We believe that the web should be accessible to all. In the physical world, businesses, government establishments, and other public locations are required to be accessible. As a society, we universally consider it unfair when a person with disabilities cannot access a space such as a polling location or library -- locations critical to a person's participation in the world around them.

With the internet now an essential utility and means for gathering information, completing work, performing research, connecting with public resources and communities, and even attending school, it is critical that the digital space be made accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. Leading companies on the web underscore the future of human interaction: much of it will be done in a meta space using avatars in virtual meeting rooms. We will conduct business, debate hot-button topics that could involve human rights, and we will learn here.

Think of Daisy, a blind high school student who struggles to perform the research she needs to do to earn a STEM scholarship, or Michael, a veteran whose ADHD affects his ability to focus on a page with too many distractions while he's working as a contractor. Then there's Tara, who feels left behind because a recent seizure limits the amount of flashing content she can see on a computer screen.

Daisy, Michael, Tara, and the 25 percent of global citizens who will experience one or more disabilities in their lifetimes do not need an additional hurdle.

It is crucial that we use every tool at our disposal for web accessibility, including automation, so that everyone can gather information crucial to contemporary living.

The internet was built largely without input from disabled people. Unfortunately, progress outpaced our global responsibility for inclusive design and accessible websites -- but now we have the ability to create free, usable standards and tools to make the web more accessible.

Adaptive focus in web development will create a curb-cut effect. The curb-cut effect occurs when a disability or accessibility accommodation is made specifically to ensure a socially disadvantaged group can access something, but the result actually makes usability easier for unintended groups or the general public. A curb-cut is a great example because it's often done to ensure wheelchair users can access a sidewalk, enabling them to travel in a safe location with their mobility device. However, it also helps others:

• People with bikes, skateboards or shopping carts can more easily and quickly access the sidewalk area;
  
  
• Parents with strollers spend less time getting them to the sidewalk since;
  
  
• Elderly pedestrians can more easily access a sidewalk;

Similarly, accessibility accommodations in virtual spaces--particularly ones done silently and automatically with automation--can make those spaces better not only for disabled people, but for everyone. In this case, accessibility features typically also increase website usability on mobile devices and tablets.

Currently, making an existing website accessible or even building accessibility into a new website can be a challenge (and it can cost a lot of money). While we believe accessibility consultants should continue to do their manual labors, the world wide web needs to martial every possible solution to make information, services, and products more available to a wider variety of users.

We believe four key factors will signal the accessibility revolution for the web -- and frankly, they should have already happened:

• Accessibility is baked into 101 training in schools and vocational programs about computer science, coding, and related subjects. If students and professionals learn to always include accessible features, it won't feel like a burden to add them.
  
  
• Businesses and other organizations make investments and commitments to investing in accessibility compliance criteria and training their employees to match the need to conform. This can also be achieved with government grants to these organizations.
  
  
• Common platforms like SquareSpace, WordPress, and Wix don't require a separate plugin installation or coding to make the website accessible.
  
  
• React, Angular, and other frameworks create semantic code automatically compliant and compatible with assistive technology.
  
  
• Encourage automation at every stage of the content development lifecycle, from code-checkers in the IDE, to automated testing in the QA stage, to automated overlays operating at the time of content consumption in the browser.

Let’s bring every tool we have to make this happen! Moving forward, we are looking for commitment to ensuring that this type of compliance becomes not only the standard, but the joyful norm in society and design. Learn more at Overlayfacts.org.