Building Accessibility

2 people facing a wall with their accessibility design story board posted on the wall Designing for digital accessibility starts with the storyboard. Your vision for your customer's experience when interacting with your company is essential in designing every aspect of your business, including processes and your online presence. Every customer touchpoint, from your website to customer service to social media, must be considered, analyzed, and created for an accessible and inclusive experience.

The significance of accessibility

One billion people, 15% of the world's population, live with a disability.

The significance of accessibility, or rather the significance of ignoring accessibility, results in alienating the world's largest minority group and their family and friends. Billions of dollars are lost annually in sales due to poor website accessibility. In the United States (and in many other countries), it's the law. Under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), Title III prohibits discrimination and requires equal access to public goods and services.

Learn more here: Digital Accessibility Overview

Related Blog Articles:

The Biggest Mistakes in Digital Accessibility and How to Avoid Them

Tips for developing a digital accessibility masterplan for your business

Building an Accessibility Design Team

Benefit-cost analysis

When embarking on any business project, it's fiscally responsible to prepare a benefit-cost analysis. This process requires analyzing the benefits of the project against the cost of not doing it, or completing alternate projects instead.

Utilize the following benefits and costs to compile your own benefit-cost analysis for digital accessibility.

Benefits	Costs
Accessible websites are universally more accessible to everyone and provide a heightened user experience. Satisfied user experiences create return customers, increasing customer loyalty, word-of-mouth referrals, and your business's sales. Digital accessibility practices have a positive effect on search results on search engines such as Google.	Digital accessibility lawsuits are on the rise. The monetary and time costs of defending a lawsuit can be overwhelming. Higher customer support volume leading to increased resources devoted to assisting customers in navigating your content. Lost sales.

Related Blog Articles:

How the Benefits of Being Accessible Far Outweigh The Costs

Assistive technology

Assistive technology (AT) is any product, equipment, software, or system that is used to increase or enhance functional capabilities Persons with disabilities, the elderly, and anyone looking to increase functionality may use assistive technology. It is important to consider assistive technology devices when designing your accessibility journey, as well as testing your digital content utilizing AT.

Examples of assistive technology include (but are not limited to):

Screen Readers

Magnifiers

Text-to-Speech

Speech Input Software

Talking Devices

Head Pointers

Motion/Eye-Tracking

Laws and Standards

Laws

Digital accessibility is a legal requirement, as full access to websites and digital content is required for employment, education, and independent living.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in 1990 to provide access and opportunity for people with disabilities.

Title I: prohibits discrimination in employment.
Title II: prohibits discrimination in local and state government.
Title III: provides equal access to goods and services.

ADA Compliance

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 includes Section 508, which requires federal agencies to make electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible.

As of January 2018, federal agencies' and contractors' web content and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) must meet WCAG 2.0 Levels A and AA.

Section 508 Compliance

Standards

Standards for web accessibility help guide you through designing for digital accessibility.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the most commonly used standards and guidelines for website and digital accessibility. WCAG is created and maintained by W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium), which is composed of international members and ran by an elected board. The mission of the W3C is to develop open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the web.