Global Accessibility Awareness Day provides an opportunity for employers to revisit and improve their accessibility standards

It’s easy to take for granted the ease of technology at our fingertips, from streaming services and smartphone applications to subtitles and speech-to-text programs, but for the more than one billion people worldwide who have a disability or impairment, these options are more than just a convenience.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day serves as a reminder that digital access also fosters inclusion, which is a key goal of the Voya Cares program. While some progress has been made, a 2020 scan of over one million home pages for accessibility issues found:

• 98.1% of home pages have at least one web content accessibility guideline failure 
• 60.9 average number of errors per home page  

The most common issues on webpages were low contrast text (86%) and missing image alt text (66%). Without these features, millions of people are unable to interpret digital content and are left out of critical materials — accessibility issues that are easy to address. 

By not addressing accessibility issues in their digital content, employers are missing a huge customer base — one in four Americans has a disability (27%). The disability community is loyal to companies that “walk the walk,” which builds a stronger brand reputation and stronger trust among customers.

The Voya Cares team is researching and actively implementing digital accessibility standards to promote inclusion, including alt text, PDF tagging, high color contrast, accessible presentations, and more. Digital accessibility is part of the journey towards inclusion, and we are looking to continuously improve the way we provide resources for this community.

Our team leverages experts in the field to deliver best-in-class accessibility standards. Voya’s partner, Disability:IN, offers public resources on accessible technology procurement, accessible social media content and more. It is never too late to start thinking about digital accessibility for your employees and customers!