Digital accessibility: a comprehensive guide to understanding the key principles

As a leader, digital professional or developer, digital accessibility is a must-have to ensure your digital services are compliant. But what does this term actually mean? However, between the jargon, standards and technical requirements, it's not always easy to understand what this concept really covers.

What is digital accessibility? Why has it become a major issue for organisations? Which disability situations need to be taken into account? What types of obstacles do users encounter on a daily basis?

In this article, discover the essential principles of digital accessibility and the key concepts you need to understand this approach.

What is digital accessibility?

Digital accessibility is the ability of a website, application, or online service to be usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.

Let's take a concrete example: a blind person is looking to book an appointment on a hospital website. They use a screen reader that speaks the content of the page. Everything goes smoothly until the validation form. The «Confirm» button has not been correctly coded: the software does not detect it, and the person cannot validate. They are blocked, as surely as if they were standing in front of a locked door.

These are genuine obstacles, as real as an impassable kerb on a street. If your site only works for people without disabilities, you are creating exclusion.

The UN Convention clearly states: disability is not inherent in a person but arises from the barriers their environment places in their way. On the street, it's a step, on a website, it's an unnamed button. A person is not «disabled by their deafness,» they are placed in a situation of disability when a video has no subtitles. It's not up to the person to adapt, but for the digital environment to be barrier-free.

Beyond the ethical issue, digital accessibility also engages the responsibility of organisations. In France, the regulatory framework imposes precise obligations (RGAA) the non-compliance with which can expose them to legal, reputational and operational risks.

Les principales situations de handicap concernées par l'accessibilité numérique sont : * **Les handicaps visuels :** * Cécité * Basse vision * Daltonisme * **Les handicaps auditifs :** * Surdité * Malentendance * **Les handicaps moteurs :** * Difficulté à utiliser une souris ou un clavier (paralysie, tremblements) * Impossibilité d'utiliser une souris ou un clavier * **Les handicaps cognitifs, neurologiques et psychiques :** * Troubles de l'apprentissage (dyslexie, dyspraxie, etc.) * Trouble du déficit de l'attention avec ou sans hyperactivité (TDA/H) * Troubles du spectre autistique * Altération de la mémoire * Difficultés de concentration * Anxiété, dépression * **Les handicaps liés à la parole :** * Difficulté à s'exprimer oralement Il est important de noter que l'accessibilité numérique bénéficie à un public beaucoup plus large que les personnes en situation de handicap,incluant par exemple les personnes âgées, les personnes ayant une connexion internet lente ou celles utilisant un appareil avec un petit écran.

Disabilities never present themselves in the same way. They may affect sight, hearing, motor skills or cognitive functions, or sometimes several at once. And each situation transforms the way we interact with digital technology.

Visual impairment

To navigate the web, a blind person uses a screen reader that vocalises the content of the page. If an image does not have alternative text, the software simply announces «image». The information disappears with this void. They can also, depending on their usage, use a braille keyboard.

A visually impaired person may need to zoom in on the text at 200% or drastically increase the contrast. If the site's layout explodes at the slightest zoom, it becomes unusable, even if it is technically «responsive».

Braille area

Hearing impairment

For a deaf or hard-of-hearing person, a video without subtitles or a transcript is a black box: the audio content remains inaccessible to them.

Motor disability

Some people cannot use a mouse. They navigate using the keyboard, a trackball, an eye-tracking system or voice commands. A button that reacts only to the click of a mouse becomes an insurmountable wall.

Cognitive disability

Dyslexia, autism and attention disorders make reading difficult. Overly dense text, convoluted vocabulary and an interface overloaded with animations become real cognitive obstacles.

What obstacles do disabled people encounter on digital services?

Some examples of obstacles arising from non-inclusive design.

• Mouse/touchpad-oriented design. A developer creates a form without thinking that some people only use the keyboard. Result: impossible to validate, impossible to send. The person is blocked.
• The mute icon. An elegant button, represented by a simple icon, with no explanatory text. The screen reader can't announce anything. The user doesn't know what the button is for, or even that it's a button.
• The ghost text. A designer seeks minimalism: light grey text on a white background. Aesthetically, it’s light, but for someone with low vision, it’s unreadable. The insufficient contrast erases the content.
• The merry-go-round. An automatic slideshow is going too fast. A person with cognitive difficulties doesn't have time to read it. A person using a keyboard can't find how to stop it.