The following is a guest article by Ben Cash, Founding Partner and CEO at Reason One
The end of September marks International Week of the Deaf, followed soon after by Blind Americans Equality Day. Both are reminders of the need to make online resources accessible to all. Supporting this is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), intended to protect the civil rights of persons with disabilities when it comes to areas like employment, government services, public accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications.
For any organization – and particularly healthcare entities and systems – accessibility should be top of mind. Failing to meet compliance can not only result in legal issues and penalties, it can limit an organization’s ability to attract new investors, take advantage of market opportunities, and more. Still, most importantly, accessibility leads to better delivery of healthcare services and patient outcomes, the primary goals of the industry itself.
Legal Issues and Opportunity
Seyfarth Shaw, a law firm that tracks ADA lawsuits, reported that filings reached a new high in 2022, marked by a 12% rise over 2021. This is due to prior ADA compliance shortfalls. Specifically, when COVID-19 forced people to do more online, including handling healthcare concerns, it was clear accessibility had a long way to go.
Lawsuits like Domino’s Pizza versus Robles brought greater attention to the space. This will continue as higher settlements are awarded and the push for change gains momentum. That makes providing an accessible user experience vital, especially when it comes to health matters. Even so, while legal concern is understandable, the ability to reach more than 25% of adults in the U.S. with some type of disability offers tremendous opportunity.
Investing in Accessibility
Gartner predicts by 2025 more than 80% of digital workplace app leaders will use accessibility as a key factor for determining technology investments. The firm also noted digital accessibility inquiries rose 20% in 2022, a primary reason being awareness about the business value it offers. Backing that up is Forrester Research, citing that for each dollar put towards web accessibility and user experience, $100 is produced. Additionally, their research shows people with disabilities make up the world’s largest minority market, spending nearly $2 trillion per year.
Without digital accessibility, companies stand to lose out on this large audience. On the other hand, being ADA compliant can not only attract this group, it can win over their large and loyal audience of family and friends. What’s more, organizations that prove they’re acting responsibly when it comes to accessibility are more likely to entice investors interested in areas such as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and environmental, social, and governance (ESG).
Tips for Affordable Accessibility
There’s a myth that becoming digitally accessible requires massive amounts of cash and coding time. The reality is, there are many simple, non-technical steps that can be taken to become more accessible and at no additional cost.
For instance, headings are a major reason users of screen readers, assistive tools, and search engines can browse content. They break large blocks of text into smaller segments, accompanied by summaries, so users can quickly grasp what they hold. Headings also enable search engines like Google to fathom what a web page is about and if it’s relevant to a search query. As a rule of thumb, try to keep headers to six words or less, and be sure to “speak” like a human – sincerity and empathy matter.
Another quick accessibility win is adding alt text to images. This helps screen readers and search engines comprehend their meaning and context. Effective alt text should be descriptive, less than 125 characters, and should not begin with “image of” – screen readers already understand this. Boost your accessibility and SEO even more by including a transcript when embedding videos.
Tools to Assess Your Accessibility
There are many tools to help you along in your accessibility journey. Start by gaining an understanding of what users now experience on your website and where you may be coming up short in meeting Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The following are a few recommendations:
- Screen Readers: Experience for yourself how users navigate websites with a screen reader/browser combination such as NVDA with Firefox on Windows, VoiceOver with Safari on Mac OS, and JAWS with either IE or Firefox on Windows.
- Automated Tools: Accessibility evaluation tools like WAVE and aXe can analyze website markup against various WCAG criteria and run it right in your browser. They can help detect missed heading levels, empty links and alt tests, and color contrast issues.
- Visual Simulators: Tools such as Color Contrast Analyzer and NoCoffee can help identify areas that may be failing WCAG contrast ratios or are generally problematic.
Building an Accessible Culture
Digital accessibility should be in the spotlight of every organization, every day, year-round. To make this happen, develop a culture in which healthcare communications and decision-making keep accessibility at the forefront.
Form an in-house committee to advance accessibility initiatives. Promote ongoing dialogue in Slack and Teams and make the topic a part of regular meetings. Ensure accessibility across disciplines from content development to marketing. And, of course, make sure your company participates in events such as the upcoming International Week of the Deaf and Blind Americans Equality Day.
Make accessibility a company-wide instinct, not just an occasional activity, and you’ll reap all the benefits this realm has to offer, all while helping to produce better health outcomes.
About Ben Cash
Ben Cash is CEO of Reason One, a B Corporation™ and digital agency helping digital teams and their websites change for the better. He is an advocate for a more inclusive, sustainable web and a champion of the B Corp movement. Ben regularly speaks on topics such as digital transformation, leadership, and web accessibility. He can be heard on For the Better, a podcast for those working to affect change in their teams, organizations, or communities.
