Hey Friend,

It is possible that you have never heard of web accessibility before and this is your first official introduction, or maybe you heard about it but aren’t quite sure what it really means, or maybe you know but want to know more?

Either way, I am excited to introduce my passion and career of web accessibility to you.

What is Web Accessibility?

Have you ever gone to a website and it just didn’t work the way you wanted or thought it should? Is there something you hate when you run into it on a website or if hate is too strong, something that is really frustrating for you?

We have all been there. Now imagine it works for everyone else but not for you because of a disability. And then you find out that it would work for you if the people who created the website had followed a standard.

While not always intentional, the end result is discrimination and a barrier that can slow down or stop people from buying online, finding information, accessing entertainment or any of the countless benefits of digital technology.

Web accessibility is the idea and the implementation of making the internet accessible for people with disabilities, for everyone.

Web accessibility isn’t a theory, it isn’t impossible. There are practical ways, following a longstanding standard (WCAG), of making accessibility happen. Websites and Technology that are built with web accessibility in mind makes this possible.

Assistive technology

Assistive technology is settings, software or tech that tries to enable equivalent experiences for people with disabilities.

• Have you ever wondered how someone who is blind reads an online article?
• How does someone who can’t use a mouse fill out a form?
• Or someone with chronic pain can navigate without a mouse or keyboard?

There actually isn’t a single answer, just like the human experience varies so do the ways we use websites and apps. There are thousands of different accessibility settings and software available on your computer or phone. The possible combinations are endless.

For example someone who is blind often will use a screen reader where it reads to them what is on the screen and even reads alternative text descriptions for images. Some people use only a keyboard and never touch a mouse, or their voice to tell the computer what to click or type. Some people zoom in a lot or use screen magnification that only makes part of the screen really large. There are high contrast mode settings, reduce motion, captions, or options to have your computer speak for you. It is pretty awesome how technology can level the playing field and let everyone have access to information.

If websites are built right, they pass needed information to the assistive technology settings, applications and devices giving people access. When it doesn’t it can be annoying, frustrating or completely block someone from accessing the content.

People with disabilities often find work arounds for things that aren’t accessible and don’t follow standards but this puts an extra burden of time or cost on the person with the disability and creates a derivative experience that is often not accurate or equivalent.

When talking about websites and apps and other digital accessibility it is important that the same interface reliably works for everyone. Their Assistive Technology and settings allow them to customize it and interact with it in different ways.

A few practical examples

If I were sending an email I could choose to add images or not and I could choose to make it accessible or not. A screen reader doesn’t read an image, it reads alternative text that is embedded in the code. In order for a blind person using a screen reader to have an equivalent experience the intent of the image would need to be added as alternative text. If it was left the image might be missed completely or misunderstood.

If I were uploading a word doc to a website I would want to make sure that I used actual headings for main topics instead of just making the text larger. An actual heading can be interacted with by assistive technology to quickly find the main topics similar to someone visually scanning a document.

There are hundreds of decisions we can make when we create content, from captioning videos, to clear link text, to making sure when someone zooms content isn’t covered or cut off. One of my favorite things about web accessibility is that I can do something small, that often doesn’t even take more time, that can have a significant impact on someone's life. That is very cool. An accessible website can make a large difference and you can be a part of that by creating content with web accessibility in mind.

-jay pope
Web Accessibility Specialist & CEO
Pope Tech