Web Accessibility

Overview

What is Web Accessibility? Web accessibility means access to the Web by everyone, regardless of disability or other access restrictions.

Web accessibility includes:

• Web sites and applications
  • that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with;
• Web browsers and media players
  • that can be used effectively by people with disabilities, and
  • that work well with assistive technologies that some people with disabilities use to access the Web;
• Web authoring tools, and evolving Web technologies
  • that support production of accessible Web content and Web sites, and
  • that can be used effectively by people with disabilities.

There are several reasons why Web accessibility is important:

• use of the Web is spreading rapidly into all areas of society;
• there are barriers on the Web for many types of disabilities;
• millions of people have disabilities that affect access to the Web;
• some Web sites are required to be accessible;
• Web accessibility also has carry-over benefits for other users.

Impact of the Web on People with Disabilities

• The Web is becoming a key resource for:
  • news, information, commerce, entertainment,
  • classroom education, distance learning,
  • job searching, workplace interaction,
  • civic participation, government services.
• It is displacing traditional sources of information and interaction
  • schools, libraries, print materials, discourse of the workplace;
  • some of the traditional resources were accessible; some not.
• An accessible Web means unprecedented access to information for people with disabilities.

Web Accessibility is a Cross-Disability Issue

Examples of design requirements for people with different kinds of disabilities include:

• Visual:
  • described graphics or video;
  • well marked-up tables or frames;
  • keyboard support, screen reader compatibility;
• Hearing:
  • captioning for audio, supplemental illustration;
• Physical, Speech:
  • keyboard or single-switch support;
  • alternatives for speech input on voice portals;
• Cognitive, Neurological:
  • consistent navigation, appropriate language level;
  • illustration; no flickering or strobing designs.