If the “old” digital divide is between those with broadband access to the internet and those without, the new digital divide is between those with access who can use online content and those who cannot. Specifically, I’m thinking about individuals with one or more physical disabilities.
Broadly speaking, physical disabilities can be grouped into three categories: vision, hearing, and mobility. Each category encompasses a variety of impairments and a spectrum of ability; from able, to disabled, and everything in between. For example, while blindness is obviously one type of visual disability, so is color blindness. Loss or paralysis of a limb is mobility disability, but so is loss of fine motor control due to Parkinson’s disease.
For application developers, content creators, and information publishers, providing full access for individuals with physical disabilities is not a trivial endeavor. It adds difficulty to interface design, often requires development of additional media assets, and complicates quality assurance efforts. And that adds up to more time and more expense. So why do it?
In my view, there are four reasons that you should consider taking that extra time and expense to remove obstacles to access. The first, and the most obvious, is if you know that your target audience of information consumers includes individuals with disabilities. This might be the case with internal employee training, for example.
If you supply products and services to the federal government, including our military, the second reason is equally compelling. It’s the law. Section 508 of Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain or use electronic and information technology, Federal employees with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access and use by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities. Section 508 also requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities.
The third reason, perhaps, is purely financial. Individuals with some degree of physical impairment or disability represent a significant market segment. This is a market segment with significant purchasing power, composed of millions of individuals that will look either favorably or unfavorably upon your company, your products, and your services. In the United States, for example, nearly 3 million consumers are visually handicapped from color blindness and over 1 million have Parkinson’s disease. Some 36 million American adults report some degree of hearing loss, and more that 100 million Americans are visually disabled without corrective lenses.
This is also growing market segment for two reasons. First, aging boomers are living longer and yet are increasingly affected by a variety of age-related health issues that can impair sight, hearing, and/or mobility. Second, an unprecedented number of young Americans now return from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan with serious injuries that will be with them for the rest of their lives. Ask yourself, “Are there aging boomers in my work force?” and “Are my products and services of potential interest to veterans?” I’d be truly surprised if the answer to both was “no.”
I raise the issue of market opportunity to point out the potential financial rewards of designing for accessibility, and to open discussions of return on investment. I think that one should also consider what the economic impact of preventing a significant segment of the population from participating in the global knowledge economy could be.
Setting all practical, regulatory, and economic arguments aside, my fourth, final and (I believe) most compelling reason to design for accessibility is simply this: it’s the right thing to do. I can’t imagine any ethical or moral basis that could justify creating and maintaining a new community of second class citizens in cyberspace.
Of course there are still hundreds of millions of people world-wide that have no access to the internet at all, much less, broadband access. And that status quo isn’t acceptable either. But if website designers, software programmers, and eLearning authors would start building for accessibility today, we’ll be ready for everyone to participate tomorrow.
Is information accessibility on your mind? Let me know what you think.
