Digital accessibility. What? Why (not)? The mindset. #000
Tags: a11y, programming, webdev, culture
Published: 2021-08-27 15:08:14



For most of us, to use a computer or a mobile is obvious. Surf around the internet, read articles, watch videos, chat with friends, buy stuff, and all those things are in our everyday life for a while. The generation born after Google was founded can legally purchase and drink alcohol; some already have kids.

And most of them do not even question the existence of Google, Facebook, and all the digital stuff surrounding us. Why would they do that? They just use it. And nothing wrong with that. (That would be a different topic how to use those things securely and wisely)
And there are so many developers, including me, working hard to build and maintain digital content.

And some people cannot, or just with difficulties, can use most of them.
Okay, stop here and think. What do I mean?

“Why cannot they use, for example, the internet?” you would ask me. “Perhaps they have no computers? Or do they live in a country where there is no internet? Oh my! Does such a place still exist?”

“I didn’t mean that”, I would answer. “Rather than because they are not able to do that. Physically.”

“What? Why not?” you wonder.

“Okay, tell me, how a blind people can read a book?” I ask.

“They simply cannot do it!” you reply.

“Oh, yes, they can.” I would smile.

“But... how?” You amazed.

“By listening audiobooks.”

“Audiobooks are not books. You cannot read them!” you would disagree with me.

“Let’s see. What are the books for?”

“For reading.”

“For reading, but why do we read?”

“We want to know something? A story, perhaps? Maybe we want to learn new things?”

“Can we all those things to do with books?”

“Certainly’”

“Cannot we do the same with audiobooks?”

“Actually, yes. We can.”

“Then the audiobooks are just the same as books, even if we use them a different way.”

“But, what if there is no audiobook version for a book that they want to read?”

“That is an excellent question, and that’s why we are here now.” I would say. “In that case, we have to make one.”

## Digital accessibility.

Not everyone can access digital content, as most of us do so.

Some cannot use the mouse, others need a screen reader, yet others need to zoom in on homepages to break up its structure. Some have to change the font type. Or the colours. And so on. But everybody can access the digital world in their way if we make it possible for them.

For that, we must understand their problem. We must understand their disabilities. Do you think you do so? Let me tell you another short story.

There was a girl. Let’s call her Emma.
She was born blind, but she didn’t mind. She had a whole and successful life.
One day, she overslept. She quickly prepared herself, picked up her stuff and ran to work. She swept the pavement with his white cane as fast as she could. Then she had to stop at the pedestrian crossing. Suddenly an older man (let’s call him John) grabbed her elbow.
“Let me help you, my love!” she said.
The red light turned to green, and they walked to the other side together.
Emma didn’t say a single word as she didn’t want to hurt him but, she could have gone much faster on her own. In the end, Emma was late for work.
Meantime John walked away and was so happy she could help someone today.

What’s wrong with this story?

## The mindset.

John wanted to help, and he did something, but that was not helpful for Emma. Contrariwise, it put Emma in trouble.

Most disabled people don’t need us to help them or be sorry for them. They want to live their whole life just as we do. Most of the help we do is similar to the story above.

We have to understand them and their needs and change the world to fit them into physical and digital life.

In this series, I’ll help you understand these people and point out how we, developers, can make everyone’s world complete with a bit of attention.

You’ll find tricks and tips as well stories to help you to get the right mindset.

If you think this article is not about programming, coding, and developing, please think again. At the end of the day, we create for customers, not for ourselves.

I’ll be back at the end of September with the first full article about digital accessibility.
Meantime, if you want to read more, please follow me here or other platforms, follow [my podcast channel](https://anchor.fm/accessiblecoffee) on the same topic. I’ll even tell you why I don’t think disabled people have disabilities; instead, I think they have different abilities and how this mindset helps me develop websites and applications easily that they can use without difficulties.

Thank you for reading. I hope you’re curious enough to come back the next time!

Have a lovely day and life!

Any thoughts, please leave a comment or message me. I need your help on this journey!

Peter J. Jonas – Accessible Coffee

Visit [Accessible Coffee Homepage](https://accessible.coffee)
Or [Listen to the Accessible Coffee Podcast](https://anchor.fm/accessiblecoffee)