Stevie Award: Accessible Website – PRIDE Industries
One in four people in the United States has a disability, according to the CDC.
Yet only 3% of websites are accessible to people with disabilities.
Imagine if only 3% of buildings had wheelchair ramps.
Or if only 3% of parking lots had accessible parking spaces.
Websites are especially inaccessible to people with visual and mobility-related disabilities.
The inability to see text or use a mouse puts online content out of reach of people with mobility disabilities without accommodations.
As the nation’s leading employer of people with disabilities, PRIDE Industries is committed to being accessible to all.
Our website is designed to be easily navigable by people of all abilities.
Features like screen readers, which convert written text to audio for people with visual disabilities make written content accessible.
Keyboard commands allow people with mobility disabilities to move cursors and click on objects in place of using a mouse.
When the cursor rolls over linked items, focus indicators are used to “read” text audibly and to display text visually for people with vision and mobility disabilities.
Flyout menus “read” text audibly, and display drop-down menus without requiring a mouse click.
We code “Accordion” menus to make FAQ content tab-able by keyboard users and accessible to screen readers. Most accordion menus are not compatible with screen readers or keyboard navigation.
We updated our Donate page to ensure it is screen readable and navigable by keyboard.
We created a location map using Google Maps, but it is not completely accessible alone. Pin drops on the map are difficult to navigate, and the long list of locations throughout the country is cumbersome to scroll through. We created a button that says, “Skip to Location List,” which is screen readable, to take users to drop-down list of states to help users easily narrow their search.
We have video backgrounds on some pages and added a Pause button so users can stop the video and read the copy that is on the page. The Pause button is announced by the screen reader when the cursor hovers over it.
WCAG A, AA, and AAA refer to the three levels of conformance within the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), with "A" being the minimum level of accessibility, "AA" representing a mid-range level considered widely acceptable, and "AAA" being the highest level of accessibility, encompassing the most stringent requirements for optimal accessibility for users with disabilities.
The PRIDE Industries website maintains a WCAG rating of AAA with a compliance rating of 92%.
Less than 1% of websites achieve this rating.
One way we ensure exceptional accessibility is that we implement manual testing in addition to automated audits performed by automated compliance
Most companies that achieve WCAG compliance use software that automates compliance checks and generates corrective recommendations to address issues that arise as websites evolve. We take the extra step of having live humans test our site against WCAG standards every month.
As with most investments in accessibility, an accessible website improves the experience for everyone. Since implementing our website accessibility measures, traffic at prideindustries.com has been growing at a rate of 30% annually.
Nomination Title: Stevie Award: Accessible Website – PRIDE Industries
