Part II Chapter 8
Accessibility
Written by
Olu Niyi-Awosusi
and
Alex Tait
Reviewed by
Adrian Roselli,
Eric Bailey,
and
David Fox
Analyzed by
David Fox
Edited by
Barry Pollard
Introduction
In 2020, more than ever before, it is becoming increasingly urgent for digital spaces to be inclusive and accessible to all. With the ongoing pandemic making it even more difficult for folks to access services in-person and entire industries moving online, disabled people are disproportionately impacted. Additionally, the number of disabled people is rising due to the long-term effects of the pandemic.
Web accessibility is about achieving feature and information parity and giving complete access to all aspects of an interface to disabled people. A digital product or website is simply not complete if it is not usable by everyone. If it excludes certain disabled populations, this is discrimination and potentially grounds for fines and/or lawsuits.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG, is an internationally recognized set of standards that needs to be met in all websites and applications that utilize the Internet. [...]