WEBVTT

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Hi! My name is Shadi Abou-Zahra.

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I'm the Accessibility Strategy and Technology Specialist at W3C,

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the World Wide Web Consortium,

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and today I'd like to tell you about web accessibility.

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The Web is for many people an essential part of daily life.

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At work.

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At home.

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And on the road.

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Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web equally.

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For example, somebody who cannot use their arms, and uses a mouthstick to type.

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Or someone who cannot hear well, and uses captions to watch videos.

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Or someone who cannot see well, and uses a screen reader to read aloud what's on the screen.

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Accessibility has many benefits.

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For example, captions benefit anyone in a loud or in a quiet environment.

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And good color contrast works better when there is glare.

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Also people with age-related impairments, such as reduced dexterity, benefit.

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In fact, everyone has a better user experience with an improved layout and design.

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A lot of accessibility can be built into the underlying code of websites and applications.

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Web technologies from W3C, such as HTML, provide support for many accessibility features.

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For example, features to provide text alternatives for images,

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which are read aloud by screen readers and also used by search engines.

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Also headings, labels, and other code supports accessibility

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and improves the quality overall.

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Good authoring tools, such as wikis, content management systems, and code editors,

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help create accessible code, either automatically or with input from the author.

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Also web browsers, media players, and apps need to support accessibility features.

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W3C provides standards to help make the Web accessible,

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which are internationally recognized by governments and businesses.

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Most well-known is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - WCAG.

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WCAG is also the ISO standard 40500,

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and adopted in the European standard called EN 301 549.

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It is built around four core principles:

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First Perceivable - for example, so people can see the content, or hear it.

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Operable - for example, so people can use the computer by typing, or by voice.

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Understandable - for example, so people get clear and simple language.

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And Robust - so people can use different assistive technologies.

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Besides WCAG, W3C also provides the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines - ATAG,

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which defines requirements for content management systems, code editors and other software.

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And the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines - UAAG,

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defines requirements for web browsers and media players.

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There are over one billion people with disabilities, or about 15-20% of the population.

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The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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defines that access to information, including the Web, as a human right.

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Most countries around the world have ratified this UN convention,

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and several have adopted binding policies too.

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Yet regardless of any laws and regulations,

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implementing the accessibility standards is essential for people with disabilities,

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and useful for all.

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For more information on web accessibility, visit w3.org/WAI