What is Digital Accessibility

Accessibility refers to ensuring products, environments, and information can be accessed by everyone, including people with disabilities. Digital accessibility then refers to the accessibility of digital products, environments and information, often referred to as Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This includes websites, applications, digital documents, video and audio content, and more.

Digital accessibility is crucial for both external, public-facing assets like your public website and apps, as well as internal assets like intranet, email systems and employee applications.

Statistics and Examples

Here are some quick statistics around disability and accessibility:

• Nearly 1 in 5 people in the world are estimated to have a disability.
• According to the 2010 United States Census: 

• 57 Million Americans have a disability
• 19.9 million (~8%) have difficulty lifting or grasping. This could impact their use of a mouse or keyboard
• 15.2 million (~6%) have a cognitive, mental, or emotional impairment. This can impact how they perceive digital content, and affect task completion
• 8.1 million (~3%) have a vision impairment. These people might rely on a screen magnifier or screen reader, or might have color blindness
• 7.6 million (~3%) have a hearing impairment. They might rely on captions or transcripts for audio and video media

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