Best accessibility tools for businesses

Accessibility is more important in modern business than it’s ever been before.

Today, employers must confront the accessibility issues those with disabilities face. This challenge also includes ensuring digital accessibility across all web pages.

Accessibility compliance isn’t something that employers can take for granted. The law requires workplaces to meet certain standards to ensure equal access to opportunities.

This article examines accessibility in the workplace and the importance of conformance. It will also examine how you can confront accessibility problems using a combination of web accessibility solutions.

Understanding accessibility in the workplace

Under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, all companies must offer disabled employees and members of the public level access to information available to others.

What does this mean?

If you provide any sort of service to employees or the public, you must make those same services available to those with disabilities.

For example, let’s assume your business maintains a website. That means you must build an accessible website with functionality to help disabled users. Those with disabilities have as much of a right to access digital content as everyone else. The law states that you’re responsible for ensuring that happens.

How can you provide a web-based accessibility solution?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) outline the processes you must follow for the optimization of web content. These processes are distilled into four key principles with the acronym POUR:

1. Perceivable – All aspects of your website must focus on the user experience of all visitors. No aspect of your website can be invisible to all of a user’s senses. For example, those with visual impairments must be able to use assistive technologies to read the text on your website to them.
2. Operable – No aspect of your website must contain components or actions that a user can’t perform. This ensures an accessible web environment.
3. Understandable – The content on your website can’t be beyond a user’s understanding. Usability is a core component. Websites and web applications must go through testers to ensure they offer what the user needs.
4. Robust – The content on your website must be robust enough that the viewer can use a variety of tools to interpret it.

Achieving WCAG compliance is often complex. For example, the WCAG standards mean you must address the needs of users with color blindness.

While this condition isn’t considered a disability, color-blind people may not be able to read websites with poor color contrast. As such, you must design a site that’s accessible to those who have issues with color.

This example is one of many. A deep understanding of WCAG 2.1 and accessibility laws, as well as accessibility checker tools, can help you to develop a user-friendly and user-inclusive website.

Best business accessibility tools

With web accessibility being such a key challenge, it’s no surprise that there are many accessibility testing tools on the market. The following can help businesses with everything from digital accessibility to search engine optimization (SEO).

Deque

Deque Systems uses the axe-core to examine website accessibility. It scans HTML and CSS, among many other aspects of your site. The Deque suite includes a website auditor and developer tools. It comes as a browser extension for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox.

Wave

This accessibility checker comes from the team at WebAim. It includes several tools for assessing digital content. Specifically, these tools examine issues with headings, images, color contrast, and labels. You can use it as a browser extension or by visiting the Wave website.

Accessibe

Accessibe is a subscription tool that examines your website for ADA compliance. It offers certifications you can display on your website to demonstrate you’ve undertaken a web accessibility evaluation.

Text to speech screen readers

Screen readers read content aloud to website visitors. They’re ideal for the visually impaired. There are many tools you can make available to users. Examples include JAWS and Speechify. Speechify is a text to speech tool for iOS, Microsoft Windows, Android, and Apple Mac. It also comes as a Google Chrome extension.

Userway

Userway is an artificial intelligence-powered tool that checks your website for compliance with ADA rules and WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 guidelines. Services include website remediation, scans, and audits.

Tenon

This API-first automated tool tests your website for a host of accessibility compliance issues. It’s a great evaluation tool as it allows you to locate and resolve issues with little manual effort.

Siteimprove

Siteimprove is an accessibility platform designed to ensure you provide an optimized experience to all users. Its SEO features make it as valuable to marketers as it is to website developers.

Monsido

Monsido is another web accessibility testing tool that helps you monitor your site for issues. It also offers tools for SEO, content creation, and branding. Plus, it helps you ensure data privacy.

Usablenet AQA

Usablenet is a free tool that offers a one-page accessibility test. This test identifies conformance issues and highlights errors in HTML code and JavaScript.

Beyond its accessibility software, Usablenet also operates a quiz. The quiz helps you stay up to date with accessibility requirements throughout your website’s lifecycle.

Introduce Speechify to your workplace

Though many of these tools help you with website accessibility, some also allow you to make your workplace more user-friendly.

Speechify is one of those tools.

Our text to speech software reads text aloud and is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems. The program offers over 14 languages and you can test it for free to see if it offers what your company needs.

FAQ

What are the four types of accessibility?

The four types of accessibility are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.

What is a WCAG tool?

A WCAG tool helps you test a website’s accessibility. Some are complete software suites. Others are open-source plugins you can install into your website.

What are some tools that can be used for more in-depth testing?

The tools listed in this article allow you to conduct in-depth testing.

What is an example of an inaccessible website?

Any website that doesn’t account for the needs of disabled users can be considered inaccessible. For example, failing to attach alt text to an image means that screen readers can’t tell a user what the image contains, making your site inaccessible.

What is the difference between a screen reader and a voice recognition interface?

A screen reader reads a website’s content out loud. A voice recognition interface allows people to use a device by speaking commands.

What is the ADA?

ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act.