The document emphasizes the significance of digital accessibility, which ensures equal access to online content for individuals with disabilities. It outlines the legal obligations businesses face regarding accessibility and highlights the economic advantages of catering to disabled consumers, who represent a substantial market with significant spending power. It also points out that improving accessibility enhances overall website usability and visibility, benefitting all users and search engine optimization.

1. The
Importance
of
Digital
Accessibility
and
why
it
should
ma:er
to
the
business
sector
in
2014
Lyndon
Borrow
10
June
2014

2. What
is
Digital
Accessibility?
Digital
accessibility
is
creaDng
a
secure
technological
system
for
digital
components
such
as:
so
that
everyone
can
have
the
same
user
experience
when
they
access
these
types
of
digital
components.

3. What
is
Digital
Accessibility?
How
would
you
access
the
Internet
if…
• you
couldn’t
see
the
screen
• had
difficulDes
hearing
sound
• had
trouble
using
a
mouse
or
a
keyboard
• had
cogniDve
difficulDes

4. AbiliDes
Affect
Digital
Access

5. Impact
of
Accessibility
AssisDve
Technologies
and
Web
Accessibility
enables
people
to
lessen
impact
of
disabiliDes
• People
with
vision
impairments
can
listen
to
sites.
• People
with
low
vision
can
enlarge
their
screens.
• People
with
color
blindness
can
disDnguish
content
• People
with
hearing
impairments
can
read
video.
• People
with
motor
disabiliDes
can
use
tools
to
operate
keyboards.
• Persons
with
cogniDve
disabiliDes
can
understand
and
focus
be:er.

6. Why
is
Accessibility
Important?
Legal
Obliga=ons
and
Risk
Legal
Requirements
–
Equality
Act
Liability
–
Lawsuits
against
companies
who
do
not
make
their
services
accessible
to
those
with
disabiliDes.

7. Accessibility
Standards
WCAG
Standards
Web
Content
Accessibility
Guidelines
(WCAG)
is
a
series
of
guidelines
published
by
the
W3C
IniDaDve.
The
goal
is
to
create
a
single
shared
standard
for
web
content
accessibility
that
meets
the
needs
of
individuals,
organisaDons,
and
governments
internaDonally.

8. So
what’s
really
good
for
business?

9. Opportunity:
the
business
case
–
maximising
reach
11
MILLION
Disabled
people
12
MILLION
older
people
(of
pension
age)
7
MILLION
adults
with
low-­‐
literacy
levels
(<age
11)
Source:
DFEE
Be:er
accessibility
=>
increase
customer
reach
=>
more
business

10. Business
case
There
is
the
spending
power
of
disabled
people.
1
in
2
people
will
be
disabled
at
some
point
in
their
lifeDme.
So
there
is
an
awful
lot
of
money
there.
And
it
is
o^en
the
disabled
people
who
do
shopping
online
a
lot
because
they
can’t
physically
get
out
to
the
stores.
So
in
a
way
it
is
more
important
to
include
them.

11. Business
case
11
million
disabled
people
live
in
the
UK
with
a
combined
annual
spending
power
of
over
£80
billion
[Source:
DWP
2004]
UK’s
50
to
70
year-­‐olds
currently
runs
at
£300
billion
a
year,
and
this
group
buy
more
designer
fashion,
premium
cars,
and
other
expensive
goods
than
any
other
group.
[Source:
The
Guardian]

12. It’s
a
growing
market
As
a
global,
emerging
market,
the
disability
community
is
an
increasingly
powerful
demographic,
represenDng…
worldwide

13. Usability
benefits
CreaDng
accessible
websites
makes
your
site
more
usable
for
ALL
users.
Many
accessibility
principles
are
also
core
usability
principles:
• Give
users
enough
Dme
to
read
and
use
content.
• Help
users
navigate
and
find
content.
• Make
text
readable
and
understandable.
• Make
content
appear
and
operate
in
predictable
ways.
• Help
users
avoid
and
correct
mistakes.

14. Accessibility
increases
Findability
Making
your
site
visible
to
assisDve
technologies
has
an
added
bonus.
It
also
makes
your
site
more
visible
to
search
engines
as
well!
Example:
Adding
alt
tags
on
images
allows
the
content
to
be
read
by
screen
readers.
Google
will
also
index
the
keywords
for
the
images,
which
increases
your
PageRank
for
relevant
search
terms!

15. We
can
help
you
• We
have
experDse
and
highly
skilled
team
to
help
you
to
improve
your
online
retail
site
with
Digital
Accessibility,
in
order
to
get
much
more
sales
and
business
for
your
company.
Thank
you
for
watching.

16. The
Importance
of
Digital
Accessibility
and
why
it
should
ma:er
to
the
business
sector
in
2014
Lyndon
Borrow
10
June
2014