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Legal Issues | Business Issues
There are 2 million people in the UK who are blind and partially sighted. (Royal National Institute For The Blind). In The United States there are estimated to be 6 million disabled people. Given the number of disabled users this is a largely untapped revenue source.
As technologies become pervasive and less expensive more people are able to gain access to the Internet and online shopping/transactions will become more important. Being able to do this from the comfort of their home environments is especially useful to the disabled users. Those companies with accessible websites will benefit from increased customer patronage.
Companies who provide for their disabled users will benefit from a more positive brand perception.
Disabilities tend to increase with age, for example, serious sight loss is an age-related disability with two-thirds of sight-impaired people being over 60. As these "Silver Surfers" (those around retirement age with time and disposable income) are one of the fastest growing user groups of the Internet it makes good business sense to provide facilities for them to transact online. Already 20% of people aged 50 and over use online shopping sites (Age Concern England, 2000).
"Accessibility is a competitive advantage," says Election.com CEO Joe Mohen. "It's an economic opportunity to broaden our mission and differentiate ourselves, and it's solid, logical business that improves the value of our service. It's a good thing to do from a Wall Street perspective."
According to Karen Solomon of Wired magazine the more conservative estimate states that there are up to 6 million disabled Internet users in the United States alone, according to statistics from the NUA Internet Surveys.
Obviously conforming to all 66 accessibility guidelines is a huge undertaking for any business, which is why the WAI have included priority ratings. That said the guidelines could still be ambiguous and difficult to interpret. Even then there is still the issue of making appropriate recommendation to rectify the problems. This is where expert advice is invaluable. The Usability Company works closely with the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) and are able to steer businesses through the RNIB's proprietary "See It Right" accessibility conformance program or indeed through gaining conformance to Bobby or WAI guideline.
Legal Issues | Business Issues
Next Month, Part Three: Technical Issues
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