Overlap Between Barriers Faced by Seniors and People with Disabilities

By 2030, one in six people in the world will be 60 years old or older, and by 2050 the number will double to 2.1 billion, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Many of them will meet online the same barriers that People with Disabilities already meet.

Age and disability are closely linked. The WHO estimates that 1.3 billion people, 16% of the world’s population, experience significant disability, and it says the number is growing as people live longer. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than 1 in 4 adults have some type of disability. The article on the intersection of age and disability explains that disability becomes much more common as people get older. Keely Cat-Wells draws out what this means:

“One in four Americans is disabled, and most of the rest will become disabled at some point, which means a vision for disability liberation is ultimately a vision for everyone.” -Keely Cat-Wells, A New Disability Memo Has Lessons For Employers, Funders And Policymakers

The internet has revolutionized the way people communicate, learn, and work. Yet many barriers still keep some people from using it, including Older People and People with Disabilities. As the number of older internet users grows, products should be designed so that older users can use them. Designing for older users is similar to designing for People with Disabilities.

How Age Changes the Way People Use the Web

Changes that come with age differ from person to person. W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) groups the ones that affect web use into four areas.

Vision

Reduced contrast sensitivity, weaker color perception, and difficulty focusing on near objects put web pages out of reach for readers when text is small, pale, or tightly packed. People with Low Vision meet the same barrier.

Hand Control

Reduced dexterity and fine motor control keep people from using a mouse and from clicking small targets. People with tremors, arthritis, or other physical disabilities meet the same barrier. W3C’s literature review, conducted in 2008 and last updated in 2018, reports that arthritis affects at least 50% of people over 65.

Hearing

Trouble hearing higher pitched sounds and separating sounds keeps people from following podcasts and other audio, especially when music plays in the background. The same review reports some hearing loss in 47% of people aged 61 to 80 and in 93% of people aged 81 and older. Captions and transcripts give Deaf and hard of hearing people access to spoken content.

Memory and Attention

Reduced short term memory, difficulty concentrating, and being easily distracted keep people from following navigation and finishing online tasks. Consistent navigation, plain language, and clear instructions remove this barrier.

Why the Barriers Overlap

The barriers faced by Older People and People with Disabilities overlap. Websites, applications, and tools that are accessible to People with Disabilities therefore remove most of the barriers that keep older users out as well. This means that the existing international accessibility standards from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) address most barriers older users face. It is the pattern described in the article on the Curb Cut Effect: a barrier removed for one group serves many others.

The current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is WCAG 2.2, published on 5 October 2023. Content that conforms to WCAG 2.2 also conforms to WCAG 2.1 and 2.0.

WAI develops web standards that make the web accessible to People with Disabilities. Three are especially relevant for older users:

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) cover web content such as text, images, forms, and media.
• User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) cover browsers and media players.
• Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) cover the tools used to create web content, including content management systems and sites where users post content.

Together, these guidelines provide specific guidance on designing for older users.

What Community Builders Can Do

These measures come from WAI’s guidance in Developing Websites for Older People: How WCAG 2.0 Applies. Each one names the people it serves and the barrier it removes.

• Text that resizes. Allow text to be enlarged, including text in form fields. This serves Older People whose vision has declined and People with Low Vision. Large text and strong contrast are also standard patterns in inclusive design.
• Contrast and color. Use a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 for text, which is the WCAG Level AA requirement, and never use color alone to carry meaning. This serves People with Low Vision and people with weaker color perception.
• Keyboard access and large controls. Make every link, button, and control work with a keyboard and be large enough to click. Small targets keep people from clicking them. Some older people cannot use a mouse well or at all, and People with tremors or reduced dexterity meet the same barrier.
• Captions, transcripts, and Audio Description. Provide captions and transcripts for Deaf and hard of hearing people, and Audio Description, which is spoken narration of important visual information, for Blind People and People with Low Vision. Keep background audio low, because loud background sound keeps people who cannot separate sounds from following speech.
• Plain language. Write short, clear sentences, define unusual words, and expand abbreviations. Complex sentences, unusual words, and technical jargon shut out many older readers.
• Control over motion and time. Let users pause moving or auto playing content and adjust time limits. Some older people are particularly distracted by movement and sound.
• Forms that forgive mistakes. Give forms clear instructions, plain error messages, and a way to review and correct entries. The page on accessible forms lists what to consider. This serves people with hand tremor, memory loss, or Low Vision.

Older People Contribute to Community Life

Removing barriers is one part of the work. Treating older people as a group apart is another barrier. An article on ageism by Judith Graham argues that integrating older adults into society, rather than separating them, is key to reducing stigma. The Bahá’í International Community describes what this looks like in a community:

“Even in the face of physical limitations, older members of society contribute to their communities in a myriad of ways.” -Bahá’í International Community, A European strategy for the elderly: The irreplaceable role of community life, 29 November 2023

“A flourishing community is also one which is intergenerational in nature and avoids treating elderly populations as a group separated from the rest of society.” -Bahá’í International Community, A European strategy for the elderly: The irreplaceable role of community life, 29 November 2023

Generations United is one example of intergenerational work. It advocates for children, youth, and older adults together and encourages communities to engage all ages.

Educate and Advocate

As a society, we must prioritize accessibility for older users and take it upon ourselves to educate and advocate for others. W3C’s The Business Case for Digital Accessibility explains why organizations benefit, and it notes that the disability market is large and growing as the global population ages. Better Web Browsing: Tips for Customizing Your Computer, an archived W3C page, shows users how to change text size, colors, and other settings on their own computers. The article on raising awareness about accessibility offers short videos to share within an organization, and the article on training in the international accessibility standards points to a free introductory course. By using these resources, we can promote accessibility and remove barriers, so that Older People and People with Disabilities can reach the information and resources available online.

Questions for Community Builders

1. Think of the last five times your community asked people to use a website, form, or app to register, pay, or join a meeting. Which older members, members with Low Vision, or members with hand tremors could complete each one alone, and how do you know?
2. When did Older People and People with Disabilities last test your pages, documents, and messages for text size, contrast, and keyboard use, and what did your community change because of what they found?
3. Which of these barriers appear in your newsletters, registration pages, and meeting links: small text, pale colors, small buttons, background music, jargon, or moving content? Which will you remove first, and who is responsible for it?
4. In what ways does your community treat older members as a group apart, and how are they invited to share their knowledge and experience in decisions and in work with younger members?
5. How can an older member or a member with a disability report a barrier, how quickly does your community respond, and where is each report and its outcome recorded?
6. Which of the W3C resources in this article will your community study together, who will bring what is learned to the next gathering, and how will you judge whether it removed a barrier to participation?