How People with Disabilities Use Digital Technology.
Presentation: distinguishing
and understanding.
When content is accessible,
people can adjust its presentation to make it easier
to distinguish and understand.
This could include adjusting
screen size and color
to see better,
adjusting audio volume
to hear better, or adjusting
how text is presented to read it better.
Some people with low vision
increased the text size
to make it easier to read.
They might adjust properties
in the web browser or operating system,
such as increasing
the default text size,
font type, and line
spacing to better see the text.
Websites and apps that are programmed
and designed to adapt to these properties,
allow people to use the content
without the text overlapping,
getting cropped,
or requiring them to scroll
both vertically and horizontally.
Other people with low vision
increase everything on the screen,
not only text.
They might use screen magnification software
as a digital magnifying glass.
Some might also change the text
and background colors
to better read the text
and text-to-speech
to hear the text while they're reading.
This means that websites and apps
need to be programmed and designed
to allow people to change the colors
rather than forcing them
to appear in a certain way.
Presentation is not only visual.
People with auditory disabilities, for example,
might need to increase
the volume of online meetings
and multimedia like videos,
podcasts and music,
without increasing the volume of other
system sounds like notification alerts.
Adjusting the bass,
treble and balance of the sound
can make the audio easier to hear,
so operating systems and media players
need to provide these settings.
Also, these settings work
better with high quality audio
that does not have background noise.
Presentation adjustments
can also make content easier
to focus on,
particularly for people
with different types of cognitive
and learning disabilities.
This includes “reading modes”
that hide less relevant parts of the content,
such as sidebars and front matter;
pop up and animation blockers
that help avoid distraction
and interruption;
and digital reading rules
that help readers
focus on one line at a time.
Some reading assistants,
for example, those that
some people with dyslexia might use
adjust how the text is presented
to make it easier to read.
This includes changing the font type,
text size, colors
and the spacing between letters,
sentences and paragraphs.
Some people read better with serif-type fonts
and others with sensory fonts.
Adjusting these properties are individual
from one person to another,
which is why flexible
design is so important.
Other reading assistants
support comprehension.
Some can process a text
to simplify words and phrases,
and sometimes also simplify
complex sentences.
These tools rely on proper
programming and design to work.
You can help make technology accessible to me.
Accessibility: It’s about people.
For more information from the Web Accessibility Initiative
on how people with Disabilities use Digital Technology,
visit w3.org/WAI/people