Survey Reveals Growing Consumer Interest in Digital Accessibility

Websites and products should adapt to the needs and preferences of their users, rather than expecting users to adapt to the product. It’s important to remember that it’s not just those users who identify as disabled that use assistive technology and accessibility features. All users benefit from accessibility.

25% of survey respondents self-identified as disabled, which reflects global estimates that one billion people, or 15% of the world population, experience a disability.

Forrester recently demonstrated that collectively persons with disabilities have $1.2 trillion in annual disposable income, representing real market value. However, none of these statistics include people with temporary or situational disabilities.

When people think about disabilities, what comes to mind are permanent disabilities, such as hearing loss. But everyone experiences a situational disability at some point. For example, when you’re in a loud restaurant, or maybe in a quiet library trying to watch a video without your headphones, closed captions come to the rescue. With the right tools and practices, your site can meet everyone’s needs at all times.

Risk and compliance are driving many accessibility decisions. Recent developments within the courts bring increased risks to businesses. For example, the Department of Justice recently published guidance that digital experiences, like company websites, are extensions of ‘public interaction’ defined within the ADA. This upped the ante, so many more organizations are thinking about regulations.

Over the last five years, litigation over web accessibility has been steadily growing. In 2020 alone, digital accessibility cases rose by 50% over the previous year and that trend continued. 

Recently, these cases have gone to the highest court. In Robles v. Domino’s Pizza the Supreme Court affirmed that a website must be treated as a place of public accommodation.

Considering that 97% of the most visited websites do not meet WCAG 2.0 standards, it’s easy to see why more businesses and consumers have turned their attention to equitable user access.

The pandemic brought significant change; going to physical stores was no longer an option for many. This brought accessibility issues to light as people were forced into digital channels.This led to organizations needing to make sure people had equal access and the ability to participate or complete their tasks.

In recent surveys, 73% of consumers feel that COVID-19 raised awareness of the accessibility of their digital channels, including remote work options along with product availability.

In fact, many of the web accessibility litigation cases discussed above were filed during the pandemic. 

Some companies have not responded well to increased scrutiny, which is why many of the survey respondents feel accessibility should be a measure of company reputation.

Whatever reason a business pursues accessibility, it’s ultimately a positive thing. The survey shows that people are seeing a strong business case for accessibility, and it’s something about which consumers are becoming more savvy. 

Whether your organization is focused on reaching a wider audience or needs to comply with regulations, today we are all more aware of digital accessibility and want to provide accommodations for every user. Accessible experiences need more than alt text or third-party tools. Ensuring every user can find what they need on your site requires a combination of knowledge and technical expertise.