Accessibility

Accessibility, from a web perspective, is the practice of ensuring that websites are accessible to all, regardless of ability or disability. Disabilities to consider include physical disabilities, situational disabilities and socio-economic restrictions.

Physical disabilities include, but are not limited to, visual or hearing impairment, difficulty or inability to use the hands, seizures, learning difficulties, such as dyslexia and dyscalculia, as well as cognitive disabilities such as PTSD and Alzheimer's.

Situational disabilities relate to someone who is experiencing a boundary based on their current situation. An example of this might be a person who is situationally one handed due to them carrying something with the other, such as a child.

Socio-economic restrictions incorporate things such as bandwidth and speed.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG for short, were developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), which is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), along with individuals and organisations from around the world. The goal of these guidelines is to provide a single shared standard that meets the needs of individuals, organisations and governments internationally.

Other Accessibility Guidelines Developed by the WAI

• Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) - Guidelines covering software and services used to produce web content.
• User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) - Guidelines covering software used to access the internet, including, web browsers and extensions, media players, readers and other applications that render web content.
• Accessible Rich Internet Application (ARIA) - Guidelines which define a way to make web content and web applications more accessible for people with disabilities.

Useful Links

• W3C Introduction to Web Accessibility.
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
• How to meet WCAG (Quick Reference).
• Accessibility on Google Developers.
• Accessibility on MDN Web Docs.
• Digital Accessibility on Lexdis.
• Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
• Jiscmail Digital Accessibility Regulations list.