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The Americans with Disability Act Essay

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Usability is a critical portion of web design that one must be ever mindful of when constructing websites. Whether creating a personal web space or building multiple pages for a large corporation, it is the burden of the designer to guarantee people can access that content. According to the United Nations, disabled people compose roughly 10 percent of the world’s population (United Nations, 2010). Many regulations and standards have been set forth to provide disabled people with the same opportunities to access content available on the World Wide Web, as it is most of the World’s population.
The presence of medical conditions, classified as disabilities by the Americans with Disabilities Act as, “…a physical or mental impairment that …show more content…

In order to comply, there are particular methods for ensuring that web sites are ADA compliant. When considering visually impaired person one must use text colors that are easy to read with the right combinations of colors as well as the right contrast adjustments. Additionally, color blindness must be considered. There must be an alternative to images for individuals who cannot view them in their browsers as well (for example, <alt=”text”>). In addition, the use of screen reading capabilities must be taken into account due to users that are visually impaired. For persons with hearing impairments, audio content must have a text alternative provided, besides this, for users who use alternative speech inputs, there should be a text equivalent. Web designers should also direct their attention to other disabling conditions such as the need for alternative navigation elements for people with learning disabilities or lower motor skills. There are also many tools available to web designers to ensure that their sites are compliant with current ADA laws. In accordance with the ADA’s mission statement, the World Wide Consortium (W3) created the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). In turn, the (WAI) developed a set of guidelines (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines [WCAG]) with the intent of providing remedies for design concerns that may arise when designing with the needs of disabled people in mind. The WAI purpose is a means for developing standards,

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