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7 web accessibility myths

May 9, 2008

There are no excuses.

1. Web accessibility is difficult and expensive to implement

Many accessibility issues can be addressed by building standards-compliant web pages, ensuring the pages are usable, optimising for search engines and using testing tools that are available on the web. This should be seen as normal practice and the benefits extend well beyond accessibility compliance. It’s an investment. And given that web accessibility is a legal requirement in the UK, it might turn out to be more difficult and costly not implement it.

2. Web accessibility is just for blind people

It’s for people with visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological impairments. It’s also for older people, inexperienced web users, people with low literacy levels, people who are not fluent in the website language, people with low bandwidth connections and people using old technologies. It’s about providing equal access for all.

3. Online testing tools can determine conformance level

Only to an extent. For example, an evaluation tool can determine if an image has associated alt-text. But it requires human intervention to decide what the most appropriate text should be. Whilst these tools provide a good indication of conformance level, it is ultimately human judgement and testing that determine true conformance.

4. Text-only equivalent pages will suffice

Such pages may still not be accessible to all. There is an overhead in maintaining two sets of pages. It gives a signal that the site owner does not fully appreciate all the issues of accessibility.

5. Accessible websites are boring and unattractive

Websites that are built in compliance with web standards using CSS can be rich in colour, imagery, style, flair, etc. and still be fully accessible. It’s simply a matter of understanding how to correctly extract the best from the standards.

6. Disabled people don’t use the web

Using the web is (or should be) just as much a part of every day life for disabled people as working, learning, taking holidays, having hobbies, spending money, helping others, etc. There are about 10 million people in the UK with some form of disability. According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission they have annual spending power of £80bn. For many it is easier to exercise that spending power on the web than in the high street, provided, of course, they have access.