Invited to dinner, but not to the table: web content accessibility evaluation for persons with disabilities

Abstract

Disability is very common and yet not well understood within sub-Saharan African countries. There has been growing attention to the use of research evidence to improve social inclusion of persons living with disabilities. This article reports on a process that can be used to monitor and evaluate evidence databases to encourage improvements in website and content accessibility for people with disabilities. We examined five evidence communities’ online databases by: (1) assessing the accessibility of these website databases; and (2) assessing the resources within these websites. Finally, we aimed to provide feedback from the evaluation to these evidence databases. We carried out a cross-sectional study of the online evidence databases using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines – a universal standard for web content accessibility assessment. We assessed access to the databases using a purposive sample of 25 resources within them. Resources are meant to improve practice, policy and decision making for all, including people with disabilities. They include systematic reviews, reports and articles. Accessibility is being able to obtain, understand and use resources; addressing barriers that could hinder this is important. Even though these evidence databases are considered as enabling inclusion and diversity within the evidence ecosystem, their contents are not fully accessible to people with disabilities, and they only partially met the recommendations of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.