WebAIM's Screen Reader, Motor, Low Vision, and Web Accessibility Practitioner Surveys Jared Smith @jared_w_smith webaim.org
Screen reader users prefer Blind users do
Disclaimers Samples are not controlled Is data representative? Representative of whom? Surveys do not explore highly technical topics
We need more, better data (preferably from user testing, not just surveys)
We must be careful with the data we have due to loss aversion http://webaim.org/blog/loss-aversion-and-web-accessibility/
Be careful of false inferences
Low Vision Survey Conducted March 2013 216 respondents http://webaim.org/projects/ lowvisionsurvey/
Low Vision Survey Respondents were very diverse in vision level, age, expertise, technologies used, etc. Twice as likely to use IE than the overall population 80.6% use a mobile device. 43.1% use Apple devices. 91% indicate contrast is important
How Useful To You Are Text Resizing Widgets? Not at all useful 27% Very useful 27% Somewhat useful 45%
Do You Wish More Pages Included Text Resizing Widgets? No 22% Yes 78%
Motor Disability Survey Conducted March 2013 46 respondents http://webaim.org/projects/ motordisabilitysurvey/
Motor Disability Survey Diverse types of disabilities 22% reported multiple disabilities Most common browsers: Internet Explorer for keyboard users, Firefox for voice control users, and Chrome for mouse users. 58% use a mobile device. Notably lower than overall population, screen reader users, and those with low vision.
Motor Disability Survey What is your primary means of interacting with a web page? Voice Control 13% Keyboard 33% Mouse 53%
Screen Reader User Surveys January 2009 October 2009 December 2010 May 2012 January 2014 Soon
Screen Reader User Surveys Number of Respondents 1,800 1,782 1,200 1,121 1,245 1,465 600 665 0 Jan 2009 Oct 2009 Dec 2010 May 2012 Jan 2014
Do you use a screen reader due to a disability? No 5% Yes 95%
Screen Reader Proficiency Rate your screen reader proficiency Beginner 3% Intermediate 39% Advanced 58%
Primary Screen Reader SA or SAToGo 8% Others 7% Window-Eyes 7% VoiceOver 10% JAWS 50% NVDA 19%
Primary Screen Reader 70% JAWS Window-Eyes VoiceOver NVDA SA or SAToGo 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% October 2009 December 2010 May 2012 January 2014
Screen Readers Commonly Used 75% 64% 50% 51% 25% 37% 26% 0% 14% 5% 5% 9% JAWS NVDA VoiceOver SA WE ZoomTextChromeVox Others
Screen Readers Commonly Used 80% JAWS Window-Eyes VoiceOver NVDA SA or SAToGo 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% January 2009 December 2010 May 2012 January 2014
Do You See Free/Low Cost Screen Readers (such as NVDA or VoiceOver) as Viable Alternatives to Commercial Screen Readers No 12% I Don't Know 14% Yes 74%
See Free/Low Cost Screen Readers As Viable Alternatives 100% 93% 94% 75% 50% 58% 65% 72% 25% 0% Window-Eyes JAWS SA or SAToGo NVDA VoiceOver Those that actually use free/low cost screen readers are much more favorable of them.
IE6 4% IE7 3% IE8 13% Primary Browser Chrome 3% Others 4% Safari 10% IE9+ 39% Firefox 24%
Mobile Screen Reader Usage 90% 82% 60% 67% 72% 30% 12% 0% January 2009 December 2010 May 2012 January 2014
Mobile Platforms 75% 50% 43% 33% 25% 4% 59% 20% 8% 65% 16% 14% ios Nokia Android 0% December 2010 May 2012 January 2014
ios Device Usage Across Surveys 75% 65% 50% 25% 35% 43% 0% Motor Disabilities Low Vision Screen Reader
Web Accessibility Progress Over the Previous Year No Change 42% Less Accessible 22% More Accessible 37%
Which would have a bigger impact on web accessibility? Better (more accessible) web sites 81% Better assistive technology 19%
Which would have a bigger impact on web accessibility? More Accessible Sites Better AT 90% 60% 69% 76% 81% 30% 31% 24% 19% 0% October 2009 December 2010 January 2014
Primary Method Of Finding Information On A Lengthy Web Page Read the page 7% Landmarks 3% Links 10% "Find" feature 15% Headings 66%
Method of finding information Headings "Find" Links Reading Landmarks 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% October 2009 December 2010 May 2012 January 2014
How Comfortable Would You Be With Allowing Web Sites To Detect Whether You Are Using A Screen Reader? I don't know 5% Not at all comfortable 9% Not very comfortable 8% Somewhat comfortable 24% Very comfortable 54%
Screen Reader Detection Why screen reader detection on the web is a bad thing - Marco Zehe Thoughts on screen reader detection - Léonie Watson Assistive Technology Detection: It can be done right - Dylan Barrell Should we detect screen readers? is the wrong question - Karl Groves Detecting Screen Readers No! - Dennis Lembree On Screen Reader Detection - Adrian Roselli Am I Vision Impaired? Who Wants To Know? - Eitan Isaacson
You Asked The Wrong Question!
Survey of Web Accessibility Practitioners
Those in the web accessibility field are generally older, better paid, and better educated than our peers in broader web design/development.
Gender Male 61.4% Female 38.6%
Do you have a disability? Yes 21.8% No 78.2%
How many of you have been implementing web accessibility for more than 5 years?
How many years have you actively been implementing web accessibility? 12+ Years 16% 0-2 Years 25.7% 9-11 Years 15% 6-8 Years 20% 3-5 Years 23.5%
JavaScript Enabled 100% 99.5% 97.6% 99.5% 100.0% 75% 50% 25% 0% Practitioners Screen Reader Users Low Vision Motor Disabilities
Salary $120K+ 6.9% $100-$120K 10.6% <$20K 8.5% $20-$40K 14.4% $80-$100K 16.8% $40-$60K 20.6% $60-$80K 22.2%
Gender Pay Gap Men Women 30% 20% 10% 0% <$20K $20-$40K $40-$60K $60-$80K $80K-$100K $100K-$120K $120K+
Disability Pay Gap Without Disability With Disability 24% 16% 8% 0% <$20K $20-$40K $40-$60K $60-$80K $80K-$100K $100K-$120K $120K+
Web Accessibility Progress Over the Previous Year Less Accessible 10% No Change 36% More Accessible 54%
Improved Over the Previous Year 75% 50% 54% 25% 37% 29% 23% 0% Practitioners Screen Reader Users Low Vision Motor Disabilities
Primary Screen Reader 50% 37% 25% 28% 15% 12% 0% 4% 4% 1% JAWS NVDA VoiceOver ChromeVox WE Others None
Primary Screen Reader 75% 57.1% With Disability Without Disability 50% 25% 0% 32.0% 28.3% 24.3% 15.7% 10.6% 5.5% 1.1% JAWS NVDA VoiceOver ChromeVox
Personal vs. Organizational Motivations for Accessibility 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% 82.1% 31.4% 25.7% 14.8% Guidelines/Best Practices Morals 25.6% 1.6% Legal/Contractual 10.9% 6.3% 0.6% 0.9% Fear of Lawsuit Personal Organization No Implementation Yet
Much, much more in the survey results articles http://webaim.org/projects/
There is no typical user
Questions? Jared Smith @jared_w_smith webaim.org