ACCESSIBILITY INTERNATIONAL

A Global Community of Local Businesses Embracing Accessibility For All....

Accessibility: Accessibility in it’s broadest sense refers to designing products, devices, services or environments for people who experience disabilities. Times have changed and we all have to think about more than just the physical world and also consider the online cyber world when designing our business websites to ensure that they are accessible and serve all customers.

Become An Accessibility International Partner….

Accessibility International Partners understand the importance of making their business and website
“Accessible to All”.

The new customers that you desire, want to patronize businesses that operate honestly and ethically and that care about people and our environment.

Accessibility International

Support Accessibility for all, subscribe today for your FREE membership to Accessibility International.

CLICK TO JOIN

Accessibility Matters….

We all recognize the importance of accessibility in our physical world. Although newer, accessibility in the cyber world is no less important.

The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both direct unassisted access and indirect access meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology such as computer screen readers.

Shopping online this year, nearly 10 million shoppers will be visually impaired, over 10 million will have a hearing impairment, and severe limits to their dexterity will affect more than four million.

Assistive technology is used by many persons with disabilities to access websites. For those using assistive hardware or technology to surf the web, if it is not compatible with that technology, your website will not be visited or viewed by potential customers. There is a lot a website owner can do to make their site more accessible, which is good news.

Rules are coming, Website owners be aware!

We all are aware how the American Disabilities Act (ADA) has affected brick and mortar businesses. The ADA requires all public business locations to “prohibit exclusion, segregation, and unequal treatment” of persons with disabilities. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is in the process, working on changes to Title II of the ADA to include web accessibility regulations which will affect state and local government websites.

Website Accessibility

The United States Department of Justice will police U.S. sites under WCAG 2.0 Web Accessibility Guidelines established by the World Wide Web Consortium to ensure compliance. The European Union and individual governments will also be imposing oversight to the world wide web to ensure accessibility for all internet users. Smart business owners will embrace both physical and web accessibility for all potential customers by ensuring that their website is accessible to persons with disabilities. The Web Accessibility Guidelines explain how a website should be coded and arranged to ensure that it is accessible.

Building an accessible website.

Use best practices, forms, images and more to build your accessible web site. These are key areas to consider:

CLEAN CODE is the first step to building an accessible site, programmers and designers need to ensure using clean, quality code.

ALTERNATIVE TEXT for visual elements of a website is important to assist the visually impaired using assistive technology to describe the image content within a tag allowing the assistive technology to translate the description into a clear phrase or sentence. Well written text alternatives add context to the image, improving the user experience..

The image depicts a weathered gray wooden door set into a buildings hand laid stone wall.

Don't close the door....

"Don't close the door on potential customers with disabilities!"

The image depicts a steep wooden staircase with many steps descending to a beautiful sandy beach with the water beyond the beach.

Make your website....

"Make your website easy for customers with disabilities to navigate."

The image depicts a person in a four wheeled scooter attempting to maneuver under the barrier of a low wooden beam placed across the trail.

Welcome all visitors

"Welcome all visitors with disabilities to your website."

5 Top Inclusive Employers And How You Can Be One, Too! *

Updated August 2021 What Defines Inclusive Employers? The most successful companies often have one philosophy in common- they put their employees first. They know respecting their employees and treating them well will foster a positive environment and reflect back to...

Accessibility for Back to School *

It’s that time of year! Students are heading back to school with their shiny new back-to-school tools. Many will still be learning remotely, or be participating in a hybrid program where they are learning at home some of the week. For most, this means choosing a...

Accessible Naming for Screen Reader Compatibility *

An accessible name is the programmatic name that assistive technologies use to identify an element on the page to users. On the web, there are countless instances of elements without an accessible name. This is a significant barrier for assistive technology users....

4 Ways to Make PDF Accessibility Faster *

When you're building an engaging, informative, accessible website, PDF accessibility might not be your top priority, but it's no less important than captioning videos and describing images with alt text. Even one inaccessible PDF is enough to render your website...

Write Your Accessible Web Content Clearly and Simply *

Is it Possible to Write “Clearly and Simply”? The task of writing clearly and simply has never been either clear or simple. In fact, it can be one of the most difficult of all writing tasks. Clear and simple writing is an art to which many aspire and few...

Avoiding Accessibility Errors when Remediating PDFs *

Equidox integrates automated warnings When remediating your PDF documents, it can be easy to miss tagging elements on a page such as alt text or links, or to mislabel headings. You might find these errors while you’re manually checking your document after remediation....

Seizure Disorders are Web Content Accessibility Issues *

Seizure Disorders can be Triggered by Your Web Content Some people are susceptible to seizures caused by strobing, flickering, or flashing effects. This kind of seizure is sometimes referred to as a photoepileptic seizure. When pulses of light interact with...

How the White House may Influence Digital Accessibility *

Section 508 was added to the ADA in 1998, requiring all federal government agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible. However, the extent to which these digital accessibility requirements have been enforced is unclear. Every two...

Web Accessibility is the 2nd Web Revolution *

What Does Web Accessibility Mean to the Disabled? Most of us are familiar with how Accessibility applies to physical barriers in places of business. The courts describe public spaces as “places of public accomodation.” What this does is give a legal...

Accessibility Tips for Remote Learning and Working *

Since the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, millions of students and employees have been learning and working remotely. While there are enormous benefits in terms of health, safety, well-being, and flexibility, there are also a number of concerns regarding...