhere you cannot listen to audio.
Other factors that are eased by accessible pages are using a slow Internet connection, or having limited or expensive bandwidth.
What laws govern accessibility standards in the United States?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. Title III of the ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.
Title II of the ADA specifically addresses web accessibility and requires public entities to make their programs, services and activities accessible to individuals with disabilities. Title II applies to state and local governments. Federal agencies, government contractors, and programs that receive federal funding are also subject to Section 504 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, amended to address online resources.
The are two sections of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that are our primary concern. Sections 508 and 504.
In 1998, Section 508 was made part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and requires Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. A refresh was done in January of 2017 which updated accessibility guidelines and requirements for information and communication technology in the federal sector. The Section 508 guidelines were aligned closely with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The guidelines affect all federal agencies and vendors, contractors and partners of those agencies operating in the United States or abroad.
Section 504 of the act has two main purposes. One is to remove barriers for students with disabilities in K–12 public schools. The other is to protect children and adults with disabilities from discrimination in school settings and beyond.
All state and local governments. Federal agencies, government contractors, and programs that receive federal funding are required to comply with these sections. This includes private contractors, the financial industry, healthcare, many legal organizations, and others.
If you’re not sure if you need to be it’s best to ask an expert.
Why should I comply?
If you don’t work for a company that falls within the compliance requirements, you aren’t required by law to be compliant. However, consider the impact of not creating accessible web content. Is your company willing to potentially pass up doing business with millions of people?
In 2020 the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that 61 million adults in the United States live with a disability.
26 percent (one in 4) of adults in the United States have some type of disability.
Out of those 61 million adults, 5.9 percent are deaf or have serious difficulty hearing, 4.6 percent of people have a vision disability with blindness or serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses.
The American Community Survey reported that in 2016, the number of non-institutionalized, male or female, ages sixteen through seventy-five+, all races, regardless of ethnicity, with all education levels in the United States reported to have a visual disability was 7,675,600!
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that people with disabilities make up a significant market of consumers, representing more than $200 billion in discretionary spending.
When you create non-accessible content, you run a high risk of not being able to serve millions of viewers, many of which could be potential customers or clients.
How can I learn more?
If you would like to learn more about how to make our content accessible, there are many organizations that provide help to developers.
ACCESSIBILITY AND OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Open Educational Resources (OER) are online digital educational materials, tools, and techniques that are offered freely and/or through open licensing.
UNITED STATES ACCESS BOARD
The United States Access Board is a federal agency that promotes equality for people with disabilities through leadership in accessible design and the development of accessibility guidelines and standards for the built environment, transportation, communication, medical diagnostic equipment, and information technology.
The access board has a section of their website dedicated to providing information about Section 508.
https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards
W3C WEB ACCESS INITIATIVE CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible. Following these guidelines will make content accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity and combinations of these. Following these guidelines will also often make your Web content more usable to users in general.
WEB ACCESSIBILITY IN MIND (WebAIM)
WebAIM provides comprehensive web accessibility solutions. With over 20 years of experience WebAIM is one of the leading providers of web accessibility expertise worldwide.
Moving Forward
I hope that this brief look at web accessibility will prompt you to explore what the possibilities are. If your web content has been created to be accessible, you may find additional information that can improve upon what you already have published. If your content is not accessible, I encourage you to improve your visibility by applying web accessibility principles and practices.
I will be posting more articles in the near future about the various elements of accessibility, such as use of color, fonts, screen contrast, and accessible text.
