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We all benefit from Web Accessibility

Published on 28th October 2024 by Debbie

When many people think about web accessibility, they assume it only relates to people with a disability, but in reality, it affects us all.

So what exactly do I mean, how are you affected? In this instance I am referring to temporary and situational disabilities, and also something that will happen to all of us, aging.

As we grow older, our sight deteriorates and we will need to rely on the ability to enlarge text and zoom into content to see the relevant information and hope the colour contrast is correct so the content is visible. Also, due to dexterity issues, we'll find clicking on a small button more challenging as we age so the size of the button will need to be of a considerate size. But if these features and functions aren't available on a website, so you can't properly see it or use it, do you think you'd stay on the site?

In regards to temporary disabilities, here are a few examples:

  • A broken arm or recovering from carpal tunnel surgery - If for instance, you're right-handed and that's the side that is out of action, you'll find trying to use a mouse with your non-dominant hand quite a challenge, so using a keyboard will be the easier option. Now you will be introduced to the joys of keyboard traps and keyboard accessibility issues. For an example of how annoying this can be, check out this previous article I wrote on my experience on a website: Keyboard Traps Make me go Argghhhhh
  • You may misplace or lose your glasses - Until you're able to find them or have them replaced, you will have a disability when it comes to using websites if you can't see them properly. Therefore you may find using a screen reader is the easiest solution as long as the website has been formatted correctly, otherwise, you may think it's talking another language!
  • You may be suffering from an ear infection and be sensitive to certain sounds so you might want to read subtitles/captions or transcript, rather than listen to a video, so you'll need to rely on the option to turn these on and for them to work correctly with what is appearing on the screen.

With situational disabilities, these are more common than you may have realised:

  • You're outside on a beautiful sunny day and you want to look at a website on your phone, but the glare from the sun is too much for you to see the content on the screen, so you will need to be able to adjust the contrast, so a contrast tool will be used to help you overcome your vision-related disability.
  • You might be looking at a website on your phone but the font the site has used is way too small for your screen, so you'll want to be able to manipulate the screen by enlarging the text.
  • In many situations these days, we find ourselves needing to look up something on our phone while we're on the go, so you might have your phone in one hand and maybe a coffee or your child's hand in your other. You will need the website to operate correctly with just one hand, otherwise you'll have to quickly learn how to not get annoyed in front of your child!
  • You're in a crowded room, or the situation that happens to me most often, sat with your partner watching their choice on TV and you find your mind wandering to your phone and onto a video. You can't play the sound of the video as you'll get a disapproving look, so you'll need to rely on the video having either subtitles/captions or a transcript, to fix your hearing disability and allow you to understand what is happening in the video.

At some point in all our lives we will find ourselves in these situations, for some, it could even be a regular occurrence, so when you next think about your website and its accessibility, remember it is impacting all of your users.


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