Beyond 508 Compliance: Web Design for Visually Impaired Users

Background:

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires all federal government websites and digital information to be accessible to people with disabilities. This includes specific requirements for all types of communication products, like adding captions to videos. This law sets important accessibility standards, but health communicators have the opportunity to go beyond meeting a requirement or checking a box. We can strive to understand the user experience and make sure health information is truly accessible for everyone.

The concept of web accessibility is especially salient for people with low vision and other visual impairments. Many accessibility features, such as high contrast mode, are built into operating systems to help those with impaired vision use technology more easily. Despite the availability of these features, many federal websites are not built to accommodate them — which keeps many users from having equal access to information.

Program background:

As part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Eye Institute (NEI) is dedicated to disseminating evidence-based eye health information, conducting and supporting innovative research, and training future leaders in the eye health field.

NEI, with support from CommunicateHealth, has been rebuilding its public-facing website using a user-centered design approach since January 2018. As the nation’s leading authority on eye health, NEI is building a website that is not only 508 compliant but also includes special accessibility features to accommodate people with visual impairments — a key audience for NEI. NEI’s redesigned website, expected to launch in summer 2019, will provide a seamless user experience for those already using visual aids on their browsers.

Evaluation Methods and Results:

NEI’s redesigned website will accommodate the following novel features — many of which are not consistently incorporated even on sites with high accessibility scores:

• Accommodate page zooming to at least 200% by adjusting the site layout so that text still fits in the width of the page — which means users won’t have to scroll from side to side as they read
• Provide a playbook that describes NEI’s philosophy and commitment to accessibility and outlines all accommodations on its website
• Support system-level high contrast mode by optimizing NEI’s site when user settings adjust color palette for easier reading
• Support “prefers reduced motion” to limit animations or motions on the site

NEI conducted multiple rounds of testing with different stakeholder groups — including patients and their families, researchers, and NEI staff — to ensure the redesigned website met the needs of its users. To measure success post-launch, NEI will establish baseline metrics, review analytics, and potentially conduct more testing with low vision users.

Conclusions:

To create a seamless user experience, NEI’s redesigned website will accommodate accessibility features for users with visual impairments.

Implications for research and/or practice:

NEI’s organizational commitment to accessibility serves as a model for other federal agencies and non-federal organizations to follow. Health communication practitioners have a responsibility to ensure content is easy to understand and to offer access for everyone, including those with visual impairments. Building a website that is 508 compliant and accommodates accessibility features will ensure equal access to information for all users.