A Case for Making Web Accessibility Guidelines Accessible: Older Adult Content Creators and Web Accessibility Planning
Aqueasha Martin-Hammond, Ulka Patil, Barsa Tandukar · 2021 · Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '21) · doi:10.1145/3441852.3476472
Summary
This short paper presents an experience report on partnering with older adult content creators at an independent living community to support web accessibility planning for their internal resident website. The website served as a civic participation tool where resident committees shared meeting reports, newsletters, and community information. Through an initial six-month formative study involving online surveys and on-site focus groups with 144 participants, the researchers identified significant usability and accessibility challenges — the site had become difficult to navigate over time, with particular barriers for residents with visual disabilities. The research proceeded in three phases: Phase 1 gathered resident feedback through surveys and focus groups; Phase 2 presented findings and WCAG-based recommendations to a resident committee; Phase 3 involved accessibility planning where the team explored solutions for visual/interaction design, WCAG compliance, and PDF accessibility. The residents managing the website were not web designers or developers — they were everyday content creators (prosumers) who volunteered to maintain a community resource. This context created unique challenges, as existing web accessibility guidelines like WCAG are primarily designed for expert audiences. The paper documents three specific challenges encountered: finding comprehensive accessibility information sources that cater to lay individuals, helping residents learn about their own individual accessibility needs, and making the hundreds of existing PDFs on the site accessible.
Key findings
Three key challenges emerged during the accessibility planning process. First, when the resident committee requested educational materials about web accessibility, the researchers found it difficult to locate comprehensive resources that were accessible to non-technical audiences. Resources like WebAIM and W3C WAI provided useful introductions, but residents wanted plain-language summaries of policies and practical guidance — the team ultimately had to create custom materials by combining course content with existing resources. Second, many residents were unaware of built-in accessibility features in their browsers and operating systems (such as Ctrl++ to zoom or browser zoom settings), and some residents with disabilities did not use assistive technologies like screen readers. Those with age-related, undiagnosed, or late-life disabilities often did not know what accessibility options existed or which to try. Even automated accessibility tools that residents chose to adopt could not fully address all needs, as they required some prior knowledge of adaptations. Third, PDF accessibility proved particularly challenging — residents relied heavily on PDFs for content sharing, and while transitioning to HTML was identified as the best long-term solution, the steep learning curve and hundreds of archived PDFs made this impractical in the short term, leading the community to adopt a third-party service for PDF remediation.
Relevance
This paper highlights a critical gap in the web accessibility ecosystem: the needs of everyday content creators who are neither professional developers nor accessibility experts but who increasingly produce and manage web content for their communities. As more older adults create online content for civic engagement, social connection, and self-expression, the accessibility community must develop resources, tools, and guidelines that are comprehensible and actionable for non-technical audiences. The finding that even well-known accessibility resources were too technical for this audience underscores the need for plain-language accessibility guidance. For practitioners, this work raises important questions about the growing population of older adults who experience gradual, age-related changes in ability and may not identify as having a disability — yet would benefit from accessibility features they do not know exist. The paper makes a compelling case that web accessibility support must extend beyond professional web developers to encompass the prosumer content creators who increasingly shape online information.
Tags: web accessibility · older adults · content creators · WCAG · participatory research · digital literacy · PDF accessibility · aging
Standards referenced: WCAG 1.0