Article

Currently, dominant web accessibility standards do not respect
disability as a complex and culturally contingent interaction ; recognizing that
disability is a variable, contrary and political power relation, rather than a
biological limit. Against this background there is clear scope to broaden the
ways in which accessibility standards are understood, developed and applied.
RESULTS: The values that shape and are shaped by legislation
promote universal, statistical and automated approaches to web accessibility.
This results in web accessibility standards conveying powerful norms fixing the
relationship between technology and disability, irrespective of geographical,
social, technological or cultural diversity. CONCLUSIONS: Web accessibility
standards are designed to enact universal principles; however, they express
partial and biopolitical understandings of the relation between disability and
technology. These values can be limiting, and potentially counter-productive, for
example, for the majority of disabled people in the "Global South" where
different contexts constitute different disabilities and different experiences of
web access. To create more robust, accessible outcomes for disabled people,
research and standards practice should diversify to embrace more interactional
accounts of disability in different settings. Implications for Rehabilitation
Creating accessible experiences is an essential aspect of rehabilitation. Web
standards promote universal accessibility as a property of an online resource or
service. This undervalues the importance of the user's intentions, expertize,
their context, and the complex social and cultural nature of disability.
Standardized, universal approaches to web accessibility may lead to
counterproductive outcomes for disabled people whose impairments and
circumstances do not meet Western disability and accessibility norms. Accessible
experiences for rehabilitation can be enhanced through an additional focus on
holistic approaches to accessibility blending digital and physical solutions, the
use of BS 8878 and mixed-method approaches to accessibility benchmarking. Web
standards and accessibility conformance should be considered together with user
input and the recognition and development of local accessibility and rehabilitation expertize.

Langue : ANGLAIS