Even though our world is increasingly connected, not everyone has equal access to online resources. Persons living with a disability may not be able to view, navigate, or understand your website. Web accessibility is one of the most important things you can do for the online community and your customers.
Accessibility is an important step in building a more inclusive website for the digital community and will make your website an experience everyone can enjoy. While enhancing accessibility can seem like a daunting task, implementing these tools and resources is worth the work.
“The one argument for accessibility that doesn’t get made nearly often enough is how extraordinarily better it makes some people’s lives. How many opportunities do we have to dramatically improve people’s lives just by doing our job a little better?”
Steve Krug, a prominent website user experience expert.
For example 14 million people have vision impairments
Because web experiences are essentially visual, the internet is full of websites, tools, and apps that are practically unusable for individuals with visual impairments. Users with visual impairments should not have to adapt their behavior to effectively accomplish their goals. Rather, each site should effectively accommodate the needs of all users, including those with visual impairments.
20% of the population has a learning difficulty
While 20 percent of the population might sound like a small percentage, this number represents over 65 million individuals in the United States who have learning or attention impairments. The most common is dyslexia, which affects an estimated 1 in 10 people. It impacts various levels of comprehension including speech, reading, writing, and spelling.
67.3 million residents speak another language
As a melting pot, the US is full of many different cultures and languages from all over the world. Over 16 percent of the total population speaks a second language. This often means that a significant percentage of the population runs into obstacles while trying to navigate a website that is not their dominant language. In today’s digital age, everyone uses the website to find out information, and providing multiple language options is crucial.
One in four people have a disability
Despite that nearly 26 percent of the population has a disability, website accessibility is rarely a consideration when developers create websites and apps. People with disabilities affected by website inaccessibility can have varying degrees of auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual impairments. It is important to have accessible online content that includes everyone and doesn’t leave out anyone in receiving the message.
46 million residents are 65 and older
Using the internet can prove to be difficult for many people. Whether it’s going through pages of content to find a single quote or searching for the perfect gift, the web can be complicated. As the aging population increases, so does the percentage of the population with disabilities and visual impairments. So more accessible websites are required to teach this part of the community so that the elderly do not become excluded online or miss out on valuable information and services.
1 in 8 adults are affected by hearing loss
Deafness, hearing loss, and being hard of hearing are some of the most common disabilities in the United States and worldwide, yet there are still many misconceptions surrounding hearing disabilities – including that there are many different levels of hearing. Add this to the fact that many who suffer from hearing loss may also be older, speak English as a second language, or have a learning difficulty and the need for having more accessible websites becomes even clearer.
We probably all need to take note!
