What Does Accessibility Mean?
Accessibility is a measure of how useable a computer system is to all people, including those with disabilities or impairments. It concerns both software and hardware and how they are configured in order to enable a disabled or impaired person to use that computer system successfully.
Technology designed to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals who have disabilities is referred to as assistive technology.
Techopedia Explains Accessibility
Accessibility refers to how software or hardware combinations are designed to make a system accessible to persons with disabilities, such as:
- Visual impairment
- Hearing loss
- Limited dexterity
For example, a website developed with accessibility in mind might have text-to-speech capabilities or output for special braille hardware geared toward individuals with visual impairments. In today’s internet-driven world, the accessibility of a website is paramount in order for it to reach all audiences.
Accessibility also can be incorporated with other forms of digital media, like pictures and videos. Subtitles, for example, can help make a film more enjoyable for someone with a hearing impairment.
The word accessibility can be abbreviated to "a11y." The number eleven in the middle refers to the number of letters that the word contains between the first and last letter. It follows an information and communications technology (ICT)-oriented convention, just like internationalization (i18n) and localization (l10n), which are used mostly in the software community.
