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Every 7 Minutes Someone Loses Their Vision

Blind business woman walking down stairs with a tactile cane from a business center

Did you know:

285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide
- 39 million are blind
- 246 have low vision
Every seven minutes, someone in America loses their sight permanently
There are an estimated 15 million blind or visually impaired people in the United States

Resource: Vision Disability: Types and Information, article on Disabled World website

Pretty incredible when you think about it, right?!

A person with a vision disability may need to use special technology to access online content. This is called assistive technology. Examples include screen readers, magnification tools, and refreshable Braille displays.

These tools rely on keyboard use to navigate the computer or device screen. While navigating, a screen reader, for example, it will provide auditory information to the user instead of visual (since they cannot see it). Basically, instead of seeing what’s on the screen, they will hear it instead.

Digital content that is made with accessibility allows people who are blind or have low vision to easily navigate the content without issue. However, when accessibility is left out of the design process, equal access is compromised.

So let’s think about this from an eLearning perspective. When building an eLearning course, keep in mind people who are blind or have low vision. Any visual content you include in the course needs to be made accessible or compatible for assistive technology.

If you skip accessibility, you put yourself at risk of discriminating against people with disabilities. (Yikes!)

That was a heavy statement! Let’s take a breather for a minute and regroup….

You obviously care about other people and want to avoid excluding anyone. Joining this community shows your care! You are expanding your awareness about people with disabilities and equal access. Feels good right?!

Keep those good vibes going! Take the next step towards being inclusive! Make your digital content accessible and give everyone equal access to participate!

Thank you for reading today! Stay tuned for more coming your way soon!

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Accessibility