Intro to Accessibility

Accessibility addresses how people with different abilities interact with digital products, including visual, auditory, motor, speech, and cognitive variations. These considerations shape how users perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with digital interfaces in diverse ways.

Accessibility features benefit everyone, not just users with specific needs. Voice commands help both blind users and those with temporary hand injuries. Captions serve deaf users and anyone watching videos in noisy environments. High-contrast modes assist users with visual impairments and those using devices in bright sunlight. Clear, well-structured content helps users with cognitive differences and anyone trying to complete tasks quickly.

Digital products need to work across different situations and user needs. Someone might need larger text due to vision impairment, forgot their glasses, or is viewing on a small screen. Another person might use keyboard navigation due to a motor disability, a broken mouse, or personal preference. Understanding these scenarios helps create more versatile, usable products.

Disability emerges from the interaction between individuals and their environment, not from a person's condition alone. A person's capabilities become barriers only when environments, products, or services aren't designed to accommodate different ways of interacting with the world.

Disabilities can be permanent, temporary, or situational. A permanent disability might be blindness, while a temporary one could be a broken arm that heals. Situational disabilities occur when circumstances limit abilities — like trying to read a phone screen in bright sunlight or being unable to hear audio in a noisy environment. Understanding disability as a mismatch between person and environment helps create more inclusive solutions.

The global population of people with disabilities is over one billion, representing a significant portion of all users^.[1] This number grows when considering temporary and situational disabilities that affect everyone at different times. Recognizing disability as a common human experience leads to better product decisions.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a global standard for making digital content accessible to people with disabilities. These guidelines are built on 4 core principles that define how digital content should work: it must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Each principle contains specific guidelines and measurable success criteria.^[2]

WCAG's structure helps create better digital experiences through clear requirements. For example, under the "Perceivable" principle, one guideline requires text alternatives for non-text content like images. The corresponding success criteria specify exactly what those alternatives need to include for different compliance levels.

Many countries have adopted WCAG as a legal requirement for digital accessibility. Organizations must meet specific WCAG success criteria to comply with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States and the European Accessibility Act.

WCAG has 3 compliance levels: A, AA, and AAA, with each level addressing progressively more complex accessibility requirements.

Level A accessibility requirements establish the essential foundation that prevents complete barriers to access. Without these basic requirements, some users simply cannot use a digital product at all. However, meeting only Level A criteria doesn't create a fully accessible experience — it just prevents total exclusion.

Consider how products convey information through color. A chart using only colors to distinguish data would completely block colorblind users from understanding the information. Level A requires providing alternative ways to convey this information, such as patterns, labels, or icons alongside colors. This is how Level A creates basic usability for all users.

Level AA represents the standard that creates genuinely usable digital experiences for most people. While Level A prevents complete barriers, Level AA makes products comfortable and practical to use for a wide range of users. It's the level most organizations need to meet for legal compliance and real-world accessibility.

You can consider contrast requirements as an example of Level AA's impact. While users might technically be able to read low-contrast text, it creates unnecessary strain and frustration. Level AA's contrast requirements (4.5:1 for normal text) ensure comfortable readability across different vision capabilities and lighting conditions.

Meeting Level AA shows a serious commitment to accessibility while remaining achievable for most digital products.

Level AAA represents the highest standard of digital accessibility, setting aspirational goals that maximize usability for all users. While achieving complete AAA compliance may not be feasible for every product, its criteria provide valuable guidance for enhancing accessibility beyond the basic requirements.

Take contrast requirements as an example. AAA requires a contrast ratio of 7:1 for normal text, significantly higher than AA's 4.5:1 requirement. While this limits color palette options, it ensures optimal readability for users with severe visual impairments. This level of contrast also benefits everyone in challenging conditions like bright sunlight or dim lighting.

Rather than viewing AAA as an all-or-nothing goal, consider implementing specific AAA criteria where they add the most value for your users. Some features, like providing sign language interpretation for video content or limiting text width for better readability, can significantly improve accessibility for specific user groups while benefiting everyone's experience.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines organize accessibility into 4 essential principles known as POUR. Each principle addresses different aspects of how users interact with digital content and services.

The POUR principles include:

• Perceivable means users must be able to detect content through at least one of their senses. This includes providing text alternatives for images, captions for videos, and ensuring content can be presented in different ways without losing meaning.
• Operable ensures users can interact with all features regardless of how they use technology. Products must work with various input methods like mouse clicks, keyboard commands, voice control, or assistive devices.
• Understandable requires content to be clear and logical. Navigation should be consistent, instructions should be simple, and users should be able to comprehend and process information at their own pace.
• Robust means content must work reliably across different technologies. Products should remain functional across various browsers, devices, and assistive technologies like screen readers or magnification tools.

Legal regulations in several countries help make sure websites, apps, and other tools work for everyone, including people with disabilities.

For example, the ADA is a U.S. law that says businesses and public spaces must be accessible. Section 508 is also from the U.S. and focuses on federal websites and tech. EN 301 549 is the European standard for accessible digital tools. AODA is from Ontario, Canada, and covers accessibility for both the public and private sectors. The ACA is Canada’s federal law that pushes for barrier-free access across the country.

These rules are all about fairness. They aim to make sure everyone can read, hear, and use digital content, no matter what their ability level is.