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This section is part of the Introduction to Accessibility ebook content.
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Consider: what do you mean when you say ‘accessibility’?
When we say “accessibility”, we can mean different things. These things all overlap and can influence each other, but it is important to seek clarity in what we are discussing.
Are we talking about:
- Being able to easily discover a product, service, or some information?
- Being able to physically enter/exit or move around within a building, such as if there are ramps or working elevators?
- Being able to physically find a building or service point of contact? For example, public transit stations or stops may not be physically navigable in a wheelchair. Help chats may not be digitally accessible, even if the chat is on the website – think about keyboard navigation and focus.
- Being able to afford the cost of services, entrance (like an event ticket), hardware, membership, school, or another economic factor?
- Being able to access information online (text size, information structure, keyboard navigation, etc)?
Improving one of these factors can improve others. For example:
If an event website improves its digital accessibility, it also can improve the rate of people discovering the event in the first place (discoverability, SEO).
OR
If an event website improves its physical accessibility – for example, at the event venue – it might also improve discoverability and movement within the event, see more engagement, etc.
Remember, digital inclusion is not a checkbox. It means you’re leaving users behind. We can’t contribute, we can’t show up, we can’t create or work or buy. And many people with disabilities DO work. Are you starting off excluding users? Are you starting off creating more confusion?
And you may find yourself / in a beautiful house / with a beautiful wife / And you may ask yourself – how did I get here?!
Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime”
what works?
When testing sites, it’s not at all unusual to have people say, ‘Oh, is that what it is? I use that all the time but it wasn’t clear what it was.’
Steve Krug, “Don’t Make Me Think”
Not only is clear and concise information best design practice, it makes sure we ALL know what we are discussing. Knowing what we each mean, avoiding (or minimizing!) miscommunication and assumptions, can help in figuring out solutions.
That way, it’s more difficult to consider “a website that is accessible” as just one that’s discoverable on search engines, if you mean specifically whether the website information is accessible to someone with disabilities or adheres to existing industry guidelines like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. If you mean discoverability in some sense, such as discoverability of the website or application via SEO or ads, mention that. If you mean information architecture – which can also be an accessibility factor! – mention that, especially if users do not know where a feature is or has been moved to.
Remember:
- Discoverability (physical or digital)
- Information architecture (breadcrumbs? user messages? ‘not only color’ or icons used for notifications?)
- SEO
- Pricing information and economic factors
- Curb cut effect / Digital inclusion
These items are all related factors, but they are not the same. And even these factors should be aligned with existing standards for usability purposes, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
It might need only be mentioned at the first mention, or brought up only once in a conversation, but this helps to clarify what you mean – and in what other ways accessibility might help, or in what other ways you still need to consider digital inclusion and UX.