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There is a plethora of content published about web accessibility. There are pages and pages full of standards, guidelines, and best practices discussing how to write web accessible sites. They discuss legal issues, loss of business, and financial gain. However, web accessibility is not about making business more profitable, nor about avoiding litigation. With the proliferation of web use (entertainment, shopping, banking, medical) who is really affected by inaccessible websites?

Almost twenty percent of Americans, about 57 million people, are considered to have disabilities. Consider only people with visual disabilities. According to the CDC, “More than 3.4 million (3%) Americans aged 40 years and older are either legally blind or are visually impaired. Twenty-one million Americans report functional vision problems or eye conditions that may compromise vision.”

Ask yourself… what if you couldn’t use a mouse? Or hear a video? What if text and graphics were unreadable to you, if you could see them at all? Or just couldn’t focus on any content on a page?

Creating accessible websites is an act of compassion and inclusivity. As web designers, we can impact the lives of millions by taking relatively easy steps to assure our work is accessible to as many people as possible. The W3C standards are fully discussed in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) , but here’s a simple breakdown:

• Perceivable – assist users to see and hear web content in the browser, using screen readers, and other assistive technologies.
• Operable – website content is usable with a keyboard, mouse or other helping device.
• Understandable – legible, adaptable, and clear intent.
• Robust – web content can be accessed by a wide range of technologies.

Using these guidelines not only makes a site ADA compliant, this demonstrates that as developers we care and are aware of all those who may benefit from the work we do. We are not able to make sure all people have access to the web, but by implementing these practices we can help people who live with disabilities have the online experiences that so many of us take for granted.