Stories of Web Users in How People with Disabilities Use the Web

Accessibility: It's about people

The following user stories represent the experiences of some people with disabilities. They do not address all disabilities or all impacts faced by people with disabilities. These and other disabilities may be present from birth or may develop as a results of an accident, illness, or aging.

• Ade, reporter with limited use of his arms
  Ade was involved in an accident that caused a spinal cord injury, leaving him with limited use of his arms. He often relies only on the keyboard to navigate websites and other digital content.

• Ian, data entry clerk with autism
  Ian is autistic. He has difficulty understanding online content and layouts that change often, including carousels, pop-up ads, and videos that play automatically.

• Lakshmi, senior accountant who is blind
  Lakshmi is blind. She uses a screen reader on her computer and mobile device to interact with online content, including images, form controls, and navigation.

• Lexie, online shopper who cannot distinguish between certain colors (color blindness)
  Lexie has deuteranopia and protanopia (often called “color blindness”). She has difficulty distinguishing among items that are red, green, orange, and brown, which makes it hard to derive meaning from these colors.

• Sophie, basketball fan with Down syndrome
  Sophie has Down syndrome. She sometimes has difficulty comprehending content, especially when it includes acronyms, abbreviations, and unfamiliar words.

• Dhruv, older adult student who is deaf
  Dhruv is deaf. When watching videos or other online content that contains audio, he relies on real-time captions or transcripts of what is being said.

• Marta, marketing assistant who is deaf and blind
  Marta is deaf and blind, although she can see small portions of a computer screen when it is significantly enlarged using screen magnification software. She uses captions and transcripts for audio content.

• Stefan, student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia
  Stefan has dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), both of which make it difficult to focus on and read online content.

• Elias, retiree with low vision, hand tremor, and mild short-term memory loss
  Elias has low vision, a hand tremor, and short-term memory loss. Combined, these traits make using digital technology difficult, although consistent layouts and being able to adjust text size help.

Related WAI resources

These other resources provide more detailed information regarding user needs within specific contexts or disability areas.

• Accessibility Requirements for People with Low Vision - User Needs
• Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities - Use Cases/Personas
• Media Accessibility User Requirements - includes a summary of media requirements by type of disability and assistive technologies to support media access.