Good usability has become an expectation of web interfaces as the world shifts to primarily virtual content transmission. However, usability may lack accessibility for deaf-blind, and other disabled communities. Web content creators must contemplate how to create equal online efficiency, and extend the same experience to these groups.
Carol Barnum (2011) refers to the International Organization for Standardization, defining usability as “the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use” (p. 11).
Good usability is integral to a website's success. Applying this definition to web interfaces enables their creators to question what aspects would be most beneficial, and intuitive to the standard user.
Sushil Oswal and Lisa Meloncon (2014) state that “online accessibility is often defined in terms of Web site accessibility, which ensures that individuals with disabilities can access and use Web sites as fully as people without disabilities” (p. 9).
This definition highlights the discrepancy between how a web interface can have good usability, yet be completely inaccessible to those in the disabled community, such as deaf-blind individuals. Online organizations must ask themselves what patterns of thought, and assistive tools they lack when providing an accessible format for the visually and hearing impaired.