Website Accessibility

"Excuse me… could you please press the left Ctrl button for me? Thank you very much!”

Recently in the news, a college student from California UC Berkeley successfully filed a class action lawsuit against Target Corp, specifically citing target.com.  Target.com is the extremely popular Internet web site for the successful U.S. discount chain store.  The complaint filed states that Target Corp. violates the United States Americans with Disabilities Act and various other California state statues that aimed to protect citizens with disabilities. 

The complaint originated with a communication to Target Corp. in May of 2005 stating that there were specific issues with the online web site making it difficult, if not impossible for a person with the disability of being blind or having limited vision to access the web site.  The lawsuit states that simple measures were requested that would fix the overall issue, however Target Corp. refused to make the website accessible to persons with disabilities.

Many businesses large and small are taking note of this class action lawsuit due to the possible implications for all businesses operating web sites in California and the United States. One of the trends that this class action lawsuit may contribute to is the prevalence of disability websites and making it easier for persons with distinct disabilities such as limited vision to access information whether it is an ecommerce site, informational site, educational site or government site on the internet.

One of the ways that you can provide website accessibility for a disabled person is to include a simple ‘Alt’-text.  ‘Alt’-text are an easy and a commercially viable way to increase website accessibility, ‘Alt’-text are descriptions of images that can not be seen by limited vision persons, however these image descriptions in the ‘Alt’-text format can be read aloud by screen readers for partially sighted visitors or legally blind visitors to create a disability enabled website.  In addition, many search engines currently have the capability of reading the text in order to describe the images being used on the web pages.

For businesses contemplating making their website accessible it is important to point out that changes to a website such as adding ‘Alt’-text are usually extremely cost effective and in the vast majority of cases does not require a website design overhaul.  In addition, most businesses should expect to benefit from making their websites more useful to the public as a whole and especially to disabled persons now being able to access a disability website. 

Besides avoiding lawsuits, there are many benefits to designing disability websites or making your preexisting website accessible, including the fact that making your website accessible is the right thing to do and website accessibility usually equals easier usability for all visitors - not just the disabled. 

Another important benefit of creating disability websites is that a web site designed to be accessible is usually a design that is search engine friendly as well.  Most web developers don’t realize that accessible web sites usually rank very high in the search engines, making it cost effective, due to the fact that the website requires less marketing.  For search engine optimizers creating sites with useful information, adding accessibility is a great way to improve your standings in the search indexes.

Having a website accessible to the disabled can also translate into more visitors from new market segments.  There are more than 1 million people in the US with limited vision, as well as a growing baby boomer population that may soon experience limited vision and require assistance in the form of disability websites to navigate the internet.

One of the many questions website developers are now asking aloud is whether the US Congress will take initiative and pass legislation requiring all commercial web sites doing business in the US to make their websites accessible.  While the verdict is still out, many observers tend to think that since Congress is usually in favor of business, it may not push the issue in the near future. 

However, for website developers interested in making your site and products accessible to all, it is a good idea to create a plan of action to incorporate accessibility for the disabled into your future or present website designs.  You can easily put together a team to evaluate the obstacles for your disabled visitors to access your current site and look for ways to retrofit or design a new template in order for your company to optimize its disability usability. 

Whether the U.S. Congress acts on legislation or not, having a website that is accessible to all, including the disabled should be a priority for your business, not only due to the ethical ramifications, but for the commercial benefits as well.  It makes sense to cater and engage all population segments, providing them with the utmost usability.