Most people today can hardly conceive of life without the Internet.

It provides access to information, news, email, shopping, and entertainment. The Internet, with its ability to serve out information at any hour of the day or night about practically any topic conceivable, has become a way of life for an impatient, information-hungry generation. Some have argued that no other single invention has been more revolutionary since that of Gutenberg's original printing press in the mid 1400s. Now, at the click of a mouse, the world becomes your own personal library—that is, if you can use a mouse . . . and if you can see the screen . . . and if you can hear the audio—in other words, if you don't have a disability of any kind.

Before focusing on the challenges that people with disabilities face when trying to access web content, it makes more sense to discuss the ways in which the Internet offers incredible opportunities to people with disabilities that were never before possible.

The Opportunities of a Lifetime!

The Internet is one of the best things that ever happened to people with disabilities. You may not have thought about it that way, but all you have to do is think back to the days before the Internet was as ubiquitous as it is today to see why this is so.

Before the Internet, how could blind people read newspapers? Well, of course, they couldn't, at least not the same newspapers as those lucky enough to have their sight. A family member or friend may read the newspaper to them but this creates a dependancy. A reminder they could never read the newspaper for themselves. Audio tapes or braille printouts offer a reasonable solution, but both options are expensive and slow compared to the rate at which publishers create and distribute newspapers. Blind people wouldn't receive the news until after it was no longer new. It's true that most TV channels broadcast regular news updates but that represents a different kind of experience, it also represents just one viewpoint . We attach an intimacy to reading, probably because of our upbringing and education, but also because it allows for greater detail and depth of opinion.

Many newspapers now publish their content electronically in a format that can be read by text-to-speech synthesizer software programs (often called 'screen readers') used by the blind. These software programs read text out loud so that blind people can use computers and access any text content through the computer. Suddenly, blind people don't have to rely on the kindness of other people to read the newspaper to them. They don't have to wait for expensive audio tapes or expensive, bulky braille printouts. They have the benefit of another viewpoint. They simply open a web browser and listen to their screen reader as it recites the news to them, and they do it when they want to do it. The Internet affords a whole new level of independence and opportunity to blind people. When you understand the impact that the Internet can have in the lives of blind people, the concept of web accessibility takes on a whole new level of significance.

People with motor disabilities, who cannot pick up a newspaper or turn its pages, can access online newspapers through their computer, using certain assistive technologies that adapt the computer interface to their own disabilities. Sometimes the adaptations are crude, in other instances, more sophisticated, as in the use of eye-tracking software that allows people to use a computer with nothing more than eye movements. People with tremors may use a special keyboard with raised ridges in-between the keys so that they can place their hand down on the keyboard and then type the letters, rather than risk typing the wrong keys. Most of these people would not be able to use a mouse with much accuracy. Regardless of the level of sophistication, many of these adaptations have one thing in common: they make use of the keyboard, or emulate the use of a keyboard, rather than the use of a mouse. As with people who are blind, the Internet allows people with motor disabilities to access information in ways that they never could before.

People who are deaf always had the possibility of reading newspapers on their own, so it may seem that the Internet does not offer the same type of emancipation that it does to those who are blind or to those with motor disabilities, but there are a few cases in which the Internet can still have a large impact. For example, they can read online transcripts of important speeches, or view multimedia content that has been fully captioned.

Harnessing the Web's Potential

Despite the Web's great potential for people with disabilities, much of what is possible remains unrealized. Where can you find web-based video or multimedia content that has been fully captioned for the deaf? What if the Internet content is only accessible by using a mouse? What do people do if they can't use a mouse? And what if web developers use all graphics instead of text? If screen readers can only read text, how would they read the graphics to people who are blind? As soon as you start asking these types of questions, you begin to see that there are a few potential glitches in the accessibility of the Internet to people with disabilities. The Internet has the potential to revolutionize disability access to information, but it's too easy to place obstacles along the way that destroy that potential, and which leave people with disabilities just as discouraged and dependent upon others as before.

