Creating a website for your business is a complicated endeavor. You may have to hire out, and settling on a design that pleases everyone can be difficult. The stress of designing a website from the ground up is high, so why should you add to it by ensuring that the website is accessible?
The simple answer is that it makes good business sense. Having a website is well and good, but if a percentage of your potential clientele can’t use it, the only thing you’ve achieved is limiting access and your opportunities. If nothing else, creating a website that’s accessible and available to everyone, regardless of any disability, places you among the small percentage of businesses that make an effort to include people with disabilities in their target audience.
Why is accessibility important?
Twenty-six percent (or one in four) Americans have a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control. That’s a significant portion of the population, and likely is more than you thought. When people think of disabilities, they tend to have a narrow view of what constitutes one.
Most think of people who use wheelchairs, have vision or hearing loss, and who’ve had amputations as the ‘typical’ embodiment of disability. These physical disabilities are the most obvious, but there are a lot of emotional, neurological, and cognitive disabilities that aren’t immediately obvious, and all of them can require accommodation.
When reframed this way it becomes clearer why your website should be accessible. Of course, it will never be 100% accessible to everyone. Some access needs conflict with others, and perfection is an unattainable goal. That doesn’t mean you should give up, though. Even accommodating some disabilities is better than accommodating none.
Why is it my responsibility?
It’s not just one business’s responsibility to be accessible. It’s everyone’s. However, businesses have greater reach than individuals and usually provide essential goods or services like food, education, clothing, and healthcare. All people need access to these things, so creating an accessible platform that allows equal access prevents people from being cut off from these necessities.
As a business that has to consider the bottom line, you may think that the extra effort of creating an accessible website isn’t worth it when you still have access to three out of four Americans. A moral imperative to promote accessibility may not be enough motivation, but building an accessible website should still be your priority. Disabilities may affect one in four individuals, but the impact of disabilities reaches further than that.
Three million children (4.3% of the population) have a disability of some kind, as do two in five adults over 65. Given those numbers, it’s fair to say that a majority of people in the U.S. have someone with a disability in their family or know someone with a disability. Refusing to make accommodations in something as straightforward as a website may have far-reaching consequences beyond shutting Americans with disabilities out.
What can I do?
The simple answer is to build an accessible website. But that’s easier said than done. What kind of accessibility should you prioritize? What steps can you take to build equity and access into every step of the designing, testing, and launching of your website? Where do you even begin? Start by asking yourself a few questions.
Who makes up the majority of my clientele?
These questions may or may not be simple to answer. For example, a clothing company may know exactly who they design clothes for and who buys what they make. A company specializing in food may find it harder to answer this question, but it's still vital that they do so. Once you know your customer base, you can continue to the next step.
What are the most common disabilities my clients may have?
This question requires a bit of research, but it will lessen the workload in the long run and prevent you from overwhelming your website design with accommodations that are ultimately not helpful. If your clients are mostly over the age of 65, for example, you can get a better idea of the type of disabilities they may have and, thus, be able to design more efficiently.
How do I make sure that I’m doing the right thing?
Do not keep the website design process hidden behind closed doors. You must let diverse voices inform the process, especially those of people with disabilities you’re working to accommodate. Don’t just design what you think will suffice – ask people with lived experience what would be helpful, and, most importantly, listen to them! Involving people with disabilities in the process means receiving and incorporating their feedback.
Conclusion
Building an accessible website isn’t just good for your customers. It’s good for you. The things you learn during the process of designing an accessible website will only improve how you function as a business and connect with your clients, boosting your reputation and increasing your reach. It may not be simple, but morally, designing your website to allow everyone the same opportunity to visit and engage with your platform is the right thing to do.
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