How People with Disabilities Use the Internet

To gain an understanding of the problems faced by people with disabilities when they reach an inaccessible Web site, we must understand their experiences.  We all know each of us is unique; the same applies to each person's differences and disabilities. These differences are largely defined by each person's unique disabilities as well as the adaptations that each must use to browse the Web. To understand why this issue is so important, it is helpful to first understand how people with disabilities use the Internet and how their disability affects their use of the Internet.

There are five disability categories that affect Internet usage: vision, hearing, motor, cognitive and a composite miscellaneous category including seizure disorders and age-related processes. Solutions for disability access must look at the experiences of ALL people. This overview of Web accessibility will take a look at each one of these disability types individually.

Categories of Disabilities:
Vision
Hearing
Motor
Cognitive
Miscellaneous