Digital Accessibility
Need of the hour
What is digital accessibility?
In simplest terms – Accessibility means making something usable for everyone – including people with disabilities.
To be able to access the Internet & software applications if
- you couldn’t see the screen
- had difficulties hearing sound
- had trouble using a mouse or a keyboard
- had cognitive difficulties
Why do we need Digital Accessibility?
To ensure coverage
- Approx. 15% people suffer with a disability (1.3 billion people)
- 285+ million people are visually impaired
- 70+ million people audio impaired
- Highest no. of visually impaired in India across the globe
To help expand business
- Expanding Business to wider customers
- SEO – Search Engine Optimizations
- Legal Obligations
- Contributing to a cause
Legal / compliance
- ACAA – Air Carrier Access Act 1986 (U.S.)
- CVAA – Communications & Video Accessibility Act (U.S.)
- IDeA – Innovative Designs for Accessibility (Canada)
- ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act
- AODA – Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
- RPWD 2016 – Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (India)
- BITV 2.0 (Federal Ordinance on Barrier-Free Information Technology 2011 – Germany)
People focus – what it means to people?
-
Empowering
-
Independence
-
Confidence
-
Self-esteem
-
Equal Footing
How to achieve Digital Accessibility?
Using defined guidelines
- WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
- ARIA: Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite