Disability Employment: Online Accessibility

The growth of the World Wide Web has helped businesses reach hundreds of thousands of potential employees through company websites and social mediums.  Problematic, however, is the issue of accessibility.  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that about 15-20% of the American population have a disability that may inhibit their ability to effectively use technology (i).  In a world where employers are increasingly utilizing their online presence to recruit new prospects, this presents a hurdle that needs clearing.

Disability Employment Accessibility

Larisa Thomason, Senior Web Analyst at NetMechanic, Inc., gives valuable insight as to how companies can make their websites accessible to the estimated 750 million of Americans who live with a disability.  In an article titled Designing Accessible Web Pages, Ms. Thomason advises tweaking the following aspects of web page code and design to increase their level of accessibility (ii):

• Utilize the Alt tag to provide a description of any photos or videos on the page.  This will help explain the image or video through a piece of text, visible when a user hovers their mouse over the element.
• Make navigation more intuitive by including a text link for all image links.  For example, a company logo image that links to a page with more information about the founding of the organization would be complemented with a line of text that reads Company Background, or something similar.
• Avoid relying solely on color to categorize items.  Instead, categorize items into lists and head the lists with descriptive lines of text.
• Be mindful that not all browsers support JavaScript.  Do not rely on Java to display critical elements of the page.  Always employ alternative means of displaying page elements.

Making web pages more accessible is a strong step forward in terms of opening the door for diversification.  However, businesses should not diversify merely because they have to.  It’s simply good business.  The popular drugstore giant, Walgreen’s, provides an excellent example of the less-than-limiting effect diversifying your employee base may have.  A store location in Anderson, South Carolina, took on 42% employees with disabilities and surged to become 20% more productive than their other distribution centers (iii).

Businesses will have to start considering all that entails diversification of employees.  Not only in terms of accessibility in the physical and virtual world, but also sustainability.  Employers must consider utilizing disability training and education programs designed to gauge worker competency, design appropriate work supports, and aid in career development.  Program Development Associates recommends the Becker Work Adjustment Profile, or BWAP, as an excellent and intuitive tool for hiring departments and HR professionals.  Additionally, PDA carries several diversity training resources to further complement such initiatives.

(i) http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/Diversity/Articles/Pages/RecruitingSitesAccessible.aspx

(ii) http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol3/design_no17.htm

(iii)  see (i).