Digital Accessibility and WCAG: Why Inclusive Design Matters

What is digital accessibility?

Whenever I explain to my friends and family that I work in the digital accessibility space, the general response seems to be "well, what is digital accessibility?". 

The way I summarise it is by saying, 

"Imagine you are a wheelchair user trying to get into a restaurant that has a staircase to the front door. The restaurant must make sure there is some method, such as a lift or ramp, in place for wheelchair users to be able to access the building. 

Now apply that same logic to a website; if someone is blind and reliant on a screen reader to access a webpage, the page needs to be defined appropriately to ensure that the user can navigate it. That's where I come in to confirm whether the page is accessible". 

This seems to help paint the general picture of what myself, and the wider UX team, do in digital accessibility.

Whilst we're defining what digital accessibility is, I can offer up a more formal definition from AbilityNet: 

"Digital accessibility, or web accessibility, is about universality and making websites and digital services that can be accessed and used by everyone - people on different devices, in different environments and with different abilities".

Similarly, we in the Boxfusion UX Team define digital accessibility as 

"Ensuring everyone, especially users with disabilities, can use a service or product to do what they need to in a similar time and effort as those without a disability". 

The slight distinction with our definition is that we believe it's important that all users can complete their tasks in a similar timescale, no matter their ability. For instance, it's all very well having webpages being accessible for keyboard users, but if the method of getting to simple components can only be accessed through complicated keyboard shortcuts, that is still not an equal experience and why we take our definition further.

Whether you're from the UX space and were seeking further clarification on digital accessibility, or someone mentioned digital accessibility in a conversation and you nodded along like you understood, but are secretly searching it up now, hopefully I've answered your question! 

However, I'd recommend you keep on reading, as I will be delving further into the topic of digital accessibility, by looking at why it is important, who it benefits and what accessibility compliance rules exist.

Who benefits from digital accessibility? #

Digital accessibility benefits those who have access needs the most, ensuring these users can utilise pages no matter their impairment. 

This includes people who have the following:

• Blindness or visual impairments
• Deafness or hearing loss
• Physical impairments or mobility issues
• Learning difficulties

For example, for users who are visually impaired, the digital accessibility standards ensure that web pages can be accessed using assistive technology that processes the page and conveys the information to these users. 

For users who are deaf, the digital accessibility standards require that any audio content is conveyed in another medium so these users can perceive the information. For users with physical impairments, the digital accessibility standards require that anything that can be achieved with a mouse can be achieved with a keyboard too. The list of course, goes on, but these are a few examples on how those with disabilities benefit.

Something to note is that, more broadly, improved accessibility benefits everyone from all walks of life!

If you are working at a customer service center where you are answering calls and inputting people's information into a database, you will likely have rows of fields that need to be filled in. Sometimes using your keyboard and clicking tab is easier to cycle through each of the fields to get to the one you want rather than using your mouse. However, if the fields are not accessible via a keyboard, you will not be able to access the fields this way after all, impacting your efficiency at completing these tasks.

In a similar vein, if you broke your arm and were no longer able to utilise a mouse until your hand had healed, you would likely have to rely on your keyboard. Whilst a temporary ailment and not a permanent disability, you would still be someone who would benefit from improved keyboard accessibility in the short term.

Why is digital accessibility so important? #

Adhering to digital accessibility standards is important as more people than you would think have a disability. To draw on the 2021/2022 UK national statistics, the data indicates that 16 million people have disabilities in the UK - this means that at least 1 in 4 people have a long term illness, impairment or disability and so likely require further considerations in order for them to access webpages.

What is digital accessibility compliance? #

Websites have to conform to digital accessibility standards because accessibility compliance is a legal requirement in the UK. This is per the following laws:

1. Equality Act 2010: This act protects those with disabilities from discrimination and requires reasonable adjustments to ensure equal access to services and facilities.
2. Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018/2022 (PSBAR): This builds upon the above 2010 act and applies to the public sector specifically, requiring organisations to make their websites and mobile apps adhere to the latest published version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (also referred to as "WCAG"). 
3. European Accessibility Act: This act sets accessibility rules for products and services, such as computers, phones and banking services, to reduce barriers and increase access to integral products. This applies to any business that trades in the EU.

The combination of these laws ensures that businesses adhere to accessibility - and ensures that webpages have the necessary "ramps" for those with access needs!

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What is WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines? #

In the section above, we mentioned the infamous WCAG standards. If you are wondering "so what are these guidelines?" then look no further! 

Let's dive into these.

The WCAG standards are a set of recommendations on how to make websites, online services and apps, amongst other web content, accessible. They are produced by W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium), a non-profit organisation that seeks to improve accessibility across the web. 

If you would like to view these guidelines for yourself, please see the following:

1. A document that delves into an extensive review of the WCAG 2.2 standards
2. The full list of the WCAG criteria
3. And to the "Quick Reference" list of the WCAG criteria websites (this link is one that I use daily)

As we know, companies must meet the latest published version of WCAG; currently, this is WCAG 2.2 level AA , which builds upon versions 2.0 and 2.1 of WCAG.

There are three different levels of WCAG conformance:

1. A: the minimum level, very basic accessibility, only requiring 31 criteria to be met.
2. AA: the level that most organisations should strive for – especially as we know that public sector bodies must achieve this per PSBAR. To be AA compliant, the 55 level A and AA criteria must be met.
3. AAA: the highest level of WCAG accessibility, which is difficult to achieve. This includes adhering to the full 86 WCAG 2.2 criterion for AAA compliance.

POUR Principles #

The WCAG standards are based on the following 4 design principles:

1. Perceivable: this principle requires services to ensure users can utilise the content in ways they can perceive.
2. Operable: users must be able to utilise and navigate components and content, regardless of how they decide to access it.
3. Understandable: services must ensure users can understand how to use and access content.
4. Robust: content must be designed to work reliably across a wide range of user agents, including assistive technologies.

The combination of these considerations ensures that users have a more accessible experience and gain "digital ramps" to access websites, products and services.

Conclusion #

This is only the tip of the iceberg for the topic of digital accessibility, but I'm glad you could join me for it!

Ultimately, if you take anything away from this blog, let it be the fact that digital accessibility is important no matter the setting. If we can all shift the mindset to include accessibility from the start of web content build, everyone will feel the benefit and a more inclusive online world will be created!

In the next few blogs, we will take a look at why manual accessibility is necessary, how we conduct accessibility testing and what assistive technology is.

Further reading links: #

• Another useful link for accessibility testing on GitHub. 
• Further information on accessibility requirements for public-sector web content. 
• Further information on the WCAG 2.2 standards.