How People with Disabilities Use Digital Technology.
Lexie, online shopper who cannot distinguish between colors (color blindness).
Hello! I’m Lexie.
I was born with deuteranopia and protanopia,
which people often call “color blindness”.
I have difficulty distinguishing between
red, green, orange, and brown,
all of which appear to me as kind of murky brown.
In a store, I often can’t tell the color of
two shoes or two shirts beside each other.
I love online shopping
because it’s often easier for me
when they use the names of the colors
in addition to showing the colors.
Unfortunately,
not all online shops have an accessible checkout experience for me.
Often the sign-up or checkout form says “fields in red are required”.
Most times I can’t tell which fields are required
when they use color only.
Good shops either have the word “required”
or that little star beside the fields,
or even better put the word “optional” beside the ones I can skip.
Not relying on color alone is important for other websites
and apps too!
For example, my favorite fantasy football app
has a symbol for each team
on the jersey of the players, in addition to color.
This helps me spot the players on my team more quickly,
not just by reading the names under each player.
Color issues also happen at work.
For example, when my colleagues highlight words in a document
without using the commenting function.
The commenting function outlines the marked text
in addition to highlighting it.
Another example is when charts don’t have symbols
as well as the colors for lines and bars.
I can’t identify them from color alone.
My team is usually careful about this
but sometimes the suppliers we work with aren’t.
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