Can website information be a constraint for people with physical disabilities? Assessing an index of national parks’ website content quality and efficiency

Abstract

Internet communication and technologies are invaluable resources to plan nature-based recreation. However, their effectiveness for people with disabilities is limited if their specific informational needs are not adequately addressed. The aim of our research is to investigate and quantify the communicative efficiency of the national parks’ websites. To do so, we provide a tool to enhance the parks' website to increase access to the outdoors for the population evaluated in this paper. The proposed framework combines a Website Accessibility Information Quality Index (WAIQI) and the assessment of the URL’s search engine optimization. The case study shows that there is an information bias that keeps people with disabilities from equally enjoying Spanish national parks. Recommendations are suggested to improve website information to also cover the needs of all intersectional realities to facilitate user decision-making and encourage them to visit the parks.