The case for web accessibility in 2023
Let’s start from the end. We shouldn’t need to make a case for web accessibility in any year, or at any time, because all online content should be accessible to everyone with no limitations. And every single person, whether they work in the tech industry, or are just using the internet to send emails or for social media, can help make this happen.
So now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the what, why and how of web accessibility.
What is web accessibility?
Web accessibility means making sure that everything on the internet can be used by everyone, regardless of ability, and without constraints.
It sounds simple, but it’s not. For this to happen, we need to look at all the disabilities that are out there, and integrate the accessibility accommodations that each requires into our web content.
Taking all disabilities into account
When we talk about disabilities, we usually break them down into 5 categories:
- Visual
- Speech
- Hearing
- Motor
- Cognitive
Each of these categories include a wide and varied range of diagnoses which have different impacts on the way people use the internet.
Visual disabilities, for example, don’t just refer to people who can’t see at all. They range from near or long sightedness, to glaucoma, macular degeneration, color blindness, and all the way to complete blindness. Each of these visual disabilities impact the way a person interacts with the world around them, and obviously, with the web.
People with color blindness can’t see all the colors of the spectrum, so if a certain hue is used on a page to send a message, like red for “bad” and green for “good”, they might not be able to get it. People who are blind and use screen readers to interact with the web, won’t be able to navigate through a page, or understand what images are, unless the page is designed with proper page structure, content order, and alternative text for images.
Because the internet is mostly made of text and images, visual disabilities naturally pop into our minds when we think of disabilities that we need to accommodate. But they are not the only ones. For instance, a site visitor who is partially or completely deaf would need captions and transcripts to understand the videos on your site. Motor disabilities (like paralysis and tremors) often prevent people from using a regular mouse, so keyboard support is essential for them. People with cognitive disabilities like autism and PTSD can be distracted, and even triggered, by an overload of animations, different colors and fonts, so simplifying the design and limiting motion can really help them.
We can’t talk about accessibility without mentioning inclusion. Inclusion is about making as many people as possible comfortable with your content, and treating everybody equally, irrespective of ability, age, race, gender, sexual preference, class, economic status, and so on. By considering people who are different to us, and being sensitive to their experience, we can make sure no one is excluded.
Of course this is contextual. If you have a very specific audience you’re targeting, go ahead and target that audience, but if you’re focusing on a wider range of people, consider as many use cases as possible. For example, if you work at a school and are creating an online form for parents to fill in, don’t assume that everyone comes from a heterosexual family, and make the parent information gender neutral.
Sounds like there are a lot of factors to consider when making the web accessible, right? Well there are. But when there are more than 1.3 billion people with disabilities in the world, the web needs to adapt to accommodate them.
It’s not just “them”, it’s everyone
Every one of us experiences disability at some point in our lifetimes. Whether you have a permanent disability, or a temporary one, like a broken hand, or an ear infection, or even if something situational happens, like a loud parade going by while you’re trying to watch a movie, accessibility benefits us all. If I can’t use my hand to hold a mouse, being able to tap a button on the keyboard to navigate instead of the mouse, would be extremely useful. And if I can’t hear properly, captions on videos would really help.
We also need to remember that around 90% of disabilities are invisible. We all have friends, family members, neighbors and colleagues who have disabilities that we might not know about. Or even ourselves. ADHD, dyslexia and anxiety are just some examples of very common cognitive disabilities that most people who have them don’t even think of as disabilities.
Web accessibility is a basic human right
Web accessibility isn’t just a “nice to have”. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the internet” is a basic human right. No one should be discriminated against because they have a disability, or prevented from doing something on the web just because someone didn’t know or simply didn’t care. It’s a common misconception that someone who is blind doesn’t need to know what a picture looks like because they can’t see it anyway. But who decides that? Let’s never assume what anyone can or cannot do. Present all the options, and let your users decide for themselves.
More and more countries are recognizing this and are putting laws into place that make web accessibility a legal requirement. But we shouldn’t be making the web accessible just to avoid lawsuits. We should be doing it because it’s the right thing to do, with no other considerations.
But why are there still web accessibility issues in 2023?
Over 97% of all websites aren’t accessible. The WebAIM Million 2023 report reviewed the accessibility of the home pages of the top 1 million websites and found that there are close to 50 million accessibility errors in the top 1 million homepages, an average of 50 errors per homepage. In an era where technology is constantly breaking new grounds, people with disabilities are still being denied access to even the most basic of services on the web.
One of the big problems with tackling known accessibility issues is that the cost of making inaccessible websites and products accessible can be huge, requiring time and resources that many companies aren’t willing to invest. The monetary benefit of making things accessible is hard to calculate, so fixing accessibility issues often takes a back seat. This is particularly true in the current climate where companies are extremely focused on their bottom line.
It’s also not the best way to do things. Adding accessibility into the end of the process is like baking a chocolate cake and only realizing that you’ve forgotten to add the cocoa in after it’s finished baking. You can try to add chocolate to the cake, but no matter what you do, it will never be a chocolate cake, it will just be a cake with chocolate.
What many people don’t realize is that when accessibility is considered from the start, creating accessible products is not that difficult or time-consuming. Making sure your product works with screen readers and keyboards, considering focus management, and content order (including tabbing order), and creating inclusive content which is structured properly, with descriptive links and alternative text for visuals, are all things that can be done quickly and easily, as long as you know what to do.
And when everyone involved in the product design and implementation process is aware of the importance of accessibility, it becomes just another part of the process. An important part, but still just another part.
So what can you do to help?
If you’re in the tech world, or are creating web or digital products, start by seeing how you can integrate accessibility into your processes from the beginning, instead of as an afterthought. Become familiar with WCAG, the international standards for web accessibility, and look at your processes to see what needs to be applied. Speak to your legal department to understand what your company needs to do to comply with accessibility requirements.
Even if your company or team aren’t onboard, see what you can do to make a difference. Promote accessibility awareness within your team, and start integrating accessibility considerations into your own workflows. Even the smallest changes can make a huge impact.
If you’re an individual, using social media, email, even your phone, to communicate, there’s a lot you can do with your content to make it more accessible to the people you’re interacting with.
- Use descriptive link text when sending a link in an email, so people with visual or cognitive disabilities can understand what will happen when they select a link.
- Add alt text to images you post on social media, or send in emails, so people using screen readers can understand what they are.
- Make sure your text contrasts well with the background you’re writing on, so people can read it properly
- Use words and terminology that as many people as possible will be able to understand.
There are so many more things I could recommend, but even implementing these few suggestions can make a huge difference.
In 2023 there’s no reason to make a case for web accessibility. It should be just another standard, like good grammar and spelling. Luckily, accessibility awareness is out there and is growing. Each of us just needs to do our part to achieve the ultimate goal, making the web an accessible and inclusive place for everyone, just as it should be.
What Wix is doing for web accessibility?
At Wix we’re committed to doing our part and making sure that our users can create accessible websites. We follow the “accessible by design” approach, considering accessibility from the start of the design process, and all the way to the final product. I’m a senior UX writer and accessible content specialist in Wix’s Accessibility Team. Our team works with everyone at Wix to educate them about accessibility, and to integrate WCAG requirements and best practices into all aspects of design and development.
I wrote this post to mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) which is on May 18 2023. In future posts I’ll deep dive into the world of accessible design and content, with practical tips for integrating accessibility into design and content systems, creating content that works for both sighted and non-sighted users, and more.
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