Revisiting the definition of web accessibility and what it should mean in 2020
I can hardly believe it’s already been close to 4 weeks since I joined the AMI-Audio’s team with my monthly digital inclusion segment on the Now with Dave Brown morning show. In our first installment, Dave and I discussed that these segments would be about the inclusion of people with disabilities in the digital space, how web accessibility standards were always playing catch up with the latest advances in technology, and how we’re hoping to make these segments about the listeners and the unique challenges they are running into, as they’re trying to efficiently use the web.
Our next segment will be this coming Monday, October 19th around 9:25 am EST and will again be broadcasted live on AMI-Audio. This time, Dave and I will go into a bit more depth about what web accessibility is all about: what it really means, how it came to be, and how that definition can be boiled down to a mantra of creating a product or service that is usable by anyone, on any device. And I do mean “mantra” as this is a statement I’ve been repeating over and over again for years. Regularly, I run into people who don’t quite see the extent of what it means. So I figured we could start by breaking it down a bit.
Usable by anyone, on any device
That first part, “usable by anyone”, obviously means people with disabilities first and foremost. But the definition of “anyone” can also be extended to mean more than just people with disabilities. It should also mean any person who, for whatever reason, finds themselves struggling with technology at one point or another. Usable by anyone should include any person who has a hard time accessing and consuming online information.
It could be someone with a permanent physical disability preventing the efficient use of a mouse, or someone with a temporary or situational impairment, such as having a broken arm strapped in a cast, or holding a sleeping baby in one arm while trying to use the computer with the other. It could be someone who is deaf, someone suffering from temporary hearing loss as a result of a concussion, or someone unwilling to turn on audio while watching Netflix because their spouse is sleeping next to them. It could be someone diagnosed with dyslexia or any type of learning disability, or someone struggling to understand the content because their mastery of English as a non-native speaker is limited. Or someone with a low literacy level for that matter. You get the point. “Anyone” really needs to mean any person who struggles with online access to information.
The definition of “anyone” can also be extended to mean any person who, for whatever reason, finds themselves struggling with technology at one point or another. Usable by anyone should include any person who has a hard time accessing and consuming online information.
And then the second part, “on any device”, is just as important. Since we tend to think about web technologies as something we consume on computers, we typically don’t think about it twice and correlate “devices” with desktop and laptop computers. However, over the years, the reality of web content consumption has grown to mean a lot more. Some of you may be surprised to learn that it’s now been at least four years since we’ve reached a point where more data was consumed on mobile devices than on computers!
But there’s more. Assistive technologies used by people with disabilities, such as screen readers, adaptive switches, screen magnification or voice dictation software, and many others also count as some of those less known, and less considered “devices”. And with the Internet of Things, wearables taking the world by storm and small screens being added to the most surprising of objects, the diversity of ways in which we connect to the web will only keep expanding in years to come.
Embrace, but expand for the greater good
While international standards on web accessibility were initially created to help people with disabilities experience a more inclusive and welcoming web, the meaning of what they’re for has broadened over the years. We’ve come to recognize that ultimately everyone, regardless of disabilities, benefits from a more accessible product or service. Of course, the idea is not to take anything away from people with disabilities or invalidate the struggles they face online. In fact, in this age of collective hypersensitivity to diversity and cultural appropriation, putting people with disabilities, not at the center, but at the forefront of digital inclusion strategies needs to be our focus. But web accessibility cannot be just about people with disabilities if we ever hope for the industry to truly start paying attention.
Equal access to information is a societal issue that we must all be a part of if we want to level the playing field for everyone, including people with disabilities. The vast majority of us who work in this field agree that a rising tide lifts all boats. Including people with disabilities in every facet of our society can only bring more ideas, more value, more contributions, and more innovations to the table from more people. That’s one of the many reasons why our work matters!
Including people with disabilities in every facet of our society can only bring more ideas, more value, more contributions, and more innovations to the table from more people. That’s one of the many reasons why our work matters!
Engage with us
If this sounds like an interesting or worthwhile discussion, tune in next Monday for the Now with Dave Brown show. We’ll also talk about some examples of challenges faced by people with disabilities on the web, what can be done about that and we’ll even get to questions that started coming in from the public. As usual, if you want to get in touch and discuss any of it, I’m happy to engage with you on Twitter or Linkedin! Just reach out and say hi!
