The importance of accessible services
By Margaret Cooney, Director, Partnerships & Innovation
Accessibility
Your website will need to meet accessibility WCAG guidelines to ensure that everyone who needs to can access your services. If it isn’t easy to use your site, you may be breaking the law, says Margaret Cooney.
The importance of accessible services
This means that you need to make sure your content is accessible to as many people as possible, irrespective of their disability.
In the same way that we expect public spaces to be accessible to a disabled person, the digital world is no different.
Awareness
In the UK currently, 1 in 5 people have a disability with the US figure at 1 in 4 people, so improving the accessibility of your digital services should be your goal.
Developing your awareness of the range of disabilities; visual, hearing, mobility/motor and cognitive (memory and thinking) will help you to understand the areas of your digital service that may need work or improvement.
Bear in mind that we can all experience access issues at any time; whether it’s trying to access a website with restricted mobility after an injury or surgery, or working in a noisy public space unable to hear audio, or needing new glasses, because it’s getting harder to read the web page with your old pair!
Having an accessible service is just plain common sense and good customer service.
Where to start?
The UK Government and the US Government have some useful advice and resources to help you consider access requirements.
Use these to start your team thinking about their areas of responsibility and to consider whether what they do now is currently a barrier to accessing you service or effective in helping people use your site.
If you can, conduct some research with some users who have disabilities. But a really good starting point is to get an accessibility audit.
Pilao Labs offers this service and our team of experts will help you to pinpoint any issues with your site and give you the solutions to fix them. We can help you to understand what you can fix, and show you what to prioritise based on business and user needs. Read about our accessibility Audit
Inclusive services
The digital landscape and the legislation around accessibility is constantly changing and at Pilao we know it’s impossible to do everything at once, or to stay on top of the latest developments.
Being aware of your user needs and committed to removing the barriers that stop your services being accessible shows that you understand the importance of providing a good customer experience for everyone.
We can help you do this. Get in touch!
