It is very likely that everyone will experience a permanent or temporary disability at least once in their lifetime. More than one billion people live with some kind of disability, the World Health Organization says. Equally important, not all disabilities are obvious or easily identifiable. So, accessibility compliance is important for your business.
We usually think of limited mobility, difficulty with coordination and movement, dexterity disabilities. Or auditory and speech disabilities like a total loss of hearing or voicelessness. Visual disabilities include total blindness but also color blindness, tunnel vision, and cataracts.
There is also cognitive difference or disabilities that affect mental processes. Not to mention that every individual reacts and copes with them differently. Everyday things for most of us sometimes are frustrating, so it is very important to realize that having a disability can make life a lot harder.
How and why people with disabilities are affected by ICT
Although we are right in thinking that scientific advances and modern technology help disabled people, new issues are emerging. By definition, ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is any system or device used to create, convert, duplicate or access information and data. ICT is now at the heart of almost every aspect of our lives.
Employees with disabilities need to access information to do their jobs as well as proper tools. On the other hand, customers that use their products or services need the information and tools to be accessibility compliant.
Consequently, accessibility needs to be in mind when tools and products, or services are created.
ICT is any device, document, or website…
Businesses and government agencies are required to some degree to provide accessible ICT so everybody can access the information they need. Because ICT is so fundamental to our lives, we need to address many technical aspects when it comes to accessibility compliance.
On the hardware side, it is obvious that besides having workplace barriers removed, all the devices and machines being used need to be accessible to people with disabilities.
On the system or software side, there is a safer way to go. Using highly rated and widely used software guarantees that most of the guidelines are met. Having a custom or an in-house solution might raise the cost of accessibility compliance.
ICT also includes any intranet or internet websites, training materials, and remote work tools. So, ICT includes all the documents created and used internally or being a result of a process and presented to the user.
While the list might seem endless, accessibility for people with disabilities is not at all a new thing. Much of the accessibility compliance work has already been done by manufacturers and solution providers.
Can accessibility compliance be good for your business?
Companies that have certified their compliance are far less vulnerable to fines or lawsuits. But accessibility compliance provides many other benefits.
For example, you make more informed decisions when you develop, procure, maintain, or use ICT. Contracts and future work plans include accessibility requirements.
Testing and verifying accessibility compliance with standards before launching websites and applications or before purchasing products and services reduce extra costs and prevents delays in production or product launches. Early implementation and insisting on compliance also provide you with a good head start.
Talking about accessibility keeps everyone in the company engaged and prepared.
It is about company culture and how other people and business partners perceive your company and brand.
It is good for internal process
Another key point is that making things right from the start means that there are steps to follow all the way through your process.
Consequently, your internal processes and workflows will benefit. Essentials, like clear communication of mission and vision, business goals, and reporting will benefit too. Having structured, easily readable and well-designed documents and charts will save you much time in the future.
In the same way as creating an effective presentation, creating accessible documents means that you need to take care of some basics. Those basics for presentations include proper title and structure, logical reading order, not using distractions or hard-to-read fonts and color combinations. Such a presentation is more likely to be accessible to people with disabilities.
An accessible document is not a summary
Of course, being accessible does not mean that a document needs to be stripped of longer texts, complex tables, or images. It means that the contents are easy to follow and read for people with disabilities. Images have the alternate text and descriptions and tables include markup.
There are many good practices on the accessibility of ICT, such as this one at The University of Washington. For example, they provided simple guides for both students and instructors on how to create accessible documents and forms using Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat and how to create accessible PDFs from documents.
If you would like to do a self-check on how accessible your content is to readers Cyber-Duck has provided a PDF accessibility checklist to help you with the audit. Together with advice on content, creating PDF forms, tagging, and more.
Accordingly, an accessible form would have all the functionality of an inaccessible form, with some features added. Document description provides name, role, state, and value information for all form components. It notifies the user when a field that must be completed has not been completed in a PDF form using an alert dialog. Additionally, it positions the keyboard focus on the field where the error occurred.
Why don’t we just share native documents?
Considering that we already made an accessible document and followed the guidelines, why don’t we just share it? Why do we convert it to PDF, ESEF, ODF, or HTML?
Because a variety of content and specific use cases make some formats more suited than others. Also, some of them were made to standards like PDF with ISO 14289 (PDF/UA).
Even so, for PDF/UA conforming files to be truly accessible there must be PDF readers and AT (assistive technology) which understand tagged PDF files.
How about web content?
If you have done the basics and made your source documents accessible, you’re on a good path.
Check your site’s conformance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA and it’s likely to take a lot less effort to make your website very robust in terms of accessibility. Upgrade with 12 additional criteria from WCAG 2.1 A to be safe for 2021. To see whether your website currently conforms to WCAG at that level, you can use a free automated website accessibility testing tool.
By now, you already know the drill, but let’s make it formal and state the four accessibility principles for web content: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.
Needless to say, all efforts count
Making sure that accessibility criteria are being met is about the law, but it is also about doing the right thing. There is no greater reward than making life easier for people with disabilities – and your business can benefit too.
