July 2023 Special Needs Living Akron/Canton

Digital Accessibility Perspective

Why Isn’t The Online Space Getting More Accessible?

By James Warnken- Apex Communications Network

It is estimated that 90% of websites remain inaccessible to people with disabilities. I suspect this number to be higher based on my experiences, conversations, and research. While there has been progress, from nearly every perspective, it is not significant enough to move that percentage closer to 0.

When we hear or think about digital accessibility, we likely think of blind users, users with low vision, color blindness, limited mobility, cognitive disabilities, and auditory disabilities. Or at least that is where we should start thinking. We should then think about all of the tools, technology, softwares, and devices that make accessing and engaging in the online space possible for people with disabilities.

Until a few years ago, I was under the impression that I, as a person with a visual disability, needed to make the world around me accessible to me. After I started learning and exploring the digital accessibility space, this mindset shifted towards a “meet me in the middle” mindset. If people with disabilities are purchasing softwares and other technologies to access and engage, why, as a business or organization, are we not working to make sure our digital content works with it? This question still baffles me as it is not nearly as expensive, time-consuming, or technical as many people believe.

But wait, there is hope! Unless you’ve existed offline over the last year, you’ve likely heard about some of these AI tools and what they are doing to “change the world”. These tools are fascinating to say the least, but they make learning and implementing change easier than it has ever been before. It became common to just “Google it” when you were curious about something, but you still had to sift through all those links and find one that was reliable and worked for your specific situation. Now, with these AI tools, you can be specific, and in return, you get a specific response. Go onto Chat CPT or Google BARD and ask how to make a website accessible. It may give you a fairly generic list, but it is a good start. As you dive deeper, here are some prompts you can use to learn about specific accessibility measures:

1. How do I ensure interactive elements are keyboard accessible?

2. What should be done to make pre-recorded videos more accessible?

3. In (website builder name i.e. SquareSpace, Wix, Wordpress, Shopify), how do I make sure my images are accessible to blind users?

4. What is an accessible heading structure? Can you show me an example of it in action?

5. How can I perform manual accessibility testing on my own website?

6. How can I make my contact form more accessible?

7. Can you show me an example of an accessible form?

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg, you can ask for almost anything!

AI combined with people becoming more tech-savvy and the tools we use becoming more robust couldn’t be a recipe for anything but innovation and advancement, especially for digital accessibility. I am a firm believer in continuing to learn and explore throughout your life, and in the world we live in today, you couldn’t ask for an easier way to learn, explore, and implement change.

I’ll end by saying this if you’re not working to make your websites, social channels, documents, and applications more accessible and inclusive, it’s a choice, there’s nothing stopping you now!