Digitizing Talent by Jessica Miller-Merrell

Author:Jessica Miller-Merrell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HR; Digital Recruiting
Publisher: Society for Human Resource Management
Published: 2022-07-19T00:00:00+00:00

Accessibility and WCAG Guidelines

Accessibility is a crucial component of the candidate experience and should be a priority equal to network security, says Accenture’s Inclusion and Diversity Senior Manager Dan Ellerman. In a podcast interview, we discussed WCAG and how your company can take its accessibility initiatives to the next level.

WCAG are the global standards that define how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities, including those with visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities.22 WCAG were first established in 1998 and are governed by a global consortium. Other major accessibility laws and regulations also reference and align with WCAG success criteria, including Section 508 for US federal contractors, settlements related to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the European Standard EN 301 549.23

The updated WCAG 2.0 standards were introduced in 2008, and complying with WCAG 2.0 level AA is widely considered a best practice. More recently, a proposed update to WCAG, or WCAG 2.1, extends WCAG 2.0 by adding new success criteria, definitions, and guidelines.

In our podcast interview, Dan reviewed the four major principles of WCAG 2.0 and what each principle means for web accessibility.

Perceivable

“If you don’t have one of the senses around vision or hearing or touch, how can you interact with digital information?” This means that company websites must provide text alternatives for any nontext content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols, or simpler language.

Additionally, provide alternatives for time-based media. Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example, simpler layouts) without losing information or structure. Make it easier for users to see and hear content, including using adequate color contrast to separate foreground from background.

Operable

“How do we interact with a website if we can’t use a mouse?” User interface components and navigation must be operable. Make all functionality available from a keyboard. Provide users enough time to read and use content. Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.

Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures. Make sure your web pages do not contain anything that flashes more than three times in any one-second period and that the flash is below the general flash and red flash thresholds.24

Understandable

“Is our website easy to read and presented in a logical fashion?” Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable. Make web pages appear and operate in predictable ways. Help users avoid and correct mistakes.

Make text content readable and understandable to people with different disabilities. That means individuals with learning disabilities, cognitive disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, and other disabilities, all of which can make using the internet more challenging. What’s one of the best ways to meet the needs of these users? The answer is simple, literally. It’s simplifying the content you write for the web. Effective writing tactics tend to appeal to all web users, whether they have a disability or not. Use plain language, short sentences, bulleted lists, and lots of white space.

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