Visually Impaired Individuals Discuss Websites and Accessibility Barriers They Face

Written by: Alana Ambrosecchia

When navigating a website, the average person wouldn't realize that there could be barriers to access information. Sadly, though, more than 70% of websites in this day and age are not accessible to individuals that have disabilities. To put that in perspective, that is a large majority of content we see on the Internet.

Iliana, a visually impaired rising Senior at Marymount, told me about her experience with utilizing websites. Since she can only see light, she relies on a screen reader, Apple's VoiceOver, to use her technology successfully. This includes navigating Internet sites. "So many… oh my gosh. I feel like I need to just pray up to the sky every time I use an Inaccessible website. Like will it work, or no? Because a lot of websites have weird icons that aren't labeled", she said. Iliana mentioned times when she would apply for jobs at UNICEF for example. She told me she would spend hours upon hours clicking buttons within Drop-down menus. Voiceover unfortunately wouldn't tell her if she had clicked the right option, which would really confuse her. Some options within the menus, as she spoke about regarding the icons, were unlabeled. This meant the screen reader would not recognize them at all. Even attempting the application on different devices did not help. There were even times when, after entering a drop-down menu, she could not get out of it due to a Keyboard trap.

It is so unfortunate that barriers like this stand in the way of folks completing simple tasks. Applying for a job should not be something that is difficult as far as usability of websites, especially today, when technology is meant to be so advanced. Iliana also told me about some Learning management systems used by her school and how they can be hard to use with her screen reader. Applying to college in general was also hard due to the accessibility barriers within the application forms. Sometimes, even typing in information like an email address wouldn't work for Iliana. "It's so frustrating", she says. Like just trying to complete a reading can be difficult because of the system and it shouldn't. I shouldn't have any problems using websites. I should be able to have that same experience as a sighted person would when accessing information.”

Jack, a Digital Accessibility Analyst, spoke to me about his line of work. On a daily basis, he tests websites with screen readers like Jaws, NVDA, Talk Back, Orca and VoiceOver. "Well, imagine that you have a button, and you don't know what it is. It's that comical, oh, don't press the red button kind of thing. If you're a sighted person and you don't know what a button is, generally your first instinct is to not press it. As people who are visually impaired, however, we have no choice, we see buttons like that all the time through screen readers”, Jack says. He also mentions images not containing Alt text descriptions, which he says is probably one of the most common issues he notices. Being a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies, Jack has had a lot of experience with both locating and reporting issues. He usually tests websites with the screen readers and devices he is familiar with. Then, after that is over, he creates a spreadsheet which includes everything he's found related to digital accessibility barriers. For example, he told me that sometimes, problems could be as simple as headings in the wrong order. Like, say, a developer writes a heading level 2, followed immediately by a heading level 5, that can be common.

Focus Order is another barrier Jack comes across quite a bit. "Some issues are really strange. Imagine you're navigating a shopping page and the add to cart button is the first one you find? Now, this could be helpful, but if I'm looking for a certain item, and I click on it, generally I might find the button to put it in my cart underneath it. But no, I have to scroll all the way up to the top of my screen to get what I want to click. It's a hassle, especially if it happens a lot", Jack says. One last issue Jack brought up was on focus. This happens when someone, say a screen reader user for example, is trying to navigate to a certain point on the page. However, as soon as they navigate to wherever they would like, their focus shifts unexpectedly to a different part of the page. Jack uses a checkbox as an example, saying that at times, he would attempt to have the screen reader focus on the check box. Instead, though, it would change focus and read the last item on the page he was testing. "On focus issues are some of the worst. I probably spend more time on them than I do on others. Sometimes I test with a sighted person who can help me get around it, we call this pair testing, but when I'm doing a test alone, it can be very difficult to get through", he says.

As for my own opinion, I definitely agree with Iliana and Jack. I think inaccessible websites are seen more often than not these days. Considering I am also visually impaired, I can relate to their experiences. I've done some digital accessibility work in the past through a Bootcamp with the American Foundation for the Blind. I've also just completed their Digital Accessibility Work Study program with the goal of having a career in the field. That being said, like Jack, I've done a lot of testing for issues. I have to say, while reporting on them can be difficult, I know it is super important to do so. I wish folks would understand accessibility more generally and how crucial it is. Even just training developers, for instance, on how to handle web accessibility issues could help. Most of the time, it isn't that companies have no care in the world for digital accessibility. To be honest, they just have no idea how to implement it, which can, theoretically, be fixed easily. I would love to say I could picture this happening in the future, but unfortunately, it is unlikely. If more folks are able to join the digital accessibility programs I've participated in, though, I think that will bring some changes, especially to the younger generations.