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The document provides an introduction to use of the Web by people with disabilities. It illustrates some of their requirements when using Web sites and Web-based applications, and provides supporting information for the guidelines and technical work of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

The article and recommended guidelines consider issues such as color blindness, repetitive stress injury, deafness, dyslexia, cognitive disabilities such as memory dysfunctions etc.

Potential Obstacles:

Blind or Visually Impaired

Written documentation (i.e. use of standard or small print - e.g. 12 point font, on websites or paper documents) - allow the ability to change font sizes - make sites independent of viewing / display resoultion

Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Normal personal conversations (in the elderly the ability to listen to high pitched sounds is reduced significantly - use lower pitched sounds) Videotape, TV and/or Cable (use captioning) Website audio output - streaming audio, audio file (use captioning)

Mobility Impairements

Gross motor skills: Difficulty with keyboard strokes e.g. filling in personal data form on websites (create appropriate tab order - limit the use of forms - allow form information confirmation and verification - permit returning to form) Poor stamina (hence sites should have short chunks of information) Fine motor skills: Difficulty with the use of mouse (e.g. difficulty clicking on links - use large clickable areas) Poor eye hand co-ordiantion: Difficulty with keyboard and mouse (create appropriate tab order) Difficulty with website items that are time dependent (chunk information into short pieces - don't limit items based on time)

Mental Illness

Duration of Concentration (brief chunks of information on sites) Time/Stress Management (keep items and instructions simnple and brief; provide examples)

Developmental or Learning Disabilities

Difficulty following instructions (chunk information using simple language) Inability to read (provide examples through various media types e.g. graphics)

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Last Updated: September 1, 2002