The Wikipedia Page for Web Accessibility is a great introduction to what Web/Digital Accessibility is if you haven’t heard of it. It is very important stuff. About 2-3% of The Entire Population reports a visual disability and that is not to mention those who have other disabilities that create barriers to using technology (Erickson, W., Lee, C., von Schrader, S. (2016).
Disability Statistics from the 2014 American Community Survey (ACS)). Companies like Level Access (formerly SSB BART Group – https://www.levelaccess.com/) and Deque (https://www.deque.com/) work with Software companies to help in training development teams on making Accessible products (more so training is carried out by Level Access) and even working directly to find and help with fixing issues in Accessibility within the Software company’s products.
If Blockchain is to become adopted by the masses, Accessibility is a must-have for Decentralized Applications and Blockchain Applications aiming to be game changers. We have a commitment as developers to ensure we don’t alienate anyone based on disability, or else adoption rates won’t be as widespread and there will be legislative and social backlash to this lack of inclusion for a huge portion of the population.
At the point of mass adoption, a lack of inclusion could lead to legislative action in regard to Section 508 1194.22 (Criteria for Web And Software Accessibility) of the Americans With Disabilities Act. More importantly though, it’s the right thing to do. So many people’s lives have been changed by Crypto and The Blockchain and we should give just as much opportunity for success and financial freedom to those who use Assistive Technologies (such as screenreaders, voice recognition software, etc.) by ensuring our Applications are reasonably compliant.
Things as simple as adding alternative text to images can go a very long way. The coming Boolean News Accuracy Platform on The Ethereum Blockchain emphasizes the meeting of industry standards regarding Accessibility and they pledge to meet this promise. Learn more about them at https://www.booleancoin.com or https://www.gainingsteem.com.
