Why accessibility should be a priority, not an afterthought
By Alexandra Stoica
We often talk about user-centered design and development, however the process rarely includes accessibility and UX research with users with disabilities or impairments. (Web) accessibility is the practice of making your websites usable by as many people as possible, thus providing equal access to information and communications technologies, including the Web, to people with disabilities or impairments. Simply put, accessibility is a basic human right.
Over one billion (or 15% of the population) people live with some form of disability. Some examples may include auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual disabilities or impairments. While a disability means that the person finds it difficult to perform everyday tasks to a level that is considered normal for most people, an impairment is medical and represents a condition or symptoms that a person experiences (i.e., low vision). These conditions can be permanent (i.e., I am deaf), temporary (i.e., I have an ear infection), or contextual (i.e., I am on a busy train and do not want to play audio). This hardly makes accessibility an edge case. Technology has been playing a crucial role in facilitating our day to day tasks, but is this the case for everyone?
In this TEDxMIT talk, Judy Brewer describes how we should strive for an accessible future: accessible technology provides unprecedented opportunities for people with disabilities. For example, people with visual impairments can now read the news thanks to the screen reader, and people with speech and motor impairments can use eye-gaze to speak with others.
