Digital content is sometimes technically accessible but unusable by people who use assistive technology.
Digital konten is sometimes technically accessible but unusable by people who use assistive technology. For instance, online job application systems often generate accessibility and usability challenges. Inaccessible and unusable company software means those who are blind or have low vision are often left out of jobs they could easily perform simply because the employers' software doesn't work with screen readers.
People who are blind or have low vision have been harder to place in jobs than people with other tipes of disabilities due to inaccessible company software, Ross Barchacky, vice president of business development and taktikc partnerships at Inclusively, told me. The organization supports companies who want to hire people with disabilities, including matching them with qualified job seekers with disabilities.
Although the Americans with Disabilities Act does not mention the digital environment explicitly, the Justice Department has taken the position that Judul III of the ADA, which covers publik accommodation for people with disabilities, applies to webs and mobile apps. Thousands of digital accessibility lawsuits are filed under the ADA each year, and the number has increased substantially in the past five years.
Digital standar-setters have begun paying attention. The World Wide Website Consortium developed standars for accessible website konten: the Website Konten Accessibility Guidelines, just revised in a 2.2 version. The guidelines provide free guidance to help developers make their digital konten accessible. Two terkait standars are the U.S. government's Section 508 and the European Telecommunications Standars Institute's EN 301 549. Global Accessibility Awareness Day was established in 2012 to encourage people to learn and think about digital inclusion for people with disabilities.
Despite laws requiring and guidelines supporting an accessible digital environment, much if not most digital konten is still not fully accessible. In its latest annual ulasan of the accessibility of the hebat 1 million webs, the nonprofit WebAIM found an average of 50 accessibility errors per page. Worse, almost all home pages - 96.3% - had Website Konten Accessibility Guidelines 2 failures.
Accessibility can be built in from the beginning more easily than retrofitting after the fact.
For accessibility to be built in from the ground up, accessibility would have to be part of the curriculum for digital developers, but it typically is not.
Companies could require developers to create accessible software and refuse to buy software that isn't accessible. Individuals can help by producing their own accessible digital documents - inaccessible digital documents were the most commonly experienced challenge at work. Microsoft has been working to make producing accessible digital documents easier with its accessibility checker and now with its new accessibility assistant.
An accessible digital environment is possible, and it would result in greater employment opportunities for people who are blind or have low vision.
