March 24, 2015
20.6 million American Adults age 18 and older reported experiencing vision loss, according to the report for the 2012 National Health Interview Survey. This number is forecast to double by the year 2020. Unfortunately today’s generally accepted practices of website compliance (WCAG 2.0) do not make your website accessible or usable for the majority of individuals with disabilities. According to Dave Wu, the CEO of Ai Squared, “95% of people with disabilities are not served by traditional assistive technologies.”
The stats could be different – very different. Emerging technologies make it easier than ever to optimize your site far beyond compliance regulations so that all visitors can successfully navigate. The more accessible your content is, the more user-friendly it will be to everyone, whether reading the page on a large screen, using an alternative input device or hearing the page read aloud by a screen-reader. In turn, you’ll reach more potential customers, employees and advocates.