Digital inclusion is not just a one-time effort but a continuous practice – one which needs to be incorporated from the very early stages of a product’s development. But often, organizations turn a blind eye towards it and accessibility is never put forth as a priority – even accessibility testing services. However, for organizations which miss to embed accessibility from the get-go, can still see a light at the end of the tunnel with seamless accessibility remediation and recommendations in place.
Digital accessibility has surely become the need of the hour – with organizations increasingly trying to adhere to the set accessibility norms and guidelines such as the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), Section 508 or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). But to truly walk on the path of digital accessibility, three facets become extremely imperative –
The path to digital inclusion starts from the very understanding of the need to have accessibility in the first place. Organizations need to shift their mindset and bring a change in their culture as a whole. Digital accessibility will only truly be achievable when organizations understand the need for it and adopt end-to-end practices to realize this change.
Digital accessibility has and should not always be just limited to differently-abled users. It needs to go a step beyond to make “inclusivity” a true reality. For instance, digital accessibility should be furthered keeping the elderly in mind, as well. Any product should be modeled in a way that caters to the needs of every individual – with or without disabilities.
Going a step beyond in ensuring digital accessibility also points to the inclusion of AI and ML within the domain. AI has surely been ushered as a transformed technology, opening doors for the realm of accessibility in ways unimagined. AI has brought in an unparalleled experience for users in making their interaction with technology more efficient, intuitive and responsive. From image or speech recognition to NLP (Natural Language Processing), AI is helping users with disabilities interact with products seamlessly.
Accelerating digital transformation entails the incorporation of digital accessibility as well. It has become imperative for products to embed accessibility nuances from the get-go and continue its testing and remediation post-release, as well. Following the principle of P.O.U.R. (Perceivable, Operabile, Usable and Robust), organizations can surely make their products end-to-end accessible – by shifting left as well as right with accessibility development, testing and remediation and recommendations. Accessibility testing services, thus, become imperative to avail herein. Recommendations become key to improving a product’s usage by differently-abled users – by ensuring that the accessibility guidelines and norms are effectively met and feedback of the users seamlessly incorporated. Thus, digital accessibility has truly become the need of the hour and its need will keep on growing in the years to come.
About the author: Content Team
This is a group of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) with diverse experience across cloud, security, DevOps, performance, development, etc., which contribute to the sea of knowledge for Round The Clock Technologies.
Input your search keywords and press Enter.