Digital accessibility can level the playing field for persons with disability and allow for productivity and inclusion, but there are several barriers to such accessibility. This round table article focusses on outlining the barriers to digital accessibility, solutions, and possible next steps to ensuring digital accessibility. It first provides the context for the discussion on “Best practices in digital accessibility” beginning with a brief overview of Web accessibility standards and guidelines, including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines issued by the World Wide Web Consortium. Noting that technologies and technical standards operate in a historical, social and the regulatory context, the article outlines the limitations posed by the institutional context and the technology context. Key institutional stakeholders such as global bodies, governments, and organisations which undertake positive steps towards accessibility, often fall short in the creation or dissemination of accessible technologies or ensuring accessibility. Dominant institutional attitudes towards those with a disability may inhibit true inclusion. A major challenge around digital accessibility concerns the present inability of technology to cover the diverse types of disabilities, especially cognitive disabilities. Cost factors and the complexity of guidelines also pose barriers.
The context note then reviews the state of accessibility in India, including the government’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities in 2007, and the positive policy steps taken since towards digital accessibility, which includes the National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility in 2013, and the Accessible India Campaign outlined in 2015, noting, however, that much more needs to be done.
After framing the issues, the article reports on the round table discussion in which diverse stakeholders participated, including players from government and industry, and those who worked specifically on accessibility solutions within workspaces and the education sector. They spoke about the specific barriers that hinder digital accessibility which include government initiatives and overall mindsets; specific accessibility solutions focussed on education, employability, and enablement or inclusion as aided through technology; and ways to further digital accessibility.
