ADA-Compliance and Accessibility
Why is web accessibility so important?
Making the internet accessible is about leveling the playground for 20% of the world’s population. The internet has become the most important innovation of our lifetime. Making it inclusive is the most significant step towards achieving a society that prioritizes the inclusion of all its people and values, everyone, for who they are, regardless of abilities. By making your website ADA-compliant, you will:
- Reaffirm your brand as inclusive
- Optimize the reach of your website with improved performance and increased traffic, and you improve your SEO
- When you make your website accessible, you become compliant with the law
- By making your website accessible, you mitigate the legal and financial risk
For Blind Users
Blind users use screen readers to verbally dictate what is on the screen. Most websites lack alternative text for images and ARIA attributes for content and behavior-related adjustments that screen readers rely on.
For The Motor Impaired
When it comes to websites, physical and motor impairments are defined by the inability to use a mouse. Luckily, a keyboard can do everything a mouse can do and more. Unfortunately, most websites are not optimized for keyboard navigation, leaving people with motor impairments excluded from certain website elements.
For Cognitive Disorders
People with cognitive impairments have certain limitations in mental functionalities that can affect how website content is perceived and understood. For example, slang and abbreviations can be very confusing for people with cognitive disabilities. Without the proper context or orientation adjustments, the context may be misunderstood and lead to incorrect actions.
For Epileptic Users
The internet is filled with blinking and flashing animations and GIFs that are dangerous for people with photo-sensitive epilepsy. Many of the users will avoid pages and content for fear of triggering a seizure.
For Vision Impaired
Websites come in many shades, colors, and sizes. For people with visual impairments, the wrong color combination or font size/shape can make it hard for them to see your website’s content. Common visual impairments include blurred vision, color blindness, and glaucoma.
For The Hearing Impaired
Website owners and marketers often prefer to deliver visuals in the form of video. While this is a great form of engagement, hearing-impaired users aren’t able to understand what the video is about unless it incorporates closed captions.