Why digital accessibility matters
By Margaret Cooney, Co-founder & Director
Accessibility
On the tenth Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Margaret Cooney considers whether awareness of digital accessibility and inclusion is greater now than it was before the pandemic – and what you can do to give everyone a first-rate experience of using the web.
A revolution
We believe that digital services and technology should be accessible to everyone so when we were considering the services we planned to offer as Pilao Labs in early 2020, we knew there would be a common thread: digital accessibility would be at the heart of what we do.
Before the arrival of the pandemic, we had lived through what is now commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution. Every aspect of our work, leisure and life was transformed by digital technology. For people living with a disability or on the other side of the digital divide, it was much less revolutionary.
Those of us fortunate to have access to reasonable quality broadband and smartphones with affordable data packages spent more time in front of a screen than ever before in 2020 – because we had to. Life under lockdown would have been more difficult without access to digital tools and technology. Yet the quality of some of these tools often let us down, as did the poor broadband infrastructure in the UK.
Prior to the pandemic, many people living with disabilities were already using digital services because they couldn’t leave their homes. It’s no surprise, then, to discover that their online experience was often frustrating because many digital channels weren’t optimized for accessibility or a quality user experience.
With COVID-19 accelerating our reliance on digital technology and services, these frustrations were something everyone experienced to a greater or lesser extent over the last 12 months. So, it should be very clear by now: the need for better digital accessibility is vital.
The UK context
The percentage of people in the UK who reported a disability in 2019 to 2020 has increased to 22% since 2009 to 2010, when the percentage of people who reported a disability was 19%, a change of 3% over the period. This equates to one in five people.
We’ve already looked at the difficulties faced by people with disabilities, who prior to the pandemic, had poorer online experiences with shopping, banking and government services.
As everyone’s dependency on online services is likely to continue, it is imperative that all organizations consider the needs of disabled people and do more to improve digital accessibility. There are many reasons to do this:
1) A moral responsibility
If you think your organization is inclusive but your online products and services exclude a large section of the population, think again. Do you really want to be that organization? Making your services accessible is the right thing to do.
2) The business imperative
That same large section of the population is a potential customer base – 10% of the UK’s online spending – so you’re missing out on a huge market by not being accessible. The purple pound is worth an estimated £249bn to the global economy and, in the UK, close to £12bn.
3) Legal obligations
The World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) develops international standards for the Web, HTML and more, and produce the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, (WCAG) currently on version 2.1.
Legally speaking, organizations do not have to comply with version 2.1 (upgraded to take more account of mobile technology), but accessibility regulations came into force for public sector bodies in 2018. These say websites or mobile apps must be more accessible and made ‘perceivable, operable, understandable and robust’. Public sector bodies must also include and update an accessibility statement on their websites.
The accessibility regulations build on existing obligations to people who have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 (or the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland). These say that all UK service providers must consider ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled people.
The US context
Awareness of digital accessibility in the USA is much greater, possibly because it’s a more litigious society – and the estimated 61m Americans who live with a disability represent a huge consumer market.
Since 2018, there has been a huge wave of lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act against companies whose websites are inaccessible to people with disabilities. According to UsableNet, these lawsuits are now being filed at a rate of one every working hour.
Digital infrastructure that supports everyone
Although governments on both sides of the Atlantic have become much better at regulating what happens in physical space, they need to get better at what happens in the digital space. With technology so embedded in our lives, digital accessibility isn’t something that would be nice to have, but is a right for everyone.
Where to start
Thanks to an initiative like Global Accessibility Awareness Day, any organization wanting to take the first steps towards making its digital presence more accessible can find out how to start. It need not be daunting; there is a significant overlap between accessibility and general usability.
Gov.uk is a good starting point. Although their advice is directed towards public bodies, this is a useful resource for any type of organization that wants to become more digitally accessible.
There are some common shortcomings that many websites share, that make it much harder for anyone with an impairment to use the site. These include:
Low Contrast Text
Missing Image Alt Text
Empty Links
Missing Form Input Labels
Empty Buttons
Missing Document Language
Source: The WebAIM Million -2021 Update Report. An annual accessibility analysis of the top 1,000,000 home pages.
Get an accessibility audit
Some of the things listed above may sound technical to the uninitiated, but for the most part, they are simple things to fix when you know what they mean and understand the positive impact they can have on the user’s experience. And by that, we mean every user.
Gov.uk recommends engaging the services of a third party to conduct an accessibility audit if it’s something that can’t be done in-house.
Pilao Labs offers a cost-effective service that adds value to what you do. We work collaboratively with clients, explaining which page templates have the biggest impact on the site as a whole. We’ll conduct manual testing on the selected templates we agree with you, and then automated testing across the full site. This will help you to prioritize your actions to make your site more accessible and create a roadmap for the future.
Write an accessibility statement
Accessibility statements are important because they show your users the limitations of your current site. It will show them you have a roadmap and you are committed to the journey towards making your digital offer accessible to everyone. This enhances your brand and credibility. It shows people that you care about their experience of using your website.
Pilao Labs also offers an accessibility statement support service that conforms to WCAG 2.1 and meets current UK Government accessibility requirements.
No going back
Every organization now needs to rise to the challenge of making digital accessibility an organizational goal. It will benefit everyone, bring about more inclusion and equality, and it will show a genuine commitment to social justice. This can only be a good thing for business and society – so why not join the revolution?
Margaret Cooney, Co-founder & Director