Why Accessibility
Table of contents
This section covers why accessibility is important and therefore why it is important to have an accessibility policy for your institution. Use this section to: help educate others about the benefits of implementing an accessibility policy, and advocating to administrators.
Accessibility Is Important
Accessibility work improves access for everyone by removing barriers, and is important for many reasons.
- It’s the law! The W3C web page for Web Accessibility Laws & Policies includes relevant laws by country, including the United States Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Read the Payan v. LACCD explainer for greater understanding.
- It minimizes risk. It may minimize legal risk – see Business Case for Digital Accessibility – as well as operational risks.
- It benefits everyone, while still remaining focused on users with disabilities. Learn more on the W3C web page for User Experiences and Benefits to Organizations.
- It increases usage of materials and the patron base Learn more on the W3C web page for User Experiences and Benefits to Organizations.
- It builds a healthy institutional culture of belonging and continued improvement, and it validates individual efforts, allowing them to succeed by having organization commitment codified in a policy.
- It’s the right thing to do; accessibility is a human-rights cause.
Disability is more prevalent than some might think:
- 27 percent of adults live with some type of disability (CDC, 2023;)
- 19 percent of undergraduate students reported having a disability in 2015/16 (NCES);
- 48 percent of students reported that they have had a diagnosed mental health condition in 2020 (Boynton health survey);
- 100 percent of people will experience a disability at some point,according to Axess Lab.
While accessibility is focused on people with disabilities and should remain that way, everyone will experience a disability, because disability can be:
- permanent, or something that will not go away over time (such as Turner Syndrome);
- temporary, such as an injury that will eventually heal;
- situational, for example, when someone forgets their glasses they may experience situations in which they have visual impairment.
Impairments can also be physical, cognitive, or emotional, whether:
- invisible, for example, hearing loss or cognitive disabilities such as dyslexia, or
- visible, for example, using a mobility device.
Access as Success
Access is at the heart of accessibility, and access underlies success (Nagle & Vitez, 2021). If our users can’t access the information or content they need, in the ways they need, they will not accomplish what they wanted to.
In the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the United Nations calls upon countries to “promote access to information by providing information intended for the general public in accessible formats and technologies (Article 21).” Designing your digital materials with accessibility in mind helps you meet the fundamental right to information among a much broader population.
Accessibility vs. Accommodation
Don’t make content or services accessible only when someone asks for it. That creates a barrier to inclusive access and can discourage users from making a request. Creating content and services with accessibility in mind fosters an inclusive environment for all users. Accessible U states that accessibility is proactive; accommodation is reactive, where
- Accessibility = equal access for everyone, by design
- Accommodation = additional support for needs that have not been met
Make accessible choices now to support accommodations more quickly, cheaply, and effectively in the future.
Accessibility Benefits Everyone
Increasing accessibility benefits everyone in the end. While certain features are designed for people with disabilities, many other folks also find them helpful. Accessible U notes that the benefits of accessible design can also help:
- people developing their English language skills;
- people using older technologies to access the internet;
- people in very loud or very quiet environments where speech is difficult or impossible to understand;
- people using mobile devices: the Pew Research Center reported that, as of 2021, 28 percent of people aged 18-29 depend on smart phones for online access, and 15 percent of Americans rely on mobile devices as their only form of high speed Internet access.
Accessibility is the Foundation of Usability
ISO 9241-11, defines usability as:
The “extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals effectively, efficiently and with satisfaction in a specified context of use”.
Broadly speaking, accessibility work supports all people but is critical to those who have impairments. It improves access to information. For instance, captions on videos are used by people without hearing impairments for a multitude of reasons such as needing the sound low or off, facilitating memory and retention, understanding unclear parts or how words are spelled, and learning the language. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) describes how accessibility and usability overlap.
The Case for Digital Accessibility
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has outlined The Business Case for Digital Accessibility, which includes how it may:
Their case outlines how:
- Accessible content is ranked higher in search results.
- Accessible documents and transcripts can be searched by individuals and automated systems such as search engines.
- Flexible designs ensure access for individuals with diverse abilities, learning styles, and devices.
- Diversity that includes the experiences of people with disabilities creates a more vibrant, rigorous community, enriching research and scholarship.
Rethinking Ability and Disability
Jay Dolmage’s book Academic Ableism provides some definitions to consider:
“Disablism” can be defined as “a set of assumptions (conscious or unconscious) and practices that promote the differential or unequal treatment of people because of actual or presumed disabilities” (Kumari Campbell, 4). Disablism, in short, negatively constructs disability. Disablism negatively constructs both the values and the material circumstances around people with disabilities. Disablism says that there could be nothing worse than being disabled, and treats disabled people unfairly as a result of these values. Ableism, on the other hand, instead of situating disability as bad and focusing on that stigma, positively values able-bodiedness. In fact, ableism makes able-bodiedness and able-mindedness compulsory. Disablism constructs disability as negative quite directly and literally. Ableism renders disability as abject, invisible, disposable, less than human, while able-bodiedness is represented as at once ideal, normal, and the mean or default.
When thinking of all the different abilities of people engaging with digital content, focus on the social model of disability. Traditionally, people view disability through what is referred to as the medical model, which:
- defines disability as something that needs to be cured or fixed;
- focuses on the problem as something that resides within the individual. When thinking about the work done to reduce and remove barriers for people of all abilities, using the social model of disability:
- focuses on how society does or does not allow an impairment to disable the person with the impairment;
- defines the problem as something in the environment, not the individual. When addressing digital content work with an accessibility mindset, use the social model of disability.