When we mention the word “disability”, we usually think about those who are blind or use a wheelchair. The reality is different: most of the disabilities are not visible. And any of us can experience a situational or temporary disability.

For example someone with strong glasses. It’s like browsing a website on mobile in plain sunlight. It is a similar experience – unpleasant, isn’t it?
Hearing loss and deafness are also invisible. For such users captions on videos are essential for a good understanding. But we can also benefit from it when trying to watch a video on YouTube in a loud environment.

Autism, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia: these are well-known and frequently diagnosed cognitive barriers. Low literacy can also be related to disabilities, but it’s the same as checking a site in a language we are just learning for everyday users.

By considering people with disabilities, we are helping others immediately, and helping ourselves on the long run.

A11Y is the acronym for Accessibility (coming from A-11 letters of c.c.e.s.s.i.b.i.l.i.t- and a final Y). It resonates well with the word “ally”.
– Be an ally for your users who are blind, deaf, use a wheelchair, live with autism, dyslexia, or who can’t use a mouse for some reason.
– Be an ally for your future self: ageing affects everyone’s physical, cognitive conditions.
– Be an ally for everyday situations, when your virtual visitors need extra care. Anyone might need captions that are understandable, text with high enough contrast, voice recognition, or use a screen reader to support the understanding of a complicated text.

Once you optimized your alt text, links, buttons, headings, page structure and copy with accessibility in mind, you will notice a better site performance. Higher reach to your audience, higher visibility, and better rankings on Google.

Your visitors are just partially human, some of them are (important) crawlers and bots. Make your content readable for them, too, so they can bring more potential clients for you.