Introduction to Accessibility

Web accessibility is the inclusive practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. USF's web editors incorporate web accessibility into their development process, and strive to adhere to WCAG 2.0 AA Accessibility Guidelines.

Why Create Accessible Websites?

To improve the lives of people with disabilities. It is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities.
Because we care and want to be inclusive, and it’s the right thing to do in keeping with USF's Jesuit mission.
It’s the law. State and federal law require that we do not discriminate against people with disabilities.

Our Audience

Our audience includes people with all abilities and disabilities. Our sites should be accessible to everyone, equally including those with visual impairments and blindness, hearing impairments, motor impairments and cognitive impairments.

What are some of the ways people interact with a website?

Perceiving

Visually
Screen reader
Refreshable braille device
Screen Magnifier

Navigation and Input

Mouse
Keyboard
Speech input software
Adaptive keyboard
Head pointer
Mouth stick

Experiences of Students with Disabilities

The following video was provided by WebAIM, which is an excellent resource for web accessibility.

Video Transcript

Amanda: Vision Disability: When I was fourteen I lost my sight and I just remember surfing the Web and it was just so much easier and I liked to get on it so much more. And now it's just so frustrating because You can't see the graphics and what's going on sometimes. It's just frustrating.
Quinn: Vision Disability: I use the Internet connected to school subjects quite often. And I use it for projects and tests. But also one of my most recent projects, the only way I could get it done was to go to google.com All the other recommended Web sites were not very accessible.
Derek: Auditory Disability: Without captions it's hard to understand what they're doing. I just have to try and make it up. With captions I know exactly what's going on, I know the specifics of what they are talking about.
Brandi: Vision Disability: It's kind of hard to be required to do something and not be able to do it, and you have to find someone else to come and help you do it on their own time.
Jordan: Motor Disability: And I can't navigate by myself, and I like to be independent. It gives me a feeling of pride. And it is also slower if somebody needs to help me, which they would.
Quinn: Vision Disability: And something that would help out a lot of visually impaired people is just for that person to go the extra step, which isn't much at all to make the Web sites accessible so that we're able to do our assignments.