Accessibility
Reduce Barriers to Access
The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that more than 18% or more than 3 million people in Australia have some kind of disability. Disabilities may be emotional, physical, sensory or intellectual. People with different kinds of disabilities can experience difficulty using the Web due to a combination of barriers in the information on Web pages, and barriers in the 'user agents' (browsers, multimedia players, or assistive technologies such as screen readers or voice recognition). Meeting accessibility guidelines in the development of Web applications means reducing barriers to access.
Types of 'lack of access'
For some people with disabilities, barriers can mean lack of access to information needed for educational programs; lack of access to employment-related information or workplace intranets; lack of access to information on civic activities or programs; inability to participate in e-commerce; or prevent access to information on the Web in general.
Disability Discrimination Act 1992
In Australia, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 underpins the requirement to ensure that websites are accessible to people with disabilities.
W3C Guidelines
Guidelines have been developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to ensure that those with a visual impairment, or other disability, are able to access Web-based material, products, information, and services. The 'Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0' are a W3C specification providing guidance on accessibility of websites for people with disabilities. The specification contains fourteen guidelines which are general principles of accessible design.
Assistive Technology
Assistive technologies, such as screen readers, are sometimes used to alleviate the accessibility barriers for people with disabilities.
General Benefits of Accessibility
Accessibility is not just a concern for people with disabilities. Accessible design also benefits other Web users, for instance
by promoting device-independence for Web content. Checkpoints that support Web access for people with visual disabilities
also help people accessing the Web from mobile phones, hand-held devices, or automobile-based PC's; when connection speed
is too slow to support viewing images or video; or when a person's eyes are busy with other tasks.
Checkpoints such as captions support access for people with hearing impairments but also help people who are using the Web
in noisy or in silent environments; and they make it possible to index and search on audio content.