“I speak not for myself but for those without voice… those who have fought for their rights… their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated” ~ Human Rights Activist, Malala Yousafzai
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A group of people work to share a skydiving journey, representing the concept of collective progress.
What website accessibility means?
Website accessibility is really about striving for equal opportunity standards. That said, website Accessibility is officially defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (i.e. W3C) to mean, “That people with disabilities can use the web. More specifically, 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” (W3.org). So, it’s all about making sure that every member of our local and international community, from our students, patients, and employees to our many business clients, partners, and guests are able to benefit from the information, tools, and resources that our departments collaborate to produce and provide.
Why accessibility is important?
Website accessibility is important because it’s about the elimination of barriers and setting solid standards of equality in place, in order to ensure that we may collectively achieve progress, both locally and globally. This has been a national value for the United States for quite some time. In fact, in 1998 the United States Congress met to pass an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 in regards to this very issue. It’s called Section 508 and it requires, “Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities. The law (29 U.S.C. § 794 (d)) applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508, agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to access available to others,” (Section508.gov).
“The issue in web accessibility is the fact that blind and visually-impaired people need the single biggest boost to achieve equivalence, since the real-world Web is a visual medium,” (Canadian Scientist, Joe Clark).
A visually impaired person using a computer with braille components.
Furthermore, according to data provided by the Pew Research Center: Over 73 percent of Americans own at least 1 desktop computer, approximately 72 percent own a smartphone, and it’s estimated that over 2 billion people will own a smartphone by the end of 2016. This means that our university websites, from the home page to every child page that sits under it, must be able to meet the needs and expectations of the many visitors that will seek to interact with us, online via our websites and web applications.
And we know that preeminence is our standard. So, remember to ask yourself how well you’re able to meet that standard in digital spaces for all of our clients. Can you effectively serve the many, diverse individuals who may more often than you suspect, choose to first interact with your organization or department online, and can clients with disabilities benefit from your online offerings? The only way to know for sure may be to make a point to connect with your organization’s web experts and architects.
You may need to collaborate with user experience, a.k.a. UX teams in order to properly evaluate the perceptions, responses, and overall experiences involved in using the online sites and systems, you currently have in place for visitors. If you haven’t done so already, set a goal to improve online accessibility and usability. Not only will your clients be more satisfied, but your team will be grateful for the improvement as well. If you’re a member of the USF Health community for example, then you may connect with USF Health Information Systems to find the answers to your accessibility questions and to meet your department’s digital service needs.
Think of it this way, when we all push forwards together, we go further than any one of us may go alone.
A crowd of people form an arrow pointing forward, representing the concept of teamwork.
Quick Points to Note:
- Why is website accessibility important in healthcare?
- According to a study into health information websites by Dr. Xiaoming Zeng, MD and Dr. Bambang Parmanto, PhD, “The Internet is an increasingly important resource of health information consumer. Seventy-odd percent of the population are estimated to search online for health-related information for their decision making,” (NIH.gov). Most interestingly, their study revealed a significant correlation between web accessibility barrier scores and the popularity of the website.
- Why is website accessibility important for students with disabilities?
- According to the National Post-secondary Education Student Aid Study, “Over 2 million college students have a disability, about 11% of the college student population, or 1 in 10 students,” (OSU.edu).
What are website accessibility features?
Websites have can have a wide variety of features, but here are five of the things you can consider for a start when you’re measuring the accessibility of your website at anytime (Usability.gov):
Woman using voice controls for computer functionality.
- Functionality: The site should be accessible from a keyboard, but should also be tagged to work with necessary voice-control systems
- Content: Ensure that text content and included documents are clear and consistent, so that they can be easily understood by a wide variety of visitors
- Color: Avoid relying on color as a navigational tool or to differentiate items
- Images: Alt text should be included in the markup code for any images
- Transcripts: Podcasts, video, etc. content can be presented as a transcript or with captioning
Remember, the overall point of supporting website accessibility is to ensure that we can all benefit from the information and resources that are available online. It takes everyone of us to push towards progress. Help your team and you clients by making it a priority, today.
Happy Computing!
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