Digital accessibility

Home > Life Skills > Digital literacy (life skill) > Digital accessibility

Designing technology that is easy to use and accessible to all people, regardless of any physical or cognitive disabilities.

Disability types: Understanding the various types of disabilities and the challenges they face in accessing digital content and technology.
Assistive technologies: Familiarising oneself with the various assistive technologies available that aid people with disabilities in accessing digital content and technology.
W3C guidelines: Familiarising oneself with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provided by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which sets a standard for web accessibility.
Accessibility testing: Understanding the importance of conducting accessibility tests to ensure that digital content is accessible to people with disabilities.
Accessibility audit: Knowing how to carry out accessibility audits to assess the accessibility of digital content and devices.
User experience (UX): Disabled people's experiences and their user perspective of digital content and technology.
Web and mobile technologies: Understanding the most common web and mobile technologies and their impact on creating digital content accessible to people with disabilities.
Accessibility standards: Familiarising oneself with the accessibility standards required for websites, mobile applications, and digital documents.
Legal framework: Understanding the legal frameworks that require digital content to be accessible to people with disabilities.
Inclusive design: Incorporating Inclusive Design Principles in the design process to create digital content that is accessible to all.
Accessibility training: Obtaining training on digital accessibility to improve knowledge and skills on creating accessible digital content.
Collaboration with stakeholders: Working together with designers, tech developers, and content producers to incorporate accessibility in the whole pipeline of digital content and technology.
Personalization: Designing digital content that is adaptable and personalizable for users with varying abilities.
User testing: Testing digital content with a person with a disability to ensure that it is accessible and meets their needs.
Internationalization: Designing digital content that can be accessed by users from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
Visual Accessibility: This refers to designing digital content that is easy to read and navigate for people with vision disabilities. This includes features such as adjustable font size, high-contrast colors, and alternate text descriptions.
Hearing Accessibility: This involves providing digital content that can be accessed by people with hearing disabilities. This includes providing closed captioning for videos, transcripts for podcasts, and audio description for images.
Motor Accessibility: This refers to designing digital content that can be easily navigated by people with motor disabilities. This includes providing keyboard shortcuts, voice commands, and other assistive technologies to help users interact with digital content.
Cognitive Accessibility: This involves designing digital content that is easy to understand and use for people with cognitive disabilities. This includes layout and design choices that are simple and easy to follow, as well as clear and concise language.
Assistive Technology: This includes any technology designed to help people with disabilities interact with digital content. This can include screen readers, braille displays, and other devices that support accessibility across different types of disabilities.
Web Accessibility: This involves designing websites and other digital content that are accessible to people with disabilities regardless of their platform or device. This includes adhering to web accessibility guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Mobile Accessibility: This refers to designing mobile applications that are accessible to people with disabilities. This includes features such as high-contrast colors, adjustable font sizes, and easy-to-navigate interfaces.
Social Media Accessibility: This involves making social media platforms more accessible to people with disabilities. This includes features such as closed captioning for videos, alt text for images, and other accessibility features that make social media more inclusive.
E-Learning Accessibility: This involves designing e-learning content that is accessible to people with disabilities. This includes providing closed captioning for videos, transcripts for audio content, and other accessibility features to make e-learning more inclusive.
Gaming Accessibility: This refers to designing video games that are accessible to people with disabilities. This includes adding features such as customizable controls, captioning, and other accessibility features that make gaming more inclusive.
- "Web accessibility, or eAccessibility, is the inclusive practice of ensuring there are no barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to, websites on the World Wide Web by people with physical disabilities, situational disabilities, and socio-economic restrictions on bandwidth and speed."
- "The needs that web accessibility aims to address include visual impairments, motor/mobility difficulties, auditory impairments, seizures, and cognitive and intellectual disabilities."
- "When a site is coded with semantically meaningful HTML, with textual equivalents provided for images and with links named meaningfully, this helps blind users using text-to-speech software and/or text-to-Braille hardware."
- "When text and images are large and/or enlargeable, it is easier for users with poor sight to read and understand the content."
- "When links are underlined (or otherwise differentiated) as well as colored, this ensures that color blind users will be able to notice them."
- "When clickable links and areas are large, this helps users who cannot control a mouse with precision."
- "When pages are not coded in a way that hinders navigation by means of the keyboard alone, or a single switch access device alone, this helps users who cannot use a mouse or even a standard keyboard."
- "When videos are closed captioned, chaptered, or a sign language version is available, deaf and hard-of-hearing users can understand the video."
- "When flashing effects are avoided or made optional, users prone to seizures caused by these effects are not put at risk."
- "When content is written in plain language and illustrated with instructional diagrams and animations, users with dyslexia and learning difficulties are better able to understand the content."
- "Accessibility is not confined to the list above, rather it extends to anyone who is experiencing any permanent, temporary, or situational disability."
- "Situational disability refers to someone who may be experiencing a boundary based on the current experience. For example, a person may be situationally one-handed if they are carrying a baby."
- "Web accessibility should be mindful of users experiencing a wide variety of barriers."
- "According to a 2018 WebAIM global survey of web accessibility practitioners, close to 93% of survey respondents received no formal schooling on web accessibility."