If you have a WordPress site, you should take all necessary steps to make your website fully accessible. Preferably, you should aim for full ADA compliance.
Why We Need To Consider the Needs of Disabled Web Users
People with disabilities have a lot to offer the world. In any truly humane society, citizens work together to ensure a decent standard of living for all. During this connected time, Web access is prerequisite for personal and professional success. The disabled deserve full access to the digital resources that help make for a full life. As many as 20 percent of all websites use WordPress. By making your WordPress site ADA compliant, you can do your part to create a more equitable society. It is particularly important for public institutions and nonprofits to maintain ADA compliance. Besides impressing your superiors, achieving ADA compliance can limit your overall legal liability.
Less Recognized Aspects of Accessibility
When people think about accessibility, they usually think of measures for the deaf and the blind. However, accessibility goes a lot further than that. Accessibility also includes making allowances for people with learning disabilities. As much as you can, write with simple and clear language that is easy to follow. This will also make your site more accessible for any who use English as a second language.
Adjusting Your Website For the Visually Impaired
A large percentage of people who use your site will have some level of visual impairment. To meet these users halfway, make sure your website is keyboard-friendly. Use the ALT tag to provide alternative text for all photos and videos. High contrast between text and background greatly enhances readability. If you have the resources to do it, consider adding a high contrast mode to your site. In deference to the colorblind, do not use color alone to convey key information.
Additional Accessibility Tips
To benefit the hearing impaired, accompany all video content with captions or transcriptions. Even if it requires working with content developers, readable transcriptions are absolutely essential for ADA compliance. Clearly label all form fields and structure your content with header tags. In general, short paragraphs and sentences are easier to parse and understand. Accessibility includes making your page equally legible on different types of viewports. Too many sites become illegible or hard to use when viewed through a zoomed-in browser tab. This creates great difficulty for the visually impaired. Preferably, your WordPress website will be able to display text in single or double columns as needed. These are just a few of the many ways that you can make your site layout more adaptable and accessible. A lot of people have asked, “Are WordPress sites ADA compliant?” The answer is that most WordPress sites can easily become compliant.
Through the use of a tool like AudioEye, you can quickly make your site accessible for people with all types of disabilities. Software tools like this can help you achieve full accessibility with a minimum of effort and expense.
