A simple introduction to web accessibility

1/5 of the population has a disability. That’s a lot of people that we could be potentially failing to reach.

Accessibility is catering for your whole audience, including those with disabilities. Disabilities are when someone’s medical condition comes up against barriers that get in the way of them being able to fully participate (social model of disability) – for example, a flight of stairs to get into a bar, a discriminating comment, food on a high shelf in a supermarket, or an unusable web form.

As designers, developers and copywriters we’re often responsible for causing disability, by creating these barriers. But we also have the power to avoid them or remove them, not just gaining traffic but also improving people’s lives in the process.

Accessibility is about reaching as much of your target audience as possible. To do that the first step is to understand who that audience is and what their needs are. The disabled audience is sometimes thought of as being something like this:

A cloud of assorted medical conditions

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Ecommerce Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Editor, Digital Art and 3D Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson and Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The 3D World and ImagineFX magazine teams also pitch in, ensuring that content from 3D World and ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq. 

TOPICS