Website Accessibility: The Untapped Global Income Stream

So What Exactly Counts as Accessibility and How Do I Test My Web Site for It?

These are two extremely important questions that the majority of business owners and many Web site developers should be asking. Put simply by the W3C:

“Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.” [6]

When thinking about accessibility, many people’s thinking starts and ends with the issues surrounding blindness. While these are important issues, blindness is only a small part of what we need to be consider. Whether someone has color-deficient vision, can’t use traditional navigation tools, or simply has a temporary injury, they all need to be considered.

The third argument that I need to make in this article is that of social conscience. After years of futile attempts, I’ve realized that asking someone to pretend that their family member or child is disabled is both powerful and ineffective.

Nevertheless, social conscience is both more important than the two arguments that I’ve already made and out of place in this article. Being socially aware doesn’t automatically translate into boosting your bottom line. However, it is interesting that companies who display an obvious social conscience appear to reap the rewards.

I will leave you with another outlier example, but one that I feel powerfully drives home the importance of accessibility. In 1942, a person was born whose contributions to humanity include over 200 publications and 13 books. He has received dozens of internationally recognized awards. But this is only part of what makes this person unique. At the age of 21, he was diagnosed with a form of motor neuron disease and given less than four years to live. Almost all of his awards and achievements have come in the 50 years since his diagnosis. This person is, of course, Stephen Hawking.

Without the assistance of his accessibility aids, he would never have been able to accomplish all of this. Think how much we would have lost. Without the foresight of others who made their content accessible, how limited would his access to information have been? While Stephen Hawking is exceptional, he is far from alone in his situation.

We can capture tremendous value and save a great deal of money by ensuring that our Web sites are accessible to anyone and everyone who might want to use them. Talk to your Web developers today and get them to take a course on accessibility. It might just be the best investment you’ll make this year. 

U1 Group recently conducted a survey to better understand the reasons behind most Web sites not being accessible. The findings represented the views of respondents from fourteen countries and indicated that education was the key problem—particularly, the education of developers, designers, and decision makers. Therefore, U1 has launched an online accessibility training course. U1 is offering UXmatters readers a 70% discount on this course.

Endnotes

[1] Annual Disability Statistics Compendium. “Civilians Living in the Community for the United States and States, by Disability Status: 2013.” Disability Compendium, 2013.

[2], [3] Donovan, Rich. “Creating Value Through Disability: 2014 Annual Report: The Global Economics of Disability.” (PDF) Return on Disability, August 1, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015.

[4] Loten, Angus. “Accessibility Claims Expected Over Websites.” The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2014. January 16, 2015.

[5] McCarter and English. “Adam Saravay Quoted in ‘Accessibility Claims Expected Over Websites: H&R Block Case Offers Clear Road Map for Lawsuits’.” McCarter & English, August 1, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015.

[6] W3C. “Introduction to Web Accessibility.” W3C, September 2005. Retrieved January 15, 2015.