The Essential Guide to Digital Accessibility

The Essential Guide to Digital Accessibility deque Important information to help you manage risk and maximize opportunity. Powerful Technology Unparalleled Expertise Significant Results 57 Million Americans And of those... are living with a disability 2.17 million surf the web on a regular basis. 1.15 million find web that's more than browsing challenging. the populations of California and New York combined. Disabilities that affect web browsing An estimated 9 out of 10 websites are NOT Million accessible 3.2 Visual 3.9 Hearing 7.9 Cognitive Mental 19.8 Ambulatory What is digital accessibility? It's a growing market. Digital accessibility is creating a secure technological system for digital As a global, emerging market, the disability community is an increasingly powerful demographic, representing... components such as: Mobile Digital Documents Website Applications Pages $3 Trillion PDF so that everyone can have the same user In disposable income. experience when they access these types of digital components. Accessibility increases Findability Assistive Technology can help! Accessibility techniques increase the findability of web pages by exposing content to search engines, both internally (within a website) and externally (across the World Wide Web). For example: Navigating the web without site, hearing, or hands can be a challenge, but is possible with ASsistive Technology Screen Readers Help people hear content of a Alternative text for images and website (disability - blind or low vision) multimedia is available to search Web Application engines Allows a website to be used without a Most search engines access text and not images Aa mouse (disability - limited mobility) Videos For some search engines, text marked Are captioned and have transcripts 50 as a heading carries more weight available (disability - hearing impaired) than regular text PDF's PDF Some search engines are unable to Can be downloaded and computer can access some code-generated content read content out-loud (disability - blind such as mouse-overs or low vision) What makes a website accessible? Web While I believe passionately that there is a strong business case for web sites to be W. C. Content accessible, in the end it is a civil rights issue. Accessibility A. G. The Internet is too valuable a resource to Guidelines. deprive people of the ability to utilize it. W.C.A.G. is a series of web accessibility guide- Preety Kumar, Deque CEO lines published by the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative. It's the standard rule set that defines what exactly makes a website accessible. 3 Reasons to ACT! On average, people with disabilites spend: 1. There is a clear precedent that the ADA and other regulations require web sites to be accessible. 45 Billion a year 2. The accelerating pace of structured settlements & litigation is creating a growing amount of precedent. A Oops! Sorry, but you can not access this page! 3. A small amount of preparedness can save a meaningful amount of expense, effort and stress for the organization. Are you willing to lock out 20% of the potential visitors to your site? How to Approach Accessible Compliance 1 There are two choices to make when facing accessible compliance. Decide which choice is right for you and your business. Proactive Preparation Reactive Response Steps to Manage Proactively Steps to Manage Proactively 1. Fix high priority issues based on transaction paths 1. Sit down at the table w/the organization bringing the complaint to your company Determine what the most important tasks are that your site users perform, and the individual clicks that comprise the tasks. 2. Get a specialist involved Someone w/experience, don't spend 7-figures trying to handle it internally! 2. Monitor the website 3. Raise awareness with key stakeholders 3. Build internal knowledge w/2 teams: 4. Focus on front line staff a. development b. front line customer service Example: A single phone call that was not handled with basic competency when the discussion turned to accessibility of the company's website was the trigger that started a formal government inquiry 4. Invest in tools a. Help in building/revision of accessible sites b. Ensure accessibility over time 5. Have a conformance statement AKA "A Golden Shield" - document from a trusted third party that states the plan & commitment the business has around accessibility How Proactive Preparation Benefits Your Business 1. Less Expensive 4. Provides a shield to help 2. Control of focus & investment manage further inquiry 3. Good business 5. Enhanced SEO benefits A Checklist for Your Company Does your company: Regularly evaluate your website for accessibility Train & refresh both development and front line staff on relevant aspects of the accessibility program? & provide reports to key stakeholders that track WCAG compliance? Have an internal owner for Evaluate electronic accessibility who keeps the roadmap for future documents for accessibility? enhancements? Contact Us to Learn More deque www.deque.com Ввg