Involving Users in Web Accessibility
Involving users, especially older individuals and those with disabilities, early in projects aids in understanding real-world accessibility challenges. This approach leads to more effective accessibility solutions and a broader perspective. Such involvement is applicable across various products, including websites, web applications, browsers, and assistive technologies.
Improving website accessibility benefits users with disabilities while enhancing usability for all. Early user involvement allows for planning accessibility from project initiation, quicker development of solutions, informed decision-making, and a comprehensive understanding of accessibility standards.
Integrate accessibility into project planning, budgeting, and user-centered design processes. Include diverse users with disabilities in use cases, personas, and user analysis, considering a range of disabilities and characteristics. Establish respectful relationships with users, ensuring informed consent and ethical research practices.
Utilize comprehensive standards like WCAG for websites and ATAG for authoring tools to address accessibility comprehensively. Follow UAAG for browsers and media players to ensure accessibility across user agents.
The photos on this page come from IDEO’s project to create an “intuitive, accessible voting experience and ballot machine for every type of voter” (https://www.ideo.com/works/a-new-way-to-vote-for-the-people-of-los-angeles). For this project, they worked very closely with people of all abilities from the beginning and all throughout the process to ensure their final product would be accessible to everyone. This is an excellent example about how involving users in the process of creating accessible products is beneficial for all.