If your company is brand new to digital accessibility, an audit or assessment is an excellent place to start to figure out where you are.
What is the purpose of an accessibility audit?
A web accessibility audits is automatic manual testing carried out by accessibility professionals in various testing conditions employing assistive technology. A detailed web accessibility audits is a comprehensive assessment of accessibility that gives comprehensive coverage that automated testing alone cannot.
Why is accessibility important to your company?
Accessibility gets driven by several factors, one of which is compliance and legal risk. If you don’t handle accessibility, your company might face accessibility complaints and litigation. The number of ADA Web Accessibility-Related Lawsuits increased 181% from 814 in 2017 to 2285 in 2018. Customers are increasingly relying on eCommerce in their everyday lives, and this trend gets expected to continue in 2018-2019. According to real-world figures from an accessibility-related case, legal expenses alone may cost you over $400,000.
Furthermore, having a comprehensive website or application may considerably boost your company’s market share potential. A disability affects around one out of every five persons in the United States, or 64 million people. Working-age persons with disabilities have a total after-tax disposable income of about $490 billion. In comparison, African Americans have a disposable income of $501 billion, while Hispanics have a disposable income of $582 billion.
Take away
A web accessibility audits is an excellent starting step in any company’s accessibility journey. From one accessibility vendor to the next, the quality of an audit will vary substantially. We want to make sure that the audit you receive is correct and helpful.
On a strategic level, your senior leadership should be aware of the current status of accessibility, the effect of issues on persons with disabilities and recommend upcoming measures for addressing the most pressing concerns.
On a tactical level, you should know what accessibility issues you possess, how to recreate them, fix them.
It’s essential to have the appropriate information and ask the correct questions when selecting an accessibility partner.
