Accessibility Basics
When online content and experiences are accessible, it helps all users benefit from them. Before starting, it’s necessary to understand what accessibility is and why it’s important. This page includes a number of resources to help you begin learning about accessibility!
What Is Accessibility?
Accessibility focuses on making products, services, programs, and environments available and usable for everyone. According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 6 people have a disability, which means there are millions of people who are unable to access your content if it is not accessible. However, adjustments made to increase accessibility almost always benefit everyone, whether they experience disability or not.
For example, curb cuts were installed to make public sidewalks accessible for wheelchair users. While the change was initially for them, it has also been beneficial for many other reasons. Curb cuts help people using bicycles, baby strollers, skateboards, dollies, and more!
This 8-minute video from the Web Accessibility Initiative provides a great overview of 10 areas of accessibility:
Accessible Technology
Just as curb cuts and ramps are necessary for wheelchair users, digital content needs to be adjusted to make it usable for everyone. This includes electronic documents, websites, programs and software, video, audio, and other electronic formats.
Making technology accessible means making it available to users who experience a range of disabilities. For example, users with low vision require the use of screen readers or Braille devices. Individuals who are deaf require captions on videos and transcriptions of audio recordings.
Find Resources
There are many people and resources on campus to help you make your content more accessible. If you are new to accessibility or have any questions, please send us a message; we’re happy to help!
For more information about accessibility, you can explore the resources below: