Digital accessibility, as defined by technology encyclopedia TechTarget, is the “design of technology products and environments to help people with various disabilities not be impeded or otherwise unable to partake in use of the service, product, or function.”
And according to its website, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an organization aimed at advancing the usability of and expanding access to the web for all, believes “the web is fundamentally designed to work for all people, whatever their hardware, software, language, location, or ability. When the web meets this goal, it is accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive ability.” To advance these goals, W3C created the international standard for digital accessibility on the web: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Despite the resources available, companies routinely miss basic digitally inclusive practices. Common digital accessibility failures on websites include a lack of alt text for images, poor contrast text, and failing to put titles or headers on webpages. In virtual collaborative settings, like meetings or presentations, failure to include captioning or transcripts is another shortfall.
Accessibility is all about good design, both physical and digital. Door levers in place of doorknobs are useful to those with their hands full, as well as to someone who lacks fine motor skills. Simple formatting with clear headers and intuitive navigation enables screen reading technology, just as it makes for a better user experience for everyone.
“If it’s created in an inclusive way with regard to the range of people who may consume it, then it will be accessible,” said Golden. “It begins with an inclusive mindset, which leads you to create experiences, tools, information, and content in accessible ways. Accessibility is the end product.”
4 Things You Need to Consider
1. Lots of people are living with a disability.
Of the 61 million adults in the United States who live with a disability, 19.1% of those individuals were employed in 2021, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). While far below the employment rate for people without disabilities (63.7%), the sheer number of people working with disabilities is significant (and, it’s worth noting, that figure is up from 17.9% in the previous year, 2020). This means that many of our colleagues, coworkers, and leaders are currently living with disabilities — and even more will experience one in the future.
Disability is not always a condition that a person acquires permanently or is born with. “We forget that disability can be temporary or situational,” said Golden. Whether temporary, situational, or permanent, disability is a condition that increases in prevalence with age, and two out of every five adults over the age of 65 live with a disability.
2. Disabilities can be invisible.
Disabilities are not always obvious. Invisible disabilities are those that can be more difficult to detect, like depression, traumatic brain injuries, autism spectrum disorder, chronic pain, serious illness, bipolar disorder, or attention deficit disorder. “You really cannot assume whether or not someone is experiencing a disability,” said Golden.
Just because we cannot always easily observe their effects, invisible disabilities can create a range of accessibility barriers much like visible ones. For instance, a website with moving text boxes can make it difficult for individuals with dyslexia to easily consume the information.
3. There are many disabilities and demographics to consider in your digital accessibility strategy.
When designing for inclusive remote and hybrid workplaces from a disability standpoint, some disabilities more readily come to mind than others, like blindness or low vision, for example. Others may not be as apparent and require greater research and strategy, like the need to avoid certain visual effects to prevent triggering migraines or seizures.
The major classes of disability, according to Hauerslev Jensen, are vision, hearing, mobility, speech, and cognition. Cognition, also referred to as neurodiversity, is the broadest category and includes everything from attention deficit disorder to autism, Down Syndrome, dyslexia, and more. ”These are all kind of lumped together, which is a little controversial,” said Hauerslev Jensen, noting that from a product standpoint, the needs of people with a ‘cognitive’ disability vary widely.
Unless you’re an existing accessibility professional or expert, you’ll want to partner with accessibility services organizations or consulting firms like Aspire. to conduct audits, so you can identify barriers and build a roadmap for better disability inclusion.
4. Everyone benefits from good design.
Thankfully the argument for a more accessible workplace is no longer as one-dimensional as “It’s the right thing to do” or “It makes good business sense.” Today, we know that well-designed and accessible workplaces are good for everyone.
Debbie Tharp, JD, a legal researcher for medical marijuana company Nugg MD, has a learning disability that causes her to have an extremely slow reading speed.
“I have a Doctorate in Law and wasn’t a successful student until I learned to use assistive technology to study, along with sheer force of will,” Tharp recalled. Now, she said, she depends on it to do her job.
Tharp believes a lot of people aren’t aware of how many individuals rely on technology for their day-to-day lives, personal and professional. “They’re aware technology is needed for vision problems, of course…But other people need this type of tech, too,” she said.
Accessibility in the workplaces enables employees to do their best work, bringing their diverse sets of experiences, viewpoints, and abilities together to problem-solve. What’s more, working together to make more accessible experiences can spur inventive solutions.
“The creative problem of how to make an experience work for people who are coming to that experience with different abilities or environmental constraints — that’s where we come up with more innovative ways to do things,” said Golden. “And innovation is the true lifeblood of continued growth.”
