Digital accessibility is key to empowering customers with disabilities to use your online services or products. When you implement digital accessibility, you open the door to 1 billion new consumers who would never be able to access your brand otherwise. Learn about digital accessibility concepts that companies like Facebook and Twitter prioritize in their business.
As Nationwide Insurance puts it, digital accessibility is techniques and technologies that enable people with disabilities to “access electronic resources such as the internet, software, mobile devices, e-readers, etc.” UNICEF has noted that these technologies and techniques can include, but are not limited to:
Digital accessibility techniques must be compatible with assistive technologies. Assistive technologies are devices people with disabilities use to access digital content, which has also been described as, “anything from mobility devices to screen magnification software. Assistive technology is anything that improves the user’s ability to access or enjoy a program, service, activity, or facility.”
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has created what is widely considered the definitive web accessibility standards. These are called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
The Department of Justice has declared that websites that represent public accommodations must adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act, which WCAG intends to provide a path to regarding accessibility. In addition, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act officially requires the use of it for federal agencies (by recommendation of the U.S. Access Board). Furthermore, many courts that deal with accessibility cases are increasingly demanding that websites are compliant with WCAG 2.0/1 AA. Thus, companies should base their digital accessibility practices around these standards.
The principles of WCAG are as follows, according to the W3C WAI.
Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
User interface components and navigation must be operable.
Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.
Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
The W3C WAI defines the components of web accessibility that are relied upon to make an accessible user experience:
They advised that “these components interrelate and support each other. For instance, web content needs to include text alternatives for images. This information needs to be processed by web browsers and then conveyed to assistive technologies, such as screen readers. To create such text alternatives, authors need authoring tools that support them to do so.”
If your staff does not know how to address these concepts, that is okay. There are digital accessibility vendors who specialize in identifying and designing accessibility needs in digital content. However, it is important that your organization have an understanding of these concepts and components to ensure an accessible user experience.
Providing staff training that addresses these concepts at the appropriate level will help your organization build momentum and improve its accessibility maturity. Having a thorough understanding of accessibility principles also reinforces accessibility best practices, which will no doubt improve your organization's culture of inclusion and access.