Blind Tech Enthusiast, Daniel Amezcua, Shares Common Website Accessibility Barriers

Daniel Amezcua is a blind tech enthusiast who has been teaching assistive technology for nearly a decade. After losing his sight in 2009, he learned to navigate through the world of technology with the help of screen readers. He soon discovered that not everything was accessible for the blind or those who relied on the use of screen readers.

Soon after Daniel began teaching others to use assistive technology, he launched a YouTube channel where he does iPhone tutorials, product demonstrations, and shows how weather mobile apps are accessible with VoiceOver for the iPhone.

Daniel joined Be Accessible to further help the blind community and help make the web become more accessible one website at a time.

Check out Daniel’s video below where he describes some of the common barriers he faces on the Internet.

Does your website have some of these accessibility barriers?

If you find your website has some of the accessibility barriers Daniel describes such as reCaptcha, missing links, and form labels, use the form below to let us know. These website accessibility failures will prevent users like Daniel from accessing important content on your website. Also, learn how to add alt text to your social media posts.

A lot of common website accessibility barriers can be fixed quickly. We will help you get these errors and all others resolved right away so you can ensure your website stays accessible and in compliance with ADA guidelines.

How web accessibility benefits business owners

If you are a business owner, you may be familiar with the term bounce rate. The bounce rate of a website is the version of a metric that measures the rate of how long users stay on a website. Unlike conversion rates that we want to be high, our goal is to have a lower bounce rate. Following the web accessibility guidelines can significantly contribute to reducing this rate. The lower the bounce rate, the better, because it means people are staying on the website longer. This is often adhered to within various web entities and is incorporated within their policies pertaining to user retention.

On the contrary, a higher bounce rate indicates a poorly constructed site version, particularly if it fails to meet web accessibility standards. A website that ignores the importance of accessibility and lacks necessary elements would fit this description perfectly. Elements of a poorly constructed site include things like non-responsive design, lack of color contrast, and missing form labels.

Our primary aim is to keep people on our website longer so that they discover more reasons why they should choose us over our competitors. A study found that a staggering 71% of disabled web users will leave a website version that does not fulfill accessibility requirements. This is a large enough percentage to significantly impact the overall bounce rate. Hence, all business entities must incorporate accessibility requirements into their policies to avoid a potential loss of customers.

A recent study done in Canada shows people with disabilities make up a big part of Canada’s population. It says that about 1 in 5 people aged 15 and older have at least one disability. That’s over 6 million people in Canada alone!

As a business owner, you need to opt for a professional web design and development agency who is well-versed in creating accessible websites. By doing this, you avoid losing many potential customers by not being inclusive.

How web accessibility benefits developers and Google

If your web developer argues that web accessibility does not benefit them, then it may be time to seek services elsewhere. The value of web accessibility for developers, especially in today’s digital version of the age, is undeniable. Developers take pride in crafting high-quality websites and understand that cleaner code paves the way for a faster and more proficient website. If a website’s load time is slow or it fails to rank high in search results, the development team is usually held accountable. HTML elements (code) have semantic meaning, and web entities optimize their website’s accessibility and performance by using code as intended.

Apart from reducing bugs and enhancing loading speed, semantic code also aids search engines such as Google and Bing in indexing the content, thus facilitating higher search rankings. Let’s imagine a webpage version constructed to compare web development platforms like WordPress and Shopify and how its organization of content using heads and visual elements can increase its potential visibility.