EXCLUSIVE: Bridging the online accessibility gap with AI – A path to inclusive digital experiences

Allon Mason, CEO of UserWay, shares how AI can help make digital content more accessible quickly and easily, so that users have an inclusive online experience, whether it is through adding alternative text to images, including speech-to-text functionality, or ensuring a website works for braille displays.

Many websites are still hard to use

While many people have the luxury of taking internet access for granted, the digital world brims with challenges for people with disabilities. Yet too many websites and online platforms don’t do enough to become fully accessible, which harms the interests of people with disabilities. Today, there are 200 million active websites, but 97 percent of them aren’t accessible to users with disabilities.

Making the digital world accessible for individuals with visual, hearing, or motor impairments and disabilities is crucial for their online experience. For example, online shopping is a major pain point. Whether a seemingly simple online form to order pizza or a store selling apparel brands, experiences are rife with barriers for users. In the workplace and on public-facing sites, PDFs and other types of files are often left inaccessible.

Online experiences aren’t going to fix themselves

Most digital experiences, from websites to apps and documents, were not designed with accessibility in mind. Companies need to go back and fix what was not done the first time. That includes adding alternative text for images, keyboard navigation, captions and transcripts for video content, and simplifying forms, to start.

While it’s technically possible to make manual updates, this is usually a time- and labour-intensive process. That’s why today’s websites are best served by automated solutions to diagnose and fix accessibility violations and to keep them compliant and usable. Tomorrow’s websites must be built with accessibility at the top of mind, and that starts in the design process.

What governments are doing to motivate companies to become digitally accessible

Governments worldwide are rolling out accessibility laws, and, as enforcement comes online in the European Union, more and more companies will take notice of their obligations to their users.

The public sector plays a key role in promoting accessibility standards and guidelines. By enforcing rules around accessibility, governments can encourage organisations to prioritise accessibility and make it a key part of their online strategies.

In the U.S., the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990, aims to create fair opportunities in jobs, infrastructure, and telecommunications. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) developed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which:

• Set standards used by the ADA.
• Gave the basis for laws like New York State’s 2023 law requiring contractors to make their websites accessible.

The EU has also put in place regulations including the Web Accessibility Directive in 2016 and the European Accessibility Act in 2019. By 2025, accessibility laws will be enforced across the EU.

Using technological solutions is key to complying with these regulations into practice effectively. Here’s where AI comes into play.

How AI helps make the web more accessible

Raghavendra Satish Peri, Founder of DigitalA11y.com and Head of Accessibility at UserWay, shares: “Technology has the power to shape a modern and inclusive experience. It’s important to consider the needs of users to achieve a successful product driven by AI. This is particularly important for the community of individuals with disabilities, as we rely on assistive technologies. We need to focus on thoughtful design and consider the user’s perspective.”

One of the greatest strengths of AI is its ability to learn, adapt, and improve. AI algorithms improve over time by automatically scanning to identify problems at the source-code level and fixing them rapidly.

AI enhances accessibility automation with little need for manual fixing by web developers. Machine learning algorithms can also interpret website content, automatically generating alternative text for images and captions for videos.

Today, free tools are available for developers without specialised knowledge to make their code accessible, usable, and compliant. One such tool is UserWay’s FixMyCode, where an interactive AI has also been trained to educate developers on accessible coding practices as it transforms inaccessible code.

Organisations without development teams can also make the online user experience easier for people with disabilities. Adding an accessibility solution into websites to make them more inclusive is one way to do that.

AI-powered tools can give real-time suggestions, such as:

• Missing code, HTML tags, aria code, and labels
• Improvements to keyboard navigation
• Simplification of content, language, and how the site works for screen readers and braille displays
• Improvements for easier site navigation
• Alt text for accessibility of all graphics

By making accessibility a priority and choosing AI-powered solutions, companies can speed up the creation of accessible online experiences and promote a more inclusive digital landscape.

Improving user experience and empowering individuals

Using inclusive design principles results in user-friendly, intuitive, and efficient websites. Features such as voice commands, text-to-speech functionality, and customisable user interfaces make it easier for all users to engage with digital content.

AI-powered accessibility supports Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Digital accessibility is about complying with rules to increase usability and doing the right thing to create equal access and opportunity for each and every online user.

Working together and learning are key to change

To make the web more accessible, it’s important for stakeholders across the digital space to work together and learn from end users, and each other. Tech companies, web developers, and accessibility experts need to collaborate to create and promote inclusive coding practices. Companies need to be educated on the myriad ways they can start their accessibility journeys. This includes offering training and resources to web developers, ensuring they have the knowledge and tools to add accessibility features effectively. It also includes empathy training for employees, to better understand the needs and experiences of end users.

As we work towards a more inclusive society, making the web more accessible is a key step forward. AI-powered accessibility tools create online experiences that help the needs of individuals with disabilities. Using AI’s capabilities can empower companies to more quickly enhance their websites. This affects all users, improving the online experience, and fosters a culture of inclusivity online. Working together, learning, and commitment to digital accessibility pave the way for a future where the web is accessible to all.