Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society with a large segment of people in that society who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that that have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society protect that society, but when they don’t have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.”. With fifteen percent of the world population being persons with a disability, we need social inclusion.
In the 21st century, human beings are benefited by technological advancement – 4G and 5G wireless connection, web portal, mobile device, the Internet, and many more. Your website – personal, businesses’, non-profitable organisations’ – is a tool to achieve social inclusion, and in turn, business sustainability.
The disabled are the disadvantaged group that our society and businesses need to care about because of social responsibility and legal responsibility (The Disability Discrimination Ordinance (Cap 487)). According to the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer of HKSAR, all people, irrespective of age, race, education, or disability, shall have equal access to all the information and services in websites or mobile applications. COVID-19 crisis worsens connectivity as the disabled person may have difficulties in moving around to get the resources and services.
Who will benefit from the web accessibility initiative (WAI)? It is the persons with disabilities and you. Web accessibility rate is significant to businesses. A higher accessibility rate means you are reaching out to more potential customers in the market. WAI empowers your business by providing more potential market data, such as behaviours, interests, demographics, connections, age ranges, locations, and languages.
The website and mobile application accessibility is a strategic approach of social responsibility, legal compliance, and hidden market exploration. Enhancing your existing web accessibility through WAI requires you to comprehend the different techniques and tools to enable the disabled to reach the websites or mobile applications contents:
- Screen reading software and screen magnifiers;
- Voice control software and modified keyboards;
- Text transcripts of audio content or subtitles on video contents;
- Straightforward content and structure.
Find out more with us about the WAI.
By: ANewR Consulting Limited, a digital environmental consultant headquartered in Hong Kong since 2008. Our expertise has grown into the context of air and water qualities, noise, green building, waste management, and remediation. With extensive know-how in environmental planning and assessment, feasibility study and policy review, ecological design, monitoring, and audit (EM&A), ANewR has matured to be a leading management consultancy. Standing in the digital transformation reign, ANewR has participated in various environmental digital projects – interactive 3D visualisation, immersive automation virtual environment, Virtual reality, automation system, and monitoring platforms.
(Website: https://anewr.com, LinkedIn: ANewR Consulting Group, Twitter: ANewR – Everyday Newer, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnpvmxnR9hbNxytSfBdfV8Q/videos)
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