Accessibility Resources
This is a list of the top resources we've found most helpful. There's much to be learned from these sites as well as assets or plugins to aid in testing and implementing accessibility.
Web Aim
Our mission is to empower organizations to make their web content accessible to people with disabilities.
Web Aim provides some awesome, easy to understand articles on Web Accessibility and how to build your site from the ground up with Accessibility in mind. They have also done some very insightful research into the users of screen readers. These studies can be very helpful in building a site that takes advantage of the features in the most commonly used screen readers.
W3C
The W3C mission is to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure the long-term growth of the Web. Below we discuss important aspects of this mission, all of which further W3C's vision of One Web.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides a set of international standards for the web. W3C also has a great introduction into Web Accessibility along with guidelines and strategies on how to make a site more accessible. This is a great place to start.
WAVE
WAVE is developed and made available as a free community service by WebAIM. Originally launched in 2001, WAVE has been used to evaluate the accessibility of millions of web pages.
The Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE) is a fantastic tool by Web Aim for testing your sites accessibility. It provides a list of errors and warnings that indicate where on your pages you have accessibility issues. They also give helpful tips on how you can fix each issues. WAVE also has a Chrome Plugin so you can test your pages frequently with the click of a button.
Simply Accessible
Learn how to navigate the world of accessibility with our training, support, testing, and something else—a completely human approach.
Simply Accessible is another great site with some great reads on Web Accessibility. Their articles go over some of the best practices to making your site accessible and they have the experience to back it up.
SSB Bart Group
SSB sees access to digital technology as a profound empowering force in the lives of individuals with disabilities. We seek to create a world where digital systems can readily be made accessible to users with disabilities.
SSB BART Group provides professional accessibility services. But they also have frequent webinars discussing accessibility best practices. These webinars are hosted by some of the top experts in Web Accessibility and the topics range from basic accessibility to legal compliance and advanced accessibility process flows. Check them out, you can learn a lot from these webinars.
Assets.CMS.gov
Think of Assets as an accessibility layer that you can include in your website to add Section 508 compliant tools and UI components. Cross-browser tested and accessible, Assets streamlines accessible web development.
This is a US Federal Government site that develops open source, accessible assets for your websites. All of the assets and components provided are Section 508 compliant (U.S. law on Accessible government sites) and there is simple documentation for each component. These assets can speed up your development without comprising on accessibility. Check them out.
ImprovingInformationAccess.org
Websites can present significant challenges to people with auditory, visual, and other impairments. Health information on benefit exchange websites can be complicated, especially for people who face barriers as a result of disabilities.
This site provides an excellent resource guide. The guide includes a wide variety of resources to improve web accessibility. It was developed for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, but the information is applicable to a wide variety of organizations in various sectors.