Increasing awareness serves the best chance to achieve accessibility for all

Introduction

Accessibility means making resources and services usable and accessible for all. It is a very important aspect of the digital world and beyond and it’s our job to make the content accessible to the very user for which it has been created.

The more I explore accessibility, the more I realize that one of the main reasons behind things being inaccessible is not that we do not want it to be as such, but because of lack of awareness about it.

Accessibility has always been a goal of web

Accessibility is neither quite complex a concept nor is it as new as it might seem as first. The fact that the world’s first website was created accessible and responsive makes it very clear that a11y has always been a primary goal of the web, and rightly so. After all, what might be the use of creating content, websites, applications, etc. if it cannot be ultimately understood or used by the end-users (let us not confine our perception of the end-users to be always ideal or perfect)?

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

• Quoted by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web

When I learned what accessibility is about, I was determined to explore this and understand the concepts. While I feel guilty for being ignorant till now and I am still a beginner in the process of learning but this journey has been like seeing things in a whole new light, from a very fresh angle. We strive to do good and help the society. Making things accessible to more and more people seems to be just the right thing to do.

I could not think of any good excuses for deliberately making the content inaccessible. One of the reasons for not following some of the basic rules of creating accessible content could be the lack of awareness that something of that sort even exists.

I read somewhere on the internet and I completely agree on this point that spreading awareness about accessibility will serve the best chance of achieving access for all.

I took a baby step in this direction yesterday when I delivered an introductory talk on accessibility to the external audience. I was quite nervous and skeptical about how that would go, but when I interacted with the audience during and after the session, I was overwhelmed by their response and interest in understanding the different aspects of a11y. Also, it was really good to see their awareness regarding the topic. The number of questions regarding different scenarios, the curiosity to know more and the feedback that they learned something new made my day :)

I would like to give a shout out to everyone who is trying to make the web more accessible and everyone who is trying to spread awareness on this. It is worth all the efforts.

Conclusion

We need to focus on a11y just like everything else because it is the right thing to do. So let’s begin today itself.

Do let me know how was your experience when you started exploring a11y.

Note : originally published on Medium