Most government websites for COVID-19 information inaccessible to PWDs

In almost all countries, crucial information about the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic disseminated through websites remain inaccessible to people with disabilities (PWDs), according to a recent study.

“Despite remarkable technological advancements in recent history, for people with visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive impairments, a seemingly simple website interaction can present a daunting challenge,” the researchers said. “The growth and expansion of the internet must therefore be accompanied by an equal development of sophisticated accessibility technologies, which would expand the usability of the web to individuals with disabilities.”

Of the 174 countries assessed, only seven had health authority websites that were compliant with the guidelines set by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), namely Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Poland, and the Netherlands. [Front Med 2021;doi:10.3389/fmed.2020.618337]

The WAI assesses website content according to four accessibility principles: perceivability, operability, understandability, and robustness.

When additionally evaluated using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), 89 percent of the countries had health websites that contain (or lack) features that violate the lowest, easiest level of accessibility. The remaining 11 percent violate higher criteria levels.

Specifically, 39 percent of the websites had problems in robustness, suggesting that these portals were poorly optimized for a wide variety of user agents, including mobile devices, web browsers, and assistive technologies.

Despite the high user uptake of mobile phones and other such gadgets, only North and South America had completely mobile-friendly versions of their government health authority websites. In Asia, only 68 percent of the audited websites were suited for mobile platforms. Central America was the least mobile-friendly region, with only 55 percent of sites optimized.

Perceptibility, which pertains to providing text alternatives to nontext content or presenting information in simple, easily discernible ways, was also a common pitfall, with 32 percent of websites displaying such weaknesses.

Operability, which refers to the ease with which users can navigate through pages and find content, was a less common problem, with errors in 19 percent of websites. Only 10 percent of the pages had issues with understandability, suggesting that the content itself was readable, well-constructed, and intuitively structured.

“Reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 depends on tight adherence of the public to simple but challenging modifications in social and public behaviour,” the researchers said, adding that digital media offer a powerful and convenient way to achieve this through the dissemination of essential information to the public.

“Enhancing accessibility to government-sponsored resources could lead not only to immediate population benefits but could also promote the position of people with disabilities in the digital sphere through increased communication, global engagement, and visibility,” they noted.