Accessibility Concepts

What is Accessibility and Why is it Important?

The world is becoming more and more digital, meaning your websites, apps, and online documents need to work for everyone. 

Digital accessibility means designing and building online experiences so that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with them just as easily as everyone else. This includes considering disabilities that affect sight, hearing, movement, cognition, and more. 

Accessibility is a legal requirement, meaning your online content must meet legal requirements and be built in a way that everyone can access information, use services, and participate fully online. This enables you to reach more people, avoid barriers, and create a more accessible, usable digital experience.

How Do People with Disabilities Use the Web?

Knowing how individuals with disabilities use the web is key to writing code that makes digital experiences work for everyone. 

Disabilities can affect people’s vision, hearing, movement, cognition, speech, and more, changing the way an individual interacts with a website, mobile app, or online document. Keeping these experiences in mind while coding can help you remove barriers and build more accessible interfaces. 

Next is a closer look at how individuals with different disabilities interact with digital content.

Visual Impairments

Individuals who are blind or who have low vision often rely on screen readers, which convert text into speech or braille. Proper HTML structure, semantic elements, and descriptive alt text ensure your code communicates clearly with these tools.

Hearing Impairments

People who are deaf or hard of hearing depend on captions, transcripts, and visual cues for audio content. As a developer, including properly coded captions in video players and using ARIA roles where needed ensures everyone can access multimedia content. While auto-captions are a start, they should be edited by a human for accuracy.

Motor Impairments

Individuals with limited mobility may navigate online content entirely with keyboard commands and shortcuts. They may also rely on voice commands or adaptive devices. Writing code that supports keyboard navigation, focus states, and accessible forms ensures these users can complete tasks with ease.

Cognitive and Learning Disabilities

Users with memory, attention, or processing challenges benefit from clear headings, simple language, and predictable layouts. Using semantic markup, consistent design patterns, and proper form labeling makes your code easier to follow and understand. 

Speech Impairments

People with speech disabilities, such as Aphasia or stuttering, often rely on keyboards or alternative input devices instead of voice commands. Ensuring interactive elements are accessible without speech, through buttons, links, and forms coded for all input methods, removes those barriers. 

Coding with these users in mind not only helps you meet accessibility standards but also create websites, apps, and documents that genuinely work for everyone. Small changes in code, like semantic HTML, ARIA attributes, captions, and keyboard-friendly navigation, can have a massive impact on real users’ experiences. 

How Do I Support Assistive Technology?

The code you write directly affects how well assistive technologies, including screen readers, voice control, and alternative input devices, work for people with disabilities. Supporting assistive technology starts with understanding how these tools interact with your code and taking critical steps to ensure digital experiences are accessible.

Below are a few ways to write code that supports assistive technology:

Use Semantic HTML

Properly structured HTML communicates meaning to assistive technologies. Headings, lists, buttons, links, and form elements need to be marked up correctly so screen readers can interpret and navigate content accurately. 

For example, using <h1> through <h6> for headings or <button> for clickable actions ensures screen readers can interpret, navigate, and announce content accurately. A visually styled <div> used for a button will not be announced as a button, but may act as one, which can be disorienting to screen reader users.

Add Descriptive Labels and Alt Text

Every image, every form field, and interactive element should have clear, descriptive labels. This helps screen readers and other assistive devices convey the right information to users. 

For instance, alt text that reads ‘A stylized web browser with various design icons surrounding it’ gives screen reader users an idea of what’s in the image, ensuring they don’t miss valuable context.

Ensure Keyboard Accessibility

Many people rely on keyboards, switches, or voice commands instead of a mouse. Make sure all interactive elements can be navigated and activated without a mouse, and that focus states are clearly visible for better orientation. 

For example, users should be able to tab through a form, submit it using the ‘Enter’ key, and see a visible focus outline on the active input field.

Leverage ARIA Roles Thoughtfully

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes can fill gaps when standard HTML isn’t enough, providing extra context for assistive technologies. It’s critical to use ARIA roles sparingly, typically only when necessary, as assistive technologies can interpret these tags incorrectly and create more confusion rather than clarity.

For example, using role=”alert” on a dynamically updated message tells screen readers to immediately notify users about the change. 

Test with Assistive Technologies

The most important step is to test your work with real assistive technologies, such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver or switch devices. Testing with these devices shows how your code behaves in practice and highlights where improvements are needed.

Use VoiceOver on Mac or NVDA on Windows to navigate your site and see if headings, links, and forms behave as expected. Testing ensures your code actually works for users, not just in theory.