Accessibility Requirements

Definition

A accessibility requirement is a utility requirement that specifies a required amount of accessibility, which is a quality factor that is defined as follows:

Accessibility

adj.[quality factor] the degree to which the user interface of something enables users with common or specified (e.g., auditory, visual, physical, or cognitive) disabilities to perform their specified tasks.

Objectives

The typical objectives of a accessibility requirement are to:

• Enable users with common disabilities to use the application or component.

Examples

The following are typical examples of accessibility requirements:

• “The application shall be usable by persons with auditory disabilities.”
• “The application shall be usable by persons with colorblindness.”
• “The application shall be usable by persons with visual acuity or blindness and common screen readers.”
• “The application shall be usable by persons with physical disabilities by enabling them to verbally interact with and use it.”
• “The application shall be usable by persons with mild cognitive disabilities.”

Guidelines

The following guidelines have been found to be useful when producing accessibility requirements:

• The scope of an accessibility requirement can be:
  • A business enterprise
  • An application
  • A component
  • A center
• Accessibility requirements can also be indirectly specified as:
  • Governmental constraints such as compliance with section 508 of the United States Government Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d).
  • Industry standard constraints such as compliance with the World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines.