Gelfand Design

With Access U right around the corner, I feel inspired to revisit one of the most important, yet most often overlooked, considerations of Web site design—accessibility.

The federal government acknowledged through the 1998 amending of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 508) that access to information is a civil right. I would like for this to be the cornerstone of any argument for accessible design. However, in my experience, C-level executives don’t jump at the chance to spend money or alter existing practices for the sake of Doing the Right Thing. For better or worse, a company’s accessibility champion has to make these decision-makers see dollar signs to inspire them to take meaningful action. So, how do you do that?

Accessibility Is for Everyone

Accessibility is about removing barriers between your Web content and your customers. That does mean making content available to assistive technology such as screen readers and taking into consideration the possible physical and cognitive limitations of your audience, but the end result is making your content easy for everyone to use no matter where they are, what they’re doing, or what device they’re using to browse the Web.

• When designing a site, when we consider assistive technology, we’re also addressing emerging technology such as mobile devices. We can never know how people will access the Web in the future. Forward compatibility prevents potentially expensive refitting.
• “Disability” can be situational. Would anyone argue that someone talking on the phone while driving isn’t impaired? How about someone talking on the phone while browsing the Web? Or someone browsing the web on a mobile device using keyboard navigation.

The end result is about making your site available to the widest audience possible as much of the time as possible.

The Population Is Changing

• Over 50 million Americans have some type of physical disability.
• The U.S. population is graying. Millions of Americans will be experiencing a decline in sight, hearing, and physical mobility. They won’t stop spending money, though. Businesses will want to make the online customer experience accessible to this massive demographic.
• Thousands of disabled veterans are returning home each year.

Your Most Important Web Site Visitor Is Blind and Deaf

This is the best argument by far to bring to the Big Boss’s attention.

Accessible sites that are coded with lean, mean, standards-compliant XHTML and CSS aren’t just easier for screen readers to handle; they’re also more search engine friendly. Google, your friendly neighborhood “bot” responsible for indexing Web pages and serving them up on Web searches, can’t see or hear. It relies on the text in the Web page source to figure out what your site is about and where it should be ranked in search results.

Want to see what Google sees? Strip out images and CSS from your Web browser view. You can do this by using the Firefox browser and installing the Web Developer plugin. In the event that you don’t have the time or inclination to do that, I found a nice-looking business site and turned off images and styles for you. Take a look. Ask yourself: What Would Google Do? (Company title and tagline blurred out to keep them from coming after me!)

Beautiful Web page with all styles and images visible

Same site with styles and images disabled. You're not hallucinating - the entire site disappears without imges enabled! That's what Google sees.

Businesses Get Sued for Inaccessible Web Sites

Although only the federal government is subject to Section 508 requirements, businesses are not off the hook by any stretch of the imagination. Both the government and commercial establishments are vulnerable to legal action. Last year Target settled a class-action lawsuit with the National Federation of the Blind for $6 million over complaints that its site was’t accessible to screen reading technology. The National Federation of the Blind also filed suit against AOL in 1999, and Access Now, Inc., has sued Southwest Air, claire’s, and Barnes & Noble for having inaccessible Web sites.

That Said, Focus on the Positive

I’m not a fan of fear tactics, so I would not use this as a justification for accessibility when talking to C-level executives. The ADA applies only to government institutions. Most businesses will fly under the radar and never be sued (I think). Focus on the low cost of building accessibility into the design, the benefits of search engine optimization, the accommodation of potential customers, and forward compatibility. (And, while you’re building your impressive laundry list of why to get Accessified now, access to information as a CIVIL RIGHT!)

Accessibility Just Makes Sense

Making the case for accessibility requires getting past abstract ideals or threats. It’s about injecting common sense into the design process by taking into account:

• Accessible sites are not more expensive or more difficult to build—in fact, I’d say the opposite is true.
• The cost of refitting
• The requirements of future technology
• The universal need people have to get to information on the Web quickly and easily
• A superior customer experience on the Web—no angry or frustrated customers
• Search engine optimization

Where Do You Go from Here?

You’re on board, I just know it! So, what do you do now? Is your site accessible? What can you do to make your site more accessible? Stay tuned for answers, tips, and resources to help you Get Accessified!