Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day!
Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is Thursday, May 19 this year. The purpose of GAAD, according to their website, is “to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than One Billion people with disabilities/impairments.” In honor of this day, we wanted to bring awareness to a few of the most common barriers seen across the web. According to the WebAIM Million project, low color contrast, missing or undescriptive alternative text, and empty links are the top barriers found in their scan of the top one million websites.
Color Contrast
When performing accessibility reviews, we rarely, if ever, see a site that doesn’t have an issue with low color contrast. Individuals who are blind, have low vision, or other visual impairments can struggle to read content that doesn’t have high enough contrast. Kickstart your knowledge of how to check content for color contrast issues with this article from Essential Accessibility: Clearing Up a Gray Area: How a Color Contrast Checker Can Improve Web Accessibility
Alternative Text
Every image within your content needs a text alternative. Often, this can be added as “alternative text” or “alt text.” These behind-the-scenes pieces of text describe the context of your images to those who can’t see them. When adding alternative text, ask yourself, “How would I describe this image to someone over the phone?” Read more about alt text from Knowbility: Alternative Text article
Empty Links
Another common barrier is empty links, where a piece of content is linked to something, but it doesn’t have link text or, if it’s an image or icon, it doesn’t have an accessible name. Imagine driving along and seeing a sign that says, “Next Left.” You know that the next left will take you to a new location, but you don’t know where. This is like the experience an empty link will give someone using a screen reader or braille display: the individual will know they can go somewhere, but not where they will be taken. Not only is this confusing, but it will also likely decrease the number of “clicks” this content gets. Learn more about empty links from Equalize Digital: Empty Link article
Oklahoma Works, Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services, and Oklahoma ABLE Tech have collaborated to provide this information and advice to those seeking accommodation in the workplace.
ABLE Tech Device Exchange and Reuse Programs
Did you know that items can be borrowed, purchased or given to others through the ABLE Tech Device Exchange or Reuse Programs? The items vary based on availability.
Phone: 405.523.4810 or 833.431.9706
Email: atreuse@okstate.edu
