If you could make some simple changes to your website that would benefit one in four of your visitors, wouldn’t you?
Even though our world is increasingly connected, not everyone has equal access to online resources. Persons living with a disability may not be able to view, navigate, or understand your website. Web accessibility is one of the most important things you can do for the online community and your customers.
Accessibility is an important step in building a more inclusive website for the digital community and will make your website an experience everyone can enjoy. While enhancing accessibility can seem like a daunting task, implementing these tools and resources is worth the work.
“The one argument for accessibility that doesn’t get made nearly often enough is how extraordinarily better it makes some people’s lives. How many opportunities do we have to dramatically improve people’s lives just by doing our job a little better?”
Steve Krug, a prominent website user experience expert.
Recite Me assistive technology provides your customers with the online tools they need to understand and engage with your products and services. It also allows you to support people who are neurodiverse, visually impaired, speak English as a second language, or are of old age. So, using our software isn’t just the smart thing to do, it’s the right thing to do. Here is why…
14 million people have vision impairments in the United States
Because web experiences are essentially visual, the internet is full of websites, tools, and apps that are practically unusable for individuals with visual impairments. Users with visual impairments should not have to adapt their behavior to effectively accomplish their goals. Rather, each site should effectively accommodate the needs of all users, including those with visual impairments.
20% of the US population has a learning difficulty
While 20 percent of the population might sound like a small percentage, this number represents over 65 million individuals in the United States who have learning or attention impairments. The most common is dyslexia, which affects an estimated 1 in 10 people. It impacts various levels of comprehension including speech, reading, writing, and spelling.
67.3 million residents in the United States speak another language
As a melting pot, the US is full of many different cultures and languages from all over the world. Over 16 percent of the total population speaks a second language. This often means that a significant percentage of the population runs into obstacles while trying to navigate a website that is not their dominant language. In today’s digital age, everyone uses the website to find out information, and providing multiple language options is crucial.
One in four people has a disability
Despite that nearly 26 percent of the population in the United States has a disability, website accessibility is rarely a consideration when developers create websites and apps. People with disabilities affected by website inaccessibility can have varying degrees of auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual impairments. It is important to have accessible online content that includes everyone and doesn’t leave out anyone in receiving the message.
46 million US residents are 65 and older
Using the internet can prove to be difficult for many people. Whether it’s going through pages of content to find a single quote or searching for the perfect gift, the web can be complicated. As the aging population increases in the United States, so does the percentage of the population with disabilities and visual impairments. So more accessible websites are required to teach this part of the community so that the elderly do not become excluded online or miss out on valuable information and services.
1 in 8 adults is affected by hearing loss
Deafness, hearing loss, and being hard of hearing are some of the most common disabilities in the United States and worldwide, yet there are still many misconceptions surrounding hearing disabilities – including that there are many different levels of hearing. Add this to the fact that many who suffer from hearing loss may also be older, speak English as a second language, or have a learning difficulty and the need for having more accessible websites becomes even clearer.
How Does Recite Me Assistive Technology Cater to All Accessibility Needs?
Recite Me assistive technology gives users the ability to fully customize the look of a website for personal ease of use. Our toolbar includes a number of accessibility features that can be used individually or combined to make multiple adjustments and therefore account for all access barriers:
- Personalization of font size, type, spacing, and color options to make each page easier to read.
- A screen mask tool that isolates parts of the page to help with focus.
- A “text-only” mode that strips away any media and/or graphics and allows users to reposition text on the screen.
- Additional reading aids such as an on-screen ruler.
- A language converter that can translate text into over 100 different on-screen languages.
- Options to download content as an audio file.
- Text can be read aloud at different speeds with either a male or a female voice.
- Text-to-speech functions in 65 languages.
- A built-in dictionary and thesaurus to check word definitions.
Want to Know More?
To date, we have installed our software on over 3,700 websites across various industry sectors, so we have the knowledge and experience needed to guide you through the process and make your transition toward inclusion a seamless one.
Contact our team today for further information and to learn more about how to provide an inclusive and custom experience for your website users. You can also book a demonstration of our toolbar.
