How to introduce people to digital accessibility

One of the general aims of my blog is to introduce people to web accessibility. This week I found an article by The Bureau of Internet Accessibility, which provides seven key ways to introduce people to digital accessibility. This is a great guide especially for professionals working in the web and IT industry and can be used to facilitate honest discussions with clients about why their website needs to be accessible. There are blog entries for all these throughout my blog main page.

The seven key ways can be summarised as:

• Define what is web accessibility.
  Web accessibility is new to most people and many think it is simple about creating websites accessible on all devices. By defining it, we help people understand that accessibility aims to afford all people, including the vision impaired, the opportunity to ‘perceive, navigate and interact with the Web’ and contribute to it (W3C);
• Users must know that there are clearly defined web development standards and modern websites must abide by them. We have written about these standards in a previous blog;
• Use proper and respectful language when discussing accessibility.
  It is essential to avoid words like ‘normal’, as it implies that people with disability are abnormal;
• You need to highlight the relationship between accessibility and human rights.
  In Australia, the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 aims to promote equal opportunity for all;
• Encourage user and implementation. In my opinion the best way to start is to carry out the Colour Contrast Accessibility test, a basic tool;
• You need to exercise patience. Accessibility takes time to implement from both the publishing and programmatic perspectives; and,
• Point out why web accessibility is beneficial for other aspects; for example, accessibility supports SEO, which is great for business.

Introducing people to digital accessibility can be a slow process but education is the most important factor. For business on the other hand is imperative due to the last key.

Is your business website accessible? Does it have proper SEO? If not, you may be missing out. Let us know in the comments section below.

You can find the complete article on this link