According to the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), web accessibility means “that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them.” All people with disabilities can benefit from accessible web design and development. With web accessibility, people with all disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, interact with, and contribute to the web. This includes people with sensory, cognitive, neurological, and physical disabilities, among others.
The web is becoming an increasingly important resource in many aspects of life, including education, employment, government, health care, and recreation. It is very important that the web be accessible to provide equal access and equal opportunity for people with and without disabilities. However, many websites and tools are developed with barriers that can make them difficult for people with disabilities to use, such as images and other visual elements that convey important information that someone who is blind cannot access, or interactive elements that require the use of a mouse which someone with paralysis cannot operate.
Many aspects of web accessibility are easy to understand and implement. Examples of these aspects include describing oneself during a video conference, adding alt-text to photos and images on a website, and creating transcripts for audio, among others. Other web accessibility solutions are more complex and need more knowledge to implement. Examples may include labeling form elements so people who may not be able to use a mouse can navigate and complete a form, making interactive features perceivable to blind users, or determining whether the color contrast of a website or app is sufficient for someone with low vision or color blindness to view it.
Web accessibility not only benefits people with disabilities, but it also benefits people without disabilities, businesses, and communities. It benefits people without disabilities in many ways, including being able to use close captioning when watching videos in a loud environment, such as a city park, or skimming the transcripts of a video or to decide if it’s right for them. For businesses and other organizations, web accessibility may increase traffic and website use by people with and without disabilities, improve the user experience and customer satisfaction, and improve indexing by search engines. Thanks to web accessibility, communities may see an increase in community participation by members with and without disabilities.
The WAI has created several tools to help designers, developers, and content creators make their products, apps, and publications accessible, including Tips for Getting Started, Accessibility Principles, How to Meet WCAG, and Web Accessibility Tutorials. NIDILRR supports web accessibility through funding research and development activities, including promoting mainstream wireless inclusion and the Americans with Disabilities Act. NIDILRR has also supported the work of the WAI from its earliest days. NARIC’s collection includes over 290 documents related to web accessibility.
To learn more about web accessibility and how you can start your web accessibility journey, contact NARIC’s information specialists via chat, phone, or email.
