plement stairs for those with wheelchairs or children’s strollers. In many seminars, sign lan-

guage specialists are contracted to translate the speaker for those with hearing disabilities.

Many rooms—including restrooms—have braille equivalents on their signs. These days,

hotels and event organizers take steps to make life as easy as possible for everyone.

Several countries have made accessibility in buildings a legal requirement, and any public

space failing to meet the minimum accessibility policies is subject to fines. The same types

of requirements are starting to appear on the Web. All US government sites must adhere

to a certain level of accessibility, as do most sites in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland,

Canada, and more. Even commercial sites are subject to lawsuits if they discriminate

against those with disabilities.

The issue of accessibility on the Web is not new. However, for years, the issue has been rel-

egated to small designer mailing lists. Only recently have web designers and corporate

marketing teams become aware of the potential problems inaccessible websites present,

and how to overcome those challenges.

Accessibility is not just for the blind

While the design industry is slowly becoming more educated through the evangelism of

Joe Clark1 and sites like Ian Lloyd’s Accessify,2 many web designers still incorrectly equate

“disabled” with “blind.” While it is true that the Web plays host to a significant number of

people with visual impairments, to slice the definition of disability so narrow is a disservice

to the millions of users with other handicaps.

1. www.joeclark.org

2. www.accessify.com

38

ACCESSIBILITY

The 2000 US Census reported that 12.3 percent of Americans have a disability—including

sensory, physical, and mental disabilities. That number adds up to almost 32 million

people.3 There are very few businesses or institutions that would willingly turn away so

many potential customers, if they could find a way to serve them elegantly.

The first step to meeting the needs of the millions of disabled users is understanding their

situation. The word “disability” is an umbrella term that covers many categories of impair-

ment, from visual impairment to learning disabilities. Following are some common handi-

caps many everyday web users have to contend with.