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WAI: Strategies, guidelines, resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities

Social Factors in Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization
[DRAFT revision incorporating WCAG 2.0 and Older Users]

Editors Draft: 6 October 2008
Status: This document is a draft. Please send comments to public-comments-wai-age@w3.org (a publicly archived list).

Page Contents

Note: Additions below are shown with blue highlighting within square brackets "[addition]" and deletions are shown with orange highlighting and strikethrough within braces or curly brackets "{deletion}". end of note

Introduction

This page is part of a resource suite that describes the social, technical, financial, and legal and policy factors relevant to developing a customized business case for Web accessibility for a specific organization.

The importance of various social aspects of Web accessibility is different for specific organizations and situations. For example, one organization's goal might be to become a leader in corporate social responsibility, a different organization might be particularly interested in attracting capital from socially responsible investing sources, and another organization might be interested in demonstrating its focus on a specific social group, such as older people.

This page provides guidance on addressing social factors in a business case for Web accessibility.

Identifying Social Factors for a Specific Organization

The following questions can help identify how the social aspects of Web accessibility apply to the organization:

Web Accessibility is a Social Issue

Web Accessibility is Essential for Equal Opportunity

Use of the Web is spreading rapidly into most areas of society and daily life. In many countries the Web is increasingly used for government information and services, education and training, commerce, news, workplace interaction, civic participation, health care, recreation, entertainment, and more. In some cases, the Web is replacing traditional resources [and service delivery].

The Web is an important medium for receiving information as well as providing information and interacting with society. Therefore it is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible Web can also help people with disabilities more actively participate in society.

The Web is an opportunity for unprecedented access to information for people with disabilities. That is, the accessibility barriers to print, audio, and visual media can be much more easily overcome through Web technologies. For example, when the primary way to get certain information was go to a library and read it on paper, there were significant barriers for many people with disabilities, including getting to the library, physically getting the resource, and reading the resource. Even when all these elements are accessible, it is difficult for some people to get resources from a library.

When that same information is also available on the Web in an accessible format, it is significantly easier for many people to [obtain] {get}. Therefore, people with disabilities can have more effective and efficient access to information through accessible Web sites — in some cases, where there was essentially no access to them before.

The Web is an opportunity for unprecedented interaction for people with disabilities. For example, some disabilities limit the type of work a person can do. An accessible Web expands opportunities for communication, interaction, and employment for people with disabilities.

Barriers to Web Use

Currently there are significant barriers on the Web for many people with disabilities. Because most Web developers do not make their Web software and Web pages accessible, many people with disabilities have unnecessary difficulties using the Web, and in some cases, cannot effectively use the Web at all. For example, when developers require mouse interaction to use a Web site, people who cannot use a mouse can have great difficulty; and when developers do not include alternative text for important images, people who are blind cannot get the information from images.

Accessible Web sites enable people with disabilities to use the Web effectively. The document How People with Disabilities Use the Web includes scenarios that illustrate people with different kinds of disabilities successfully using accessible Web sites.

It is difficult to estimate how many people are affected by Web accessibility, because countries use different methods and categories to determine the number of people with disabilities. Additionally, not all disabilities affect access to the Web (for example, difficulty walking does not affect access to the Web, though difficulty moving one's hands does). Also, common conditions (such as color blindness) may not be considered disabilities in many countries, but do affect access to the Web. The United Nations "Human Functioning and Disability" page includes links to data for different countries. Market research such as "The Market for Accessible Technology—The Wide Range of Abilities and Its Impact on Computer Use" and "Accessible Technology in Computing—Examining Awareness, Use, and Future Potential" illustrate a different approach to estimating the percentage of computer users who might benefit from Web accessibility.

[In addition to people with disabilities, the "Web Accessibility for Older Users: A Literature Review" has identified that a large proportion of older people experience age-related functional and sensory impairments. Older people will also benefit from enhanced Web accessibility. Futhermore, the changing demographics in many countries indicates a rapid change in proportion of older people to those in the work in the coming decades, emphasising the importance of supporting this group.]

