1. The barriers

In the past, there have been a lot of barriers for people with disabilities. These barriers have been physical, social, and cultural. These barriers were something that needed to be eliminated.

The internet has been a great way for people with disabilities to connect with each other, get information, and learn about products that are accessible. But there are still a lot of barriers for people on the internet.

There are a lot of websites that are not accessible and people with disabilities are unable to use them.

2. How do you check for accessibility?

If you are a business owner, a designer, a developer or simply, a person and you’re interested in making your product accessible to people with disabilities, you should first find out if it is already accessible.

If you are not sure, there are several online tools that you can use to find out if your product is accessible.

3. The tools of the trade

There are many different online tools to check if a product is accessible and inclusive to all people. To do so, you can use these tools below:

IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker (Chrome and Firefox)

IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker - Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker

The IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker is an open source tool for web developers and auditors that utilizes IBM's accessibility rule engine, which detects accessibility issues for web pages and web applications. The extension integrates into the browser development tools, providing an integrated checking experience, helping users quickly identify the source of accessibility issues and try fixes.

Please view the release note https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases for the changes in the latest version.

IBM Verify (Manual | Screen Reader)

Verify - manual

Verify - screen reader

The Verify phase gives testers a faster way to confirm the accessibility of products.