A Deque Systems survey and report launched in partnership with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and G3ict Research.
In partnership with the IAAP, Deque surveyed accessibility practitioners from around the world on the impact COVID-19 is having on employees and customers with disabilities, as well as on their organization’s accessibility program and testing efforts. The first survey was issued in March 2020 to gather early insights and predictions on the impact that the COVID-19 Pandemic would have on digital accessibility. A second follow-up survey was conducted after August 2021 in an effort to compare early and late pandemic perceptions of the impact.
Now, eighteen months into the COVID-19 Pandemic, we’re acutely aware of the increased reliance we have on digital services to stay safe and informed.
The results of this survey provide insight into the level of awareness surrounding the digital channel and digital accessibility. In turn, we hope these results will help organizations highlight priorities to ensure equal digital access to employees and customers with disabilities at this critical time.
Deque and the IAAP surveyed 292 accessibility practitioners during the months of March and April 2020. A follow-up survey received 270 responses through the months of August and September 2021. Answers were solicited by both parties through email and social media.
Individuals who took each survey varied in job roles, industries and organization size. Similar to the 2020 survey makeup, the majority of 2021 respondents reported their role as “accessibility specialist” (63%). The industry representing the most number of respondents
was Education (31%).
Overall, the results indicate an increased awareness around the digital channel and accessibility.
83% of all respondents said that “COVID-19 has raised the profile and importance of digital channels for their organization” and 73% reported that “COVID-19 has raised the awareness and impact of accessibility on the digital channel.”
Despite the increased demand for digital accessibility, 24% of accessibility testing budgets were decreased and 39% remained flat throughout the pandemic.
The percentage of people seeing an increase in reports that users with disabilities were encountering barriers has increased 32% from last year.
We saw mixed sentiments regarding the awareness of digital accessibility in the open-ended questions. Some respondents were able to capitalize on the increased attention to the subject but still believe much work is yet to be done:
“ Since COVID, some changes have been made to internal accessibility. We anticipate that efforts will continue and grow to make internal systems accessible. The importance of an inclusive and diverse (I & D) workforce is being emphasized now and is a cultural pillar of the company.”— Respondent
“ Demand for accessibility is up, and lots of policy action, but little in the way of resourcing or engagement. COVID has put a lot of things in the ‘urgent’ category.”— Respondent
“ Accessibility became more important and we allocated a new budget for training and resourcing for internal accessibility testing, but as a whole, accessibility still unfortunately ranks below other aspects (scalability, performance, security) in terms of priority.”— Respondent
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