Accessibility Design priorities for different disabilities

So first we need to get people thinking about designing for Accessibility at all. Given. But I believe we also have to the same kind of client analysis for the disability audience that we do for any other kind of client market analysis. Different disabilities have different priorities. Too often, accessibility analysis is only focused on meeting the WCAG or Section 508 standards and not looking at the target audience.

The accesskeys that make using a page easier for a mobility impaired user can break the functions of the JAWS that the visually impaired user needs to read the page. How do you decide? Client analysis. I was recently working on a proposal for a college that wants to attract visually impaired students. They need to set their accessibility priorities in that direction. A major investment firm wants to meet general accessibility standards, but they also want to focus their accessibility priorities toward senior citizens, a target market.

The May WebAim newsletter has a scholarly article on A Conceptual Framework for Accessibility Tools to Benefit Users with Cognitive Disabilities. It got me thinking about sites that would want to target this large market. So far, it is not a large market of computer users, but the entertainment sites would be wise to consider the very large market of low-level readers and their accessibility needs.

Your thoughts?

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