Accessibility and its Impact on User Experience

“The term persons with disabilities is used to apply to those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various attitudinal and environmental barriers, hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis.”

- WHO Definition of Disability

Taking that extra step to create a barrier-free product might seem extra or unnecessary, but there are tangible and quantifiable moral, technological, financial and legal reasons to focus on Accessibility in your products, apps and websites.

Moral Reasons:

A UX designer is morally obligated to make sure that his/her product is universally accessible and provides independence to people with disabilities by stimulating equal opportunity. Every user has the right to the same information. Every company and brand has a social responsibility to make sure the web is what it was intended to be.

Technological Reasons:

• High quality, standard compliant web content.
• Is easier to manage.
• Gives more information options.
• Is good publicity — increases a site’s reach.
• Decrease in site development and maintenance time (long term).
• Future proofing of content for advanced techniques.

Apple’s Siri was originally meant to be an Accessibility tool. It has inadvertently pioneered an entire industry of technological advancement. Focusing on Accessibility only makes your products easier to use, and that is always a good thing.

Financial Reasons:

There are 610 million people who fall under the “disabled” category worldwide. That equals over $1 trillion in buying power and $220 billion in discretionary income. Disability is estimated to affect 10–20% of a country’s population and is expected to grow (due to poor healthcare, growing elderly populations, etc).

While I personally don’t agree with Accessibility being used as a financial motive, it is impossible to ignore the large market share held by the disabled.

Legal Reasons:

1. 2010 — blind woman sues Ottawa, Canada, over inaccessibility of a government website, claiming a violation of constitutional rights.
2. 2012 — Netflix settles their Caption Lawsuit with the National Association for the Deaf (NDA). Agrees to caption all content on its website (again, benefitting not only the disabled, but everyone else too).
3. 2013 — Safeway settled a lawsuit brought by visually impaired customers in California and Washington. Now ensures their site allows people with disabilities to shop online.

Accessibility laws have been created all across the world, from the United States of America (Americans with Disabilities Act, U.S. Rehabilitation Act, Twenty First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, etc), to the United Kingdom (Disability Discrimination Act, Equality and Human Rights Commission, etc), and Pakistan (National Policy for Persons with Disabilities).

In Conclusion:

The world becomes a better place when we focus on Accessibility. That alone is reason enough to focus on eliminating all barriers disabled people might face when using a product.

It is imperative that we shift the burden and responsibility of disability from the individual to society as a whole. The onus is on us. Accessibility promotes inclusion. The more significantly a person is impaired, the more important the internet is to their independence.

Disability should be described as a consequence of environmental, social, and attitudinal barriers, rather than something a person can be, thus driving social integration and acceptance.