Does Your Website Discriminate? Ours Does.
“The power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect”
Back in high school, my 11th-grade health class took a field trip to DC. The point of the field trip wasn’t our destination, it was how we got there. Right as we were boarding the bus, our teacher assigned us a disability. Whaaaa? 😳
He broke us out into teams of five where two people were blindfolded, two people only had use of one arm and the fifth person sat in a wheelchair and wasn’t allowed to use his arms. My challenge was to only have use of one arm. I was relieved I wasn’t blindfolded.
The person in the wheelchair was in the center and on either side was a one-armed person pushing the chair. The blindfolded people each held onto the shoulder of the one-armed person to guide them.
We had to get into a metro station, purchase farecards, ride down the elevator, get through the turnstile, traverse the platform and board the metro train. My vague recollection of it was harrowing, frustrating and pretty hilarious at times too.
It definitely gave me an appreciation of the struggles that disabled people have to put up with every day in a world that doesn’t always take them into consideration. Thankfully a lot has been done to assist persons with varied disabilities in the real world but what about the virtual one?
Surfing the Net Blind
Ever try to browse the internet blindfolded, or controlling your mouse with your less dominant hand, or simply not using a mouse or keypad but using the keyboard only?
It’s estimated that about one-fifth of the world’s population has a disability of some sort that inhibits their ability to effectively access the web.
The CDC has reported that over 61 million Americans have a disability that affects major life activities.
Blind person using a mobile device.
What does it mean to have an accessible website?
Web accessibility refers to the concept of making the internet accessible to ALL kinds of people; disabled, non-disabled, temporarily disabled, or those struggling with a webpage’s format.
Web accessibility is appearing more and more in the small business discourse as a tenet of human inclusivity and universality.
Effective web accessibility means websites, tools, and technologies are tailored to people with disabilities or natural impediments so that they are able to make use of the web.
The primary goal of web accessibility revolves around users being able to effectively perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with content available on the web.
Jason from Hanover, Germany - using the Internet as a blind man through software assistance.
Visual Considerations
Web accessibility hiccups that users experience can often be inadvertent, but they should be at the forefront of every business owner’s mind — be it a small or large business.
Visual issues are most apparent when developers, web designers, and other creatives place emphasis on the aesthetic appearance of their website and overcomplicate it, rather than making it widely compatible.
It’s often better to keep web pages succinct and simple to understand.
For a web page to be accessible, and usable for all different kinds of web users, particularly those experiencing disabilities, it must consider the visual factors that can alter a user’s experience:
Colorblindness
Small or illegible text
Poor content hierarchy (confusing or broken hyperlinks, unclear webpage set-up, sloppy presentation)
Bright sunlight, poor computer display, color brightness
Alt Text allows the image information to be available to blind users, but also to those who elect to “turn off’ web images
Image information and alt text are also available to technologies that cannot visually “see” the images, like search engines
Alt Text allows any kind of user to understand the details about an image and can allow a screen reader to dictate the image information to the user'
Some users undergo circumstances where using the web will cost more in expensive areas with internet surcharges or low bandwidths
Other factors impacting successful web accessibility
A governing principle for web accessibility is Section 508 of the United States government code, which mandates that all government information be web-accessible, meaning accounting for all potential disabilities:
Auditory
Physical
Neurological
Speech
Cognitive
One of the main goals of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI - W3C) involves being able to fundamentally function for all different kinds of users; no matter the circumstances.
Factors that could affect a non-disabled user’s web experience:
Hardware makeup of mobile device/desktop
Software compatibility
Language variation
Ability to use web regardless of user’s cognitive makeup
Elderly users’ macular degeneration
Diminishing motor skills
Temporary/situational disabilities:
A broken finger or arm
Absence of [reading] glasses
Having a cast on an arm
Bright sunlight, poor computer display, color brightness, etc.
Location accessibility:
Slow internet connection affecting user’s experience
A website should not be dependent on fast bandwidth. Websites should be versatile for all different kinds of bandwidths and internet connections, no matter where you live, there should be ways in which everyone can access your content.
Technological Versatility:
The user is able to navigate through the use of the keyboard
Directional commands or letters
Other assistive technology like speech input and commands
Text transcripts can be crucial for deaf users that are unable to use speech input, commands, or any audio function altogether. Transcription services can help create text transcripts in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) format too.
The impact of accessibility and the benefits for everyone in a variety of situations.
Legal and Ethical Importance of Web Accessibility
There is a clear legal responsibility to making sites web-accessible. No user should be discriminated against, even if it is an inadvertent, aesthetic mistake on a web page.
