Good Accessibility Benefits Everyone

Accessible features in our built environment easily stand out—the blue lines of an accessible parking space, a large button to open an automatic door, a stall in the bathroom with more space and handrails, or a curb cut when we cross the street. 

But in the world of tech, accessible technology may not be as apparent because it’s integrated so seamlessly into our tech landscape. You may not realize it, but it’s everywhere!

Disability is an equal opportunist

According to the United States Census Bureau data, 1 in 4 adults in the United States (or about 15% of the world’s total population) identify as having a disability. At any point in our lives one may become temporarily, situationally, or permanently disabled. 

Designing digital content to be accessible is essential. Making your website accessible is not only good for business, it’s often the law. 

But even if you’re not disabled, you probably rely heavily on accessible technology. Many of these features were born thanks to the innovation of folks with disabilities, who must often find new ways to shape the world so it works for them. They lead with new ways of thinking—solutions that abled people don’t consider.

Here are just a few examples:

• Speech to text dictation, like asking Siri to send a text message for you while you’re driving. Speech recognition was created to help those with vision impairments.
• Closed captioning or subtitles. Helpful to hard of hearing folks as well as the many of us who can’t understand the mumbling whisper of an actor on our favorite spy show.
• Keyboard accessibility. Crucial for people who rely on assistive technology like screen readers for accessing a website, but also an efficient tool for any power user quickly entering tabular or form data.

Building accessible digital products and solutions helps so many more people than just those directly affected by inaccessible technologies.

Retail TouchPoints features Flagrant

This year for Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we shared insights on the benefits of accessible retail websites with Retail TouchPoints. 

The piece highlights the importance of accessibility in our digital landscape (it’s an investment with a great return!), and includes a list of some of our favorite tools at Flagrant for incorporating accessibility into our practices.

You can read the full article here: Making a Welcoming Website for Everyone in Retail TouchPoints

If you’re looking for a team to help you discover the right thing to build and help you build it, get in touch.