Ensure the World Wide Web is Wide Open to Everyone

Monday, December 3 is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. When people talk about accessibility issues in relation to persons with disabilities, they're most often talking about things like access to training, education and accommodation at work - or about ensuring people with mobility disabilities can access buildings. The recent installation of a ramp system at the front door of the Manitoba Legislative Building is a good example of this. Person's with disabilities can now enter the Legislature through the main entrance like everyone else - rather than use a side door as was the case in the past.

There's another accessibility issue that becomes more important every day. You're looking at it. The Internet and Web sites.

Web sites can be made accessible to people with physical, visual, hearing or other disability issues. But too many web sites don't bother.

The secret to making a Web site accessible to everyone is in the site design - and the 'hidden' coding that makes the page display as intended. One common problem is that people embed words in images because that allows the web master to have greater control over the way type font looks. Works fine for people with normal vision, but in most cases people with poor eyesight can't enlarge the words contained in an image the way that they can enlarge words that appear as actual text. The problem is even worse for people who are blind, who have to depend on 'readers' - software that will read text on a page aloud for people who can't read it for themselves.

This problem becomes particularly serious with things like using a logo image as the only way the organization's identity is given. A visually handicapped person visiting that page may not even know whose site they're on! Using 'image buttons' as the only means of navigation on a web site also poses a nearly insurmountable problem for a visually impaired person trying to navigate the site.

There are easy solutions to these types of problems - if the organization doing the site cares enough. For example the MFL logo that you see in the upper left hand corner of this web page has 'hidden' text behind it that states that image is of the MFL logo. Screen readers 'see' that text - and read it aloud for visually impaired person.

The 'navigation buttons' you see in the left hand column of this page are not 'images' at all - they just look that way because of coding that 'draws' what appears to be a 'button', but is really just text so that exactly the same words that tell you where the link leads will be read by a screen reader.

We've been discussing problems that affect primarily people with a vision disabilities - but similar situations can be caused by a poorly designed Web site for people with other types of disabilities. For example, some people cannot use a computer mouse because of a disability. Some web sites can't be navigated without a mouse - because the web site designer made no provision for it. Sites can easily be designed so that they can be navigated with just 'tab' and 'enter' - and software exists that allows people to navigate a web site with voice commands - if that site has been designed to accommodate such devices.

There's an increasing tendency for web sites to use audio/visual presentations. Not much use to a person who has a visual disability or who is deaf. Once again, the solution is to provide an alternate method to obtain the information contained in the video or audio presentation - usually in the form of a text only description of what happens in the video.

Some web masters will argue against accommodating accessibility issues in their web sites. It's extra work, and sometimes can place restrictions on the site design that may not be quite as attractive as a site designed ignoring accessibility issues.

The same argument could be used against the new accessibility ramp at the Manitoba Legislative Building. The ramp may not be quite as visually impressive as that wide sweeping staircase. Does that mean the ramp should not be there? Few people would make that argument.

If you encounter a web site that does not address accessibility issues, contact the organization responsible for that web site. Let them know you expect better of them. In some cases it may be a legal requirement to ensure accessibility for all - and it should always be a moral requirement.