Understanding Accessibility

Types of Disabilities & Barriers

Overview

This lesson will provide an overview of the different types of barriers faced by people with different disabilities when navigating content on a computer or the internet.

Core Concepts

In order to understand how accessibility and technology intersect, it is helpful to have a basic understanding of a range of disabilities and their related barriers with respect to the consumption of digital content.

Not all people with disabilities encounter barriers on the web, and those with different types of disabilities encounter different types of barriers. For instance, if a person is in a wheelchair they may encounter no barriers at all in terms of accessing your digital and print content. A person who is blind will experience different barriers than a person with limited vision. Different types of disabilities and some of their commonly associated barriers are described in the hyperlinked pages below.

1. Blindness
2. Low - Vision
3. Color Blindness
4. Deaf and Hard of Hearing
5. Mobility-Related Disabilities
6. Cognitive & Learning Disabilities
7. Everyone