Introduction
What is digital accessibility?
Digital accessibility is actively designing, developing and creating content that is usable by all people, even those with vision, hearing, motor or cognitive challenges.
Standard web accessibility practices aid users in different ways, depending on their needs.
- People with hearing-related disabilities (such as deafness)
- People with cognitive disabilities (such as ADHD)
- People who can’t play audio aloud (such as while inside a public library)
- People with vision problems (such as color blindness, low vision or other visual impairments)
For example, without captions, many of these users would miss most, if not all, of a video’s content. With captions, users can equitably access the content.
POUR Principles
Accessible content consists of the 4 key principles of accessibility:
Perceivable - the content should be understood by multiple senses.
Eg. An image can be visually seen, by also described by a screen reader using its alt text.
Operable - the content should be able to accessed by all users, regardless of ability.
Eg. A website should be able to be navigated by a keyboard as well as a mouse.
Understandable - the content should be able to be understood by all users.
Eg. The content should be written in a clear, concise manner, typically an 8th grade reading level.
Robust - the content should be able to be conveyed through the use of assistive technologies.
Eg. Code markup is written correctly and stays up-to-date.
Why is accessibility important?
In addition to the legal requirements associated with digital accessibility, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and WCAG (Web Accessibility Initiative) compliance removes barriers, allowing the information in your digital content to be conveyed to a much larger audience. As an educational institution, we are responsible for ensuring equal access to information and learning materials, as well as promoting an inclusive environment, and we take our commitment to accessibility seriously.