Defining A Good Accessibility Statement

This post lists the recommendations of eight Web articles I found that opine about a good accessibility statement. I also found three that advocate a site-help page be used instead.  All are referenced below.

Common Recommendations

The survey results are from articles published on the Web by accessibility-focused organizations or by site developers.  One, “Evaluating the Usability of Online Accessibility Information“, is based upon research. Publication years range from 2002 to 2009.

Mentioned In Most Articles:

• Agreement
  • Do not just list accessibility features; explain how site visitors can use them.
  • Detail any site barriers to accessibility.
  • Provide contact info for people who experience accessibility problems.
  • Make the accessibility statement easy to locate on the Web site.
• Disagreement
  • Don’t refer to how the site conforms to accessibility standards (50%).
  • Do refer to how the site conforms (50%). Place the info at the bottom of the statement.

Mentioned in Half of Articles:

• Explain the site’s or the organization’s commitment to accessibility.
• Do not use jargon.  Use clear, plain language targeted to the site’s audience.
  • Use an alternative to the term “accessibility” because many visitors do not know what it means.

Mentioned in at Least 2 Articles:

• Separate accessibility-statement content into sections.
• Reference authoritative, stable accessibility-help, i.e., The BBC’s My Web My Way.
• Do not limit accessibility information to a specific impairment.
• Do not assume knowledge visitors may not have, e.g., which browser they use.
• Do not claim accessibility features if they are not present.

Relevancy To Current Assessment Plan

I decided to investigate this in preparation for my plan to assess the Web accessibility of 100 cognitive disability organizations. Specifically, I considered not just awarding a point for the presence of an accessibility statement, but for the presence of a good one.  To do that, I needed to determine agreed-upon characteristics.  Now that I have, I realize it would take too much time to assess the accessibility of the Web sites and whether or not their accessibility statements, if existent, are good.

Referenced Articles

• 2009
  • Nomensa: Writing an accessibility statement
  • Even Grounds: Accessibility Statement: What Is It, And Who Uses It?
• 2008
  • Adam Baker: Are Accessibility Statements Useful?
  • Lee Dumond: How to Write a Good Accessibility Statement
• 2006
  • 456 Berea Street: Accessibility statements or Site help pages?
  • Digital Media Access Group: Evaluating the Usability of Online Accessibility Information
• 2004
  • Digital Media Access Group: Writing an accessibility statement
• 2005
  • Juicy Studio: Writing a Good Accessibility Statement
• 2002
  • Dive Into Mark: Day 30: Creating an accessibility statement

Articles That Advocate Site-Help Pages Instead

• 2006
  • Standards Schmandards: Don’t Provide an Accessibility Statement
  • Accessify: Showing web accessibility statements the door
  • 456 Berea Street: Accessibility statements or Site help pages?

Notes

• I searched for recommendations by people who identified themselves as having a disability, but found none.
• Did I miss an important resource?  Please comment or contact me.