Getting Started with Accessibility
Accessibility of Information Technology to People with Disabilities
What is Accessibility?
Accessibility means making information technology such as websites and software equally accessible to people with disabilities.
People with disabilities use assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to translate text into speech. Websites or software applications are made accessible by changing their underlying code. These changes are made “behind the scenes” and don’t affect the look and feel of your user interface.
Why make your website accessible?
Accessibility is closely related to usability, which affects every visitor of your website. And the more accessible your design, the more usable it is likely to be for people regardless of their abilities.
In addition, accessibility is important if you:
- Must meet Section 508, DDA, or other legal standards,
- Have an e-commerce website that may be required to be accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act (Read about the Target ADA Lawsuit),
- Want to reach an audience that is aging. According to the “Aging of America,” almost 15 percent of people 65 or older have special needs,
- Simply want to do the right thing!
Still wondering if addressing the needs of this community makes business sense? Consider these additional reasons to make your website accessible:
- The ethical and social value of not excluding anyone,
- Bridging the digital divide,
- A commitment to ending a society of “have’s” and “have not’s.”
Businesses can no longer afford to ignore website accessibility. Need further convincing? Consider the many veterans returning home with a disability. The least we can do is level the playing field by helping every individual be self-sufficient in this knowledge economy.
How can we help
Deque offers the most comprehensive, cost-effective, and seamless solutions for making your Information Technology (IT) accessible to people with disabilities. Whether you are looking for accessibility tools to bring in-house or to outsourcing your accessibility compliance, with our accessibility products and services, you can:
- Automate much of your accessibility testing,
- Have our experts perform a manual test with assistive technologies,
- Obtain the National Federation of the Blind Non-Visual Access certification and join a growing group of companies committing to the NFB NVA seal,
- Become accessible using our Virtual Section 508 lab,
- Subscribe to our Continuous Monitoring Service for monthly reports on your accessibility progress,
- Get access to Worldspace Online, now available as a Software as a Service (SaaS),
- Install Worldspace on your premises and have our experts train your staff to institutionalize accessibility.
How can accessibility benefit your business?
Website accessibility for people with disabilities is an increasingly important issue—and one that will continue to be more so in the future. Deque can help you get started, whether you are selling to the public sector, want to sell to an aging population ,or simply consider it an essential element of your corporate social responsibility mission.
Whatever your goals, Deque offers a range of services and products that are sure to meet your needs. With Deque, you can:
- Quickly achieve predictable results with recognized leaders in the field of information accessibility,
- Institutionalize accessibility with proven methods of adoption,
- Improve productivity for your website compliance efforts,
- Get the best value for bringing accessibility into your Software Development Life Cycle,
- Seamlessly integrate your workflow and existing products.