The results from WebAim’s September 2018 Survey of Users with Low Vision are available at https://webaim.org/projects/lowvisionsurvey2/. Here are a few interesting and notable items:
- 75% of respondents report multiple types of visual impairment. 61.3% have light or glare sensitivity and 46.8% have contrast sensitivity.
- 51.4% of respondents report using some type of high contrast mode. 71.2% of users that adjust page contrast prefer light text on a dark background.
- 45.2% of respondents use a screen reader, 48.4% screen magnification software, and 44% browser zoom controls. Other types of settings and AT are commonly used.
- JAWS is the most common screen reader, followed by NVDA and VoiceOver. Narrator is rarely used (.8%).
- Only 8% were detected as having increased the default text size. Very few respondents adjust paragraph, line, word, or letter spacing.
- 60.4% always or often use a keyboard for web page navigation. This is a very high number of users that rely on keyboard accessibility.
- 22% of respondents don’t enlarge web content, while 18% of respondents enlarge to over 400%.
- Dedicated screen magnification software is not highly common. Most users rely on OS settings for magnification.
- 64.3% use iOS devices. Only 7.8% don’t use a mobile device at all.
Much more is available in the survey results article.
