There is often resistance to creating fully accessible websites, as it is seen as expensive and unrewarding because most target audiences include only a small percentage of disabled people. This in itself is a misconception, as the percentage is not as small as stakeholders think. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 15% of the world is disabled. This is rising because of aging populations and rapid spread of chronic diseases. In addition, at any point, part of any audience will be temporarily disabled and have special needs when accessing websites.
Besides ensuring equal access for disabled people, there are additional benefits to making sure that your website is completely accessible. We describe some of them here:
- Improved usability: As we have shown previously, designing and developing for accessibility and universal access is designing for usability. If your website works beautifully for people with special needs, it will work...