Does a hearing-impaired person benefit from a ticking countdown timer? Or a sight-impaired person from a drag and drop feature? The answer is obvious. While most of the digital media we consume is designed for a general audience, over 58 million Americans have some sort of a disability. Fifty percent of those disabled Americans report using the internet on a daily basis.
Accessibility compliance standards are challenging the digital design industry. Designers are being encouraged, or in some cases required by law, to follow the international Web Contact Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) put out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). In our industry, the exciting challenge is always one of form meeting function. Compliance standards are ushering in a new era, not just for web designers, but for learning experience designers tasked with accessibility for a broad spectrum of learners.