Physical Disabilities and Web Access

Remember that not every visitor to your site uses a mouse.

Issues:

Some people who will visit your website may not use a standard mouse. They may be using only a keyboard and tabbing from link to link.

Some visitors may be using a trackball or joystick with their elbows or toes/feet if they cannot use their hands.

Quadriplegics may be using a sip and puff mechanism or a head mouse to access the computer.

Or they may be using speech recognition software to navigate your pages and to select links. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred or Professional version of their speech recognition software allows people to surf the Web using only their voice.

Realize that some mouse users may not have very good fine motor coordination which makes it difficult for them to click on small links.

Even some of the most knowledgeable computer tech workers have developed repetitive stress injuries and/or carpal tunnel syndrome.

A Simulation:

Imagine you have a physical disability. Turn your mouse around 180 degrees and then try navigating some Web pages. Or place your mouse on the floor and try to navigate using your foot. What frustrations do you encounter?

Imagine that you have a disability which forces you to only have keyboard access to computers (no mouse or other input devices). How would it feel to access Web pages using only the Tab and Enter keys? Imagine further that your disability causes you to delay five seconds before each successive keystroke.

Some Solutions:

• Keep people with physical disabilities in mind when creating new Web pages.
• Test for keyboard access --specifically with the Tab key. Is the entire page accessible without the use of a mouse?
• Include a "skip navigation" link before long lists of links to help keyboard users quickly access the main content.
• Ensure that link targets are large enough. In other words, don't assume visitors have precise physical coordination skills even if they can use a mouse.
• Avoid link titles such as "click here" since not all users will be clicking with a mouse.
• Avoid JavaScript navigation and Dreamweaver layers for navigation since not all users will be able to access the links. You cannot assume all users have JavaScript enabled browsers.