Accessibility testing

Spend enough time in digital accessibility spaces and you’re likely to hear mantras like “Accessibility is everyone’s responsibility.” This is true, but any project manager recognizes that making everyone responsible for an outcome is another way of making sure that no one is accountable.

Awareness is important but on this Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we are wishing for bigger changes to reduce friction, reduce costs, and create better markets and incentives for accessibility.

WebAIM's latest screen reader user survey provides new data to inform how you prioritize screen readers for testing, understand audiences, and target your remediation efforts.

Accessibility is similar to security, SEO, and other such areas that require some routine maintenance and vigilance. In other words, your level of accessibility can decay without some discipline to maintain it at the required level.

Digital accessibility is addressed in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act to be exact. It requires all federal agencies and departments to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities, including both employees and members of the public. This includes websites, PDFs, and digital kiosks. The requirements also apply to federal government digital procurement as well as some bodies that receive federal funding.