In the event that an employee sustains an injury or develops an ailment, organizations that use accessible principles allow valuable human capital to remain on board. An interviewee from a Microsoft-Forrester study stressed, “ Employees are likely to become disabled as they age.
Currently many websites and digital platforms are inaccessible, which makes them difficult or impossible for people with disabilities (including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, or neurological) to use. Making websites and software accessible has numerous benefits for people with disabilities, consumers, and businesses.
According to the World Bank, approximately one billion people worldwide live with a disability, making up the world's largest minority. Designing from an accessibility-first standpoint has the potential to benefit all stakeholders, not just people with disabilities, because accessible design typically delivers a better user experience.
For example, Target, a U.S.-based retailer, was sued by the National Federation for the Blind. This resulted in a settlement of $6 million for those who were denied access to the goods and services offered by the retailer.
Many worry that designing for accessibility will cost more. But incorporating accessibility at the start of a website development or redesign process is significantly easier and less expensive than making improvements to an existing site later as a separate project.
Forget about Flash and Silverlight: they are a pain in the neck. Use HTML5 instead. In fact, the first two technologies lack of support on mobile and custom devices like screen readers. They also don’t have accessibility tools built around them because of their nature (they are not open standards).
The mouse isn’t the only input method used to navigate on the Internet. A lot of people (in particular people who suffer from a motor disability) use the keyboard instead.