Accessibility – Exam Review Notes

Definition: Accessibility ensures that products, services, and environments can be used by people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities.

1. What is Accessibility?

Designing systems usable by everyone, regardless of physical, sensory, or cognitive abilities.
Ensures equal access to information and functionality.
Includes accessibility for temporary and situational impairments (e.g., broken arm, noisy environment).

2. Why Accessibility Matters

Ethical: Equal rights for all users.
Legal: Many countries have accessibility laws (e.g., ADA in the US, AODA in Canada).
Business: Larger audience reach and better customer satisfaction.

3. Types of Disabilities

Visual: Blindness, low vision, color blindness.
Hearing: Deafness, partial hearing loss.
Motor: Limited fine motor control, paralysis.
Cognitive: Learning disabilities, memory issues.
Speech: Difficulty speaking or inability to speak.

Example: Screen readers for blind users, captions for deaf users, keyboard navigation for motor impairments.

4. Accessibility Guidelines & Standards

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines): Most widely recognized framework.
POUR Principles:
- Perceivable: Information and UI must be presented in ways users can perceive.
- Operable: Users must be able to operate the interface.
- Understandable: Content and operation must be clear.
- Robust: Content must work reliably with assistive technologies.

5. Assistive Technologies

Screen readers (e.g., NVDA, JAWS).
Screen magnifiers.
Speech recognition software.
Alternative input devices (e.g., switch controls, eye tracking).

6. Common Accessibility Practices

Use alt text for images.
Ensure keyboard navigability.
Provide captions/transcripts for multimedia.
Use sufficient color contrast.
Design responsive layouts.

7. Accessibility in UI Design

Accessible color schemes.
Resizable text.
Clear focus indicators.
Consistent navigation structure.
Descriptive link text.

8. Accessibility Testing

Manual testing with keyboard and assistive technologies.
Automated tools (e.g., WAVE, Axe).
User testing with people with disabilities.

Understanding Accessibility – Exam Review