Why don’t we focus more on accessibility?

Duncan Stephen
Wednesday 10 September 2014

3% of users browse with IE9 and 14% of users have a disability. Why do we only cater for the former?

Fiona Taylor Gorringe outlines some statistics on web usage, and how sometimes developers have skewed priorities when it comes to who we should be supporting. We are often expected to bend over backwards to support out-of-date browsers, but it is still less common to be asked to ensure that the website is accessible.

Research commissioned by Microsoft in 2003 showed that 9% of working age computer users in the US have a severe visual difficulty or impairment. In addition, 5% have a severe dexterity difficulty or impairment.

So why do we think it is perfectly acceptable to spend time ensuring that our websites work in IE9, but not that you can navigate them with a keyboard?

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