Website Architecture Planning | Accessibility Testing

The internet enables us to access information, financial institutions, stores, education, and much more in the form of audio, text, video, and other formats. It’s an incredibly useful tool that many of us rely on in our day-to-day lives, whether we’re using it personally or professionally. We depend on the Internet to give us virtually infinite amounts of data — allowing us to make decisions, collaborate together, and stay in touch with those who are important to us. In a sense, the Internet acts as a portal to all of the knowledge we, as a collective society, have. But often, the Internet remains restricted or dependent on assistive technologies for persons with disabilities to take advantage of it. This is why it’s essential for businesses to ensure web accessibility for everyone, including those with disabilities. 

Web accessibility is constructing websites, apps, and tools so people with disabilities can access and use them without hindrance—within the range as those without disabilities. This encompasses all disabilities including visual, speech, physical cognitive, auditory, and neurological. The internet is an integral part of government, commerce, recreation, education, employment, and health care.

In the ever-evolving, technologically advanced world, a relatively new career in “digital accessibility” has surfaced. It’s a broad, in-depth field with a range of opportunities, from software development to project management to software testing to UI/UX designers and everything in between. While most in the field are self-taught, there are a series of certifications available to help those working in the industry stand out from the competition.

Information technology has developed at a staggering rate over the past three decades. Society has seen the rise of many scientific advancements. Everything has changed from the devices we use to communicate to the way we listen to music. There is even a home software assistant device that can make your grocery list, tell the time, and provide you with a weather report. The advancements don't stop there. One key innovation that has risen, and perhaps the most important, is the World Wide Web (www) or internet.

Section 508 is part of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which itself is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. With this, Information and Communications Technology, or ICT, is gathered and filed for people with disabilities to have easy access. They're able to get to this information regardless of whether they're employed with the federal government, making it much simpler for them to find the help they may need. Through this act, agencies are required by law to make such technology, be it online training or even their website fully accessible for anyone to see at any given time. Such cases like a person with disabilities job-hunting or seeking help programs doesn't need to jump over any special hurdles to get to the information they require.