Overlap with Digital Divide Issues

The term "digital divide" is often used to refer to economic and social barriers to computer use for computer users without disabilities. Many people with disabilities are affected by the same economic and social factors, including very low rates of employment and consequently low income. Together with barriers in the physical environment and in computer technologies, these factors can result in:

An organization that is committed to reducing the digital divide can include in its business case a description of how Web accessibility can reduce the impact of the digital divide for people with disabilities.

Role of Organizations' Web Sites

When an organization's Web site is not accessible, it further excludes people with disabilities from society. When an organization's Web site is accessible, it empowers people with disabilities to participate in society. Providing an accessible Web site is one way an organization can demonstrate that it strives to meet the access needs of a diverse society. [@@ Accessible Web authoring tools, browsers, and other Web tools also have an interacting role in Web accessibility.]

Web Accessibility is an Aspect of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), also called corporate citizenship [or responsible business], generally means conducting business ethically and operating an organization in such a way that treats internal and external stakeholders ethically, increases human development, and is good for society and the environment. Web accessibility can impact an organization's employees, stockholders and board members, suppliers and vendors, partners and collaborators, customers, and others. Thus Web accessibility is an integral part of CSR in demonstrating an organization's commitment to providing equal opportunities.

Just as an accessible Web site can demonstrate CSR, an inaccessible Web site can undermine an organization's other CSR efforts.

The financial benefits of CSR are addressed in the "Increases positive image" section of the Financial Factors page.

Web Accessibility Benefits People With and Without Disabilities

While the main focus of Web accessibility is people with disabilities, accessibility also benefits people without disabilities. The "Increased Web Site Use" section of Financial Factors lists aspects of Web accessibility that increase usability, thus also benefiting people without disabilities. People with temporary disabilities — for example, from an accident or illness — also benefit from Web accessibility.

Web accessibility provides improved access, and thus can increase social inclusion, for other groups of people that are often a focus of corporate social responsibility. Below are examples of how Web accessibility benefits others.

See Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview for more information about the WCAG 1.0 Checkpoint [and WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria] references below.

Access for Older People

[As identified previously, much of the world is experiencing a demographic change with rapidly ageing populations meaning that the numbers and proportions of older people are rising rapidly. Additionally, older people are increasingly required to be online and are rapidly coming online and using the Web. However, older people frequently experience changes in ability as a result of the ageing process. Age-related functional and sensory impairments affecting computer use experienced by older people include declines in:

However, partly because of the progressive nature of these changes in ability, many older people do not consider themselves to have disabilities. Furthermore, many older people experience multiple age-related impairments, though these may progress at different rates in different individuals. Older people's use of the Web is enhanced by the accessibility provisions that make the Web accessible for people with disabilities. The "Web Accessibility for Older Users: A Literature Review" has particularly identified usability aspects of Web accessibility being of major benefit to older people.]

{While older people often experience changes in vision, hearing, dexterity, and memory as they age, they might not consider themselves to have disabilities. Yet the accessibility provisions that make the Web accessible also benefits older people with diminishing abilities. For example, many people with age-related visual deterioration can benefit from:}

For example, many people with age-related visual deterioration can benefit from:

People [having] {with} difficulty using the mouse will benefit from:

[Older people suffering from hearing loss will benefit from:

Many other aspects of Web accessibility will also be beneficial to older Web users as identified in @@"comparative.html".]

Access for People with Low Literacy and People Not Fluent in the Language

Accessible Web sites can benefit people with low literacy levels and people who are not fluent in the language of the Web site. Specifically, many of the aspects of Web accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities help people who do not know the language well, including:

In addition, accessible sites can be read by screen readers so people who [have difficulty reading or] cannot read can benefit from listening to sites.

Access for People with Low Bandwidth Connections to the Internet, and Older Technologies

Some aspects of Web accessibility benefit people with low bandwidth connections. Low bandwidth can be due to:

Some older technologies load pages very slowly and do not support features used on newer sites.

People with low bandwidth connections and older technologies can benefit from:

Access for New and Infrequent Web Users

Some people have little opportunity to use the Web because of the socioeconomic issues mentioned previously [or because they didn't use computers during their working life and are discovering their relevance later in life]. New and infrequent Web users benefit from aspects of accessibility such as: