Web accessibility refers to making websites usable for people with disabilities. It involves designing and developing websites in a way that people with disabilities, such as those with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments, can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the website and its content.
Web accessibility ensures that everyone has equal access to information and services on the web, regardless of their abilities. This includes individuals who use assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to access the web.
Aside from doing the right thing, increasing your website traffic by improving its SEO rank, and being eligible for tax credits – web accessibility is required by law. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the most significant US law that guarantees civil rights and accessibility for people with disabilities, including web accessibility.
There are financial risks associated with ignoring web accessibility.
Beyond the ethical responsibility to open your doors to every segment of society, there is now a significant financial risk associated with ignoring this issue. ADA lawsuits are time-consuming, stressful, and costly. Making your website accessible increases your traffic, improves your performance, and allows you to add a layer of competitive advantage over almost all your competitors.
I thought my website was built to be accessible.
Whether or not your site was accessible when it was built, the moment a change is made, there is a possibility it is no longer accessible. Any updates to your site impact its accessibility: image descriptions could be missing, there could be incorrect heading heirarchy, closed captions may be missing from videos, navigating your website with a keyboard may be difficult or impossible, etc.
What do I need to do?
- Start with an accessibility scan of your website using the QR code below. The scan will let you know if your site is compliant, semi-compliant or non-compliant. It will give you insights into areas on your website that can improve.
- Create a web accessibility statement (if you don’t have one already), touching on points that show that you have taken the initiative to improve your website for ADA compliance. It’s best practice to have one on your website.
- Install an accessibility widget so that users can make adjustments to the website if they need, like turning off motion effects, high contrast mode, etc. There are free or paid options.
- Test or audit regularly. Things may break on your website when updates are made so it is good to get into a routine of checking out your site. There are browser extensions to help with this.
If you have any questions about website accessibility or need help assessing your website or understanding your results, please reach out. We are happy to help.
