Why Accessibility?

Accessibility is a key component of our commitment to fostering diversity and inclusivity, but the benefits of accessibility extend beyond our moral imperative; accessibility benefits everyone. When changes are made to a service to make it more accessible, it commonly improves the user experience for everyone, not just the intended audience.

The Curb Cut Effect

This is often called the "Curb Cut Effect". First mandated as a result of the Americans with Disabilities Act, sidewalks are now retrofitted to have ramps at crosswalks. 

Street corner with curb cut

The original intention was that they were added for people in wheelchairs and reduced mobility. While curb cuts were successful in helping people with disabilities navigate crosswalks more safely, they are also now frequently used by people pushing strollers or riding bikes. Changes made to help a specific disability frequently help everyone.

Accessibility is Usability

"Usability" is the broad quality of how well a service meets the users needs. People access resources for a reason, and if they are able to achieve their goals in a way that is intuitive and pleasant, they are more likely to return. If the resource is difficult, confusing, or frustrating, they may leave and never return. 

Accessible services are more usable services. Consider:

  • Closed captions on videos help students understand complicated terminology, or speakers with accents, or if the viewers themselves speak English as a second language, or if the viewers are viewing materials in a crowded environment where they are unable to use the audio.
  • If a student is looking for a specific term in a long video, they can open up a transcript and do a text search for the relevant information, instead of being forced to skip around a video listening for the correct moment.
  • If you are browsing a website on your mobile device and see two linked resources, with one going to a web page and another indicating that it is a 50MB PDF. You choose to follow the website link, avoid unexpectedly downloading a large file, and quickly find the information you need.

All of the above principles are accessibility requirements designed to meet the needs of users with disabilities, but they also provide usability benefits to people who don't have disabilities. Accessibility Benefits Everyone.

The Business Case

Accessibility makes business sense. Per the CDC, 27.2% of adults in the U.S., or approximately 71 million people, have a disability. This is a broad demographic that includes both students and employees at UO.

The financial benefits to accessibility extend beyond people with disabilities. As more accessible content is also more usable, this reduces the long-term user support costs of maintaining these services.