Web accessibility is a term that refers to the practice of making websites accessible to people with disabilities. Web accessibility standards are meant to facilitate the ability to understand, navigate, interact with, and contribute to the web.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) works with organizations around the world to develop strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the web accessible to people with disabilities. Currently, most sites are not compliant with WAI standards. As a result, millions of web users with various disabilities are not able to fully experience many websites and internet content. As more domestic tasks such as banking, bill paying, and shopping are made possible with newer web technologies, those with disabilities are finding themselves at a disadvantage when attempting to deal with these challenges.

The goal in meeting WAI standards is to provide equal access and equal opportunity to everyone who uses the internet. As the internet becomes more integrated with our daily lives, and a bigger part of our culture, WAI standards become more relevant.

WAI standards were developed to benefit various disabilities or combinations of disabilities including:

• colorblindness
• repetitive stress injuries (such as Carpal-Tunnel Syndrome)
• impaired hearing or deafness
• dyslexia
• aging-related challenges
• cognitive disabilities, such as Down Syndrome
• combinations of various disabilities including but not limited to those listed above

Our Powerful CMS Package
Stevens 470 supports the Web Accessibility Initiatives and utilizes a content management system (CMS) that is both front-end (site visitor) and back-end (site manager) accessible. For more information, please contact Stevens 470.

The Web Accessibility Initiative online: http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php