Click Here… Click There… Click… Where????
The answer to these questions may seem obvious
Would you invite someone sitting in a wheelchair to stand? Would you offer to shake hands with someone who does not have the use of their arms. Would you cover your mouth when speaking to someone who was deaf so they could not read your lips?
I hope your answer to all of these questions is a resounding NO!
So why would you tell someone who was visually impaired where they should click with their mouse?
Just in case you had not realised, people who are visually impaired do not actually use a mouse, they prefer to use a keyboard with a screen reader.
The phrase “Click here” appears everywhere but imagine how it might make you feel if you could not actually see where “here” is? If you were to change this to “Follow this Link” instead, you immediately become more welcoming, more inclusive. It does not take long to do and you only need to do it once, so why not do this today?
The words you use really count
Language really matters. Read the words on your website and then try to imagine how a visitor to your website with accessibility needs would receive them. Would they feel welcome? Would they feel that, no matter what the limitations of your website might be, you really wanted to help them?
Remember, you do not know who your next visitor to your website may be. If your language is not welcoming, if it is clear that you are not interested in going the extra mile to help them, they will leave. That person could have become your biggest client and you would never have known about it.
Your Website Accessibility Statement is your golden opportunity to tell visitors to your website with accessibility needs that you care about them, that you want them to feel welcome and that you are on-hand to give them any assistance they might need.
