Millions of U.S. citizens require some type of assistive technology to navigate their way around the physical and digital spaces of modern day society. According to the Census Bureau data, there are 56.7 million Americans living with a disability. That's 1 in 5 people that have some type of vision, hearing or cognitive impairment. When you look closer at the data specific to physical disabilities, the total skyrockets to over 74.6 million.
With those numbers in mind, one would think that society in 2022 has made advancements to make the web a place that is accessible for people of all abilities. The reality however is that 90% of sites are inaccessible to people with disabilities who rely on assistive technology. Let that sink in, 9 out of 10 websites do not meet the necessary requirements that is inclusive of millions of Americans. Think about how integral the internet has become as a part of your daily life. Now imagine running into constant hurdles with the majority of the websites that you visit, where you can't execute basic tasks, read important copy or navigate to your desired page. Not only is that negligent, it's also bad business, because of the missed opportunities to engage a larger audience and more importantly send a message that as an organization that you care about all people, not just some.
While design and engineering have come a long way in the last 20 years, this is just an example of how much more our industry and professions need to mature. In comparison, architects with a new building can't pass code if there isn't a wheelchair ramp or handicap bathroom stalls. If we think of a product or a website as a user experience, imagine the message we're sending prospect users when we don't include basic requirements for their needs.
Businesses cut features and scope to make launches lightening fast, so they can meet their business goals. When an organization ruthlessly scrutinizes every single line of code and design to only focus on what's needed for an MVP launch, the chances are that they may also be overlooking accessibility requirements for the interface, code and copywriting. Advocacy groups have taken it upon themselves to communicate and even take legal action with larger organizations that have bypassed accessibility in their sites and apps, because there is no governing body to require these measures. In the end, these businesses end up making the necessary foundational updates (or risk going to court) to their entire site in order to meet the needs of people with disabilities. The info below is a primer on some of the standards that have been set forth by the W3C organization to ensure that everyone follows the same path to a more inclusive user experience.
The Basics of Accessibility Requirements
The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) is the group responsible for the standard set of guidelines for creating an accessible website or app for people with disabilities, known as the Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). W3C's mission is to lead the web to its full potential by promoting a high degree of usability for people with disabilities.
There are three levels for accessibility guidelines: A, AA and AAA. AA is the most used standard worldwide, as it has 37 success criteria for everything from color contrast for the visually impaired to horizontal viewing for individuals with dexterity issues. On each side of the spectrum, there's AAA which is the most comprehensive level with 57 criteria and then there's level A that has the essential 17 required criteria. Reaching AA standards ensures that the vast majority of individuals with disabilities are able to access your site or product by using assistive technology like screen readers to navigate and perform key actions.
At the very least, an A level of WCAG criteria is a must to ensure that the site has basic measures to handle different impairments. I often recommend that companies go a step further to include as many of the AA guidelines as well to decrease the risk of turning away thousands or millions of potential users. Baking in WCAG requirements from the beginning of a project is a smart investment because it enables the design and dev teams to build the right experience the first time without the rework later on. But more importantly, everyone in the design and engineering community needs to do their part to ensure that their websites and products are inclusive for people of all abilities. It's the ethical approach and the right thing to do.