Disabled Americans represent 12.6% of the civilian, non-institutionalized population according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and they are disproportionally affected by the digital divide and issues of racial and social inequality. Many people with a disability would not identify as being disabled, and many disabilities are invisible. Disabilities that affect access to the web include:
- Cognitive disability (e.g. dyslexia)
- Physical disability (e.g. chronic pain)
- Auditory disability (e.g. hard-of-hearing)
- Visual disability (e.g. color-blindness)
Disabilities can also be temporary (such as a broken arm) or situational (unable to listen to audio on a loud train).
Observing best practices for digital accessibility improves the experience for people without disabilities as well. For example, complying with color contrast standards helps everyone to more easily read a website, not just people with low vision or color-blindness.
See Accessibility Fundamentals from the Worldwide Web Consortium's (W3C) for more information about digital and web accessibility.
A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences, by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery (2014), is also an excellent resource.