How WCAG 2.1 Relates to Online User Experience with Switch-Based Tools

Abstract

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), organized under the four principles Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust, form the standards for building web pages that are accessible to users with disabilities. The guidelines under the first three principles broadly map to three disability domains: sensory, physical, and cognitive respectively. However, there is little published research examining the relationship between these categories of WCAG guidelines and the user experience of a person with a specific type of disability. We studied the user experience of a person with a physical disability (quadriplegia) while using switch-based tools online in the context of each of the WCAG guidelines. We found the guidelines under Operable to be relevant to the user's online experience, but with relatively low dependency on keyboard accessibility and high reliance on multiple input modalities. Most guidelines under Perceivable and Understandable, which generally map to sensory and cognitive disabilities respectively, were also found to be relevant to this user more for usability that for accessibility. The guideline under Robust was found to have no direct relevance to this user's online experience. Further studies of online experience of users with other types of disabilities are required to understand how the guidelines relate to user experience with those disabilities.