Access to information and communications technologies, including the web, is defined as a basic human right, according to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (via - United Nations).
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires certain businesses to make accommodations for disabled people; those who need to navigate the web by voice command, are blind, deaf, or require other assistive technologies.
Failure to account for these kinds of assistive technologies can be dangerous for businesses because it can bring about lawsuits, financial liability, poor PR perception, and damage to branding.
There are businesses whose sole purpose is to audit other businesses online in order to ensure their website is in accordance with web accessibility laws.
97% of the top 1 million websites in the world fail a basic web accessibility test, leaving them susceptible to legal trouble. There were 8x as many web accessibility lawsuits filed between 2016 and 2019 than ever before.
The internet has never been so involved in our lives as it is today and it is important businesses cover every base going forward.
“In being a proponent of web accessibility, you’re promoting the objective of equity. It’s genuinely good to promote web accessibility for all.”
No one deserves to be discriminated against in any capacity, and especially so when they don’t have a choice about whether or not they’re disabled.
Web and technological accessibility breed more inclusivity by working against discrimination. By making your business or website open to all different kinds of users, you’re additionally opening doors to more potential business opportunities.
What good is your website if it’s only limited to a certain set of people?
How do I evaluate my website’s accessibility?
WAVE Evaluation Tool: provides feedback by evaluating images, color contrast deficiencies, and helps facilitate the human evaluation of many other aspects of a webpage’s accessibility. Available through Google Chrome Store and WebAim.
Audio Eye: accessibility score is determined by the number of passing issues (characteristics of a web page that reinforce accessibility) divided by the number of issues that might be problematic for a disadvantaged user (free trial available).
Square ADA: free audit evaluation tool that will provide you with a snapshot of your website’s accessibility specifically for Squarespace websites.
ADA Compliance Monitor: AI-powered accessibility compliance system.
Top 10 reasons web accessibility is important to your small business
It places emphasis on human good and inevitably widens its own marketing scope.
A web-friendly site reiterates your brand awareness and represents your message. It promotes brand conviction and awareness through the pursuit of equity for all kinds of web users.
As a brand seeking to establish conviction, Design Powers (we) believe in prosperity and equity for all and believe in the same pursuit for our clients.
The WAI goals of inclusivity and universality help to bring a businesses’ principles full-circle. A web-friendly site displays brand awareness and communicates what you stand for.
The law establishes that everyone has a right to the information accessible on the web. Outside of being in accord with legal government compliance, web accessibility can be a crucial edge that allows for more business opportunities, lends promotion of your brand, site, logo, and product, while differentiating yourself from competitors.
Creative entrepreneurs, writers, individual business owners, and designers should always be encouraged to keep web accessibility in mind when constructing their brand and logo — it is yet another facet of branding where they can distinguish themselves.
If you are to not consider creating a web page that is widely accessible, you’re creating problems for yourself down the road. Web accessibility will only continue to be a bigger part of small business — it’s not going away.
Technology is advancing at a rate where nearly everyone is looking to use some form of the internet; a web page through desktop, a tablet, a mobile device, and TV. Without web-accessible pages, disabled users do not understand the full effect of the content because it isn’t being properly presented to them.
America will only continue to demand more universal and inclusive principles, especially when it comes to digital technology.
It’s time that we all get on board in making web accessibility a priority for all different users — not only is it sound business, but it’s also the right thing to do.
How does our site discriminate? Let me count the ways…
A sampling of the errors the WAVE extension shows for our site.
When we first built our website just shy of two years ago, we knew about accessibility but can’t claim deep expertise. Because I've been a designer for a long time, color principles, comprehension, and readability are inane and both Emily and I have gotten much more disciplined about naming regimes for images, headlines and content too.
But since we’re about to embark on a rebrand, we’re digging deep to really understand how to design our next site with a focus on equity, accessibility and inclusion.
For our current site, we’ve considered installing an accessibility overlay widget. I ran our site’s homepage through the Userway test BUT before we put the widget code into our site, we researched it further and found out these overlays aren’t the best solution…
Some of these widgets can actually make it harder for people with disabilities to access information on a site and do not fully protect you from compliance lawsuits. Accessibility is just not something that can be done using a widget. It still requires human subtleties and understanding.
This has solidified our resolve to continue to learn more about accessibility and to incorporate best practices into our next site build as well as our clients’ sites. It’s comforting to know that we are still better than AI at having empathy and understanding the needs of our fellow human beings. Now we must act on it!