Designing and Developing web content for People with Disabilities

Though estimates vary, most studies find that about one fifth (20%) of the population has some kind of disability. Not all of these people have disabilities that make it difficult for them to access the Internet. For example, a person whose legs are paralyzed can still navigate a website without any disability-related difficulty. Still, if only half—or even a quarter—of these individuals have disabilities that affect their ability to access the Internet, this is a significant portion of the population. Businesses would be unwise to purposely exclude 20, 10 or even 5 percent of their potential customers from their web sites. Schools, universities, and government entities would be not only unwise, but they could now be breaking the law if they did so.

Each of the major categories of disabilities require certain types of adaptations in the design of the web content. Most of the time, these adaptations benefit nearly everyone, not just people with disabilities. For example, people with cognitive disabilities benefit from illustrations and graphics, as well as from properly-organized content with headings, lists, and visual cues in the navigation. Similarly, though captioned video content is meant to benefit people who are deaf, it can also benefit those who do not have sound on their computers, or who do not want to turn the sound on in public places such as libraries, airplanes, or computer labs.

As web designers and developers are we concerned that our sites will become less appealing to a larger audience if we put too much emphasis on catering to users with disabilities? By complying with web standards and making our sites DDA compliant, we actually think we are doing a better job, not only for our clients, but also for their Internet audience. We believe our online portfolio shows no down-turn in the design and development principles we have held since the inception of our company.

From the perspective of people with disabilities, inaccessible web content is an obstacle that prevents them from participating fully in the information revolution that has begun unfolding on the Internet. To them, it is a matter of basic human rights. When we, as web developers truly understand this perspective, most of us realize the importance of the issue, and should be keen to do what we can to make web content more accessible.

Comprehensive Solutions

The foundation of any kind of commitment to web accessibility is awareness of the issues. Most web designers and developers are not personally opposed to the concept of making the Internet accessible to people with disabilities. In fact, most accessibility errors on websites are the result of ignorance, rather than malice or apathy. A large proportion of developers, and this certainly applies to us, had simply never even thought about the issue. The new DDA initiatives have brought the subject into sharp focus.

Though being aware of the issues is an important first step, it does not solve the problem, especially in large organizations. If the leadership of an organization does not express commitment to web accessibility, chances are low that the organization's web content will be accessible.

Even when a company expresses a commitment to an idea, if the idea is not backed up by policies, it tends to get lost among the day-to-day routines. The best approach for a large organization is to create an internal policy that outlines specific standards, procedures, and methods for monitoring compliance. An organization's policy could simply be that their web developers take the lead. All good web development companies are well down the road to full compliancy and are fast acquiring an in-depth knowledge of DDA.

Is it more expensive and time-consuming to create accessible websites than it is to create inaccessible ones? On a page-by-page basis, the extra time required by a knowledgeable developer to make the content accessible is so minimal as to be almost negligible. Once developers know the concepts, implementing them becomes second-nature, and does not add significantly to the total development time.

Conclusion

The web offers so many new opportunities to people with disabilities that are unavailable through any other medium. It provides a method for accessing information, making purchases, communicating with the world, and accessing entertainment that does not depend on the responsiveness of other people. The Internet offers independence and freedom. But this independence and freedom is only partially a reality.

Too many websites are not created with accessibility in mind. Whether purposefully or not, they exclude the segment of the population that in many ways stands to gain the most from the Internet. Only by committing to accessibility and providing for accountability, training, and technical assistance, can the Web's full potential for people with disabilities become a reality.

wight365 are proud to be an equal opportunities web design and development company.

micky pixel

Mike has worked in the advertising and design media since leaving art school and has a vast range of experience across a number of key disciplines.

He believes that given the constant shifts in technology it is essential that our advice to clients remains focussed and centred on the best possible solution for their project. "At wight365 we love to be loved! So we always go that extra yard for our clients".