I'm pretty ashamed to admit that my own website (unintentionally) has been discriminating against people with disabilities from the day I built it - 8 years ago.
My website has not been catering to those with disabilities such as dyslexia and vision impairments, and I feel pretty shitty about to be super honest with you.
It's not good enough and I want to wholeheartedly apologize to anyone who has tried to use my website but was unable to due to their disability.
I apologize if you felt excluded and/or discriminated against, or if you ever felt that I wouldn't like to work with you because of this massive oversight, or if my website ever made you feel negative about yourself.
It was never my intention to make you feel any of these things and I didn't purposely not try to make my website accessible to all, it has honestly been a huge oversight than I intend to never make again on my own website, or my future clients website from this point onwards.
So what am I doing about it?
Today, I have signed up for and inserted a free Accessibility Widget, live on my website now, by UserWay (I will be purchasing the paid version of this widget in the next week - more on this below)
The free version of UserWay’s Accessibility Widget enables user-triggered accessibility enhancements on your site.
Here are some of the features it includes:
There are 3 paid versions you can sign up for which start from $490 per year or $49 per month and these are some of the extra features (not all of them are displayed and it will depend on what customisations you want etc)
I have written a quick step by step on how you can add the Accessibility Widget to your own WIX site.
How to add Accessibility Widget to your WIX website
Go to www.userway.org/get
Enter your websites URL
Enter your details
Select your preferred icon
Select your icon size
Select your icon colour
Select icon position
Select Auto - Detect Language
Answer Question
Select Free Widget
Copy your Basic Script
Log into your WIX account
Select settings > advanced > custom code > body start > add code > paste Basic Script > apply
Go back to the User Way site and click Let’s Verify > click next
How to add Accessibility Statement to your WIX website
View Clean Text and copy text
Enter your WIX Editor
Select Menus & Pages
Select Add Page
Name page (eg. Accessibility)
Position page (eg. under contact)
Click add text
Paste Text and format
Publish site
All future websites that I build will include the free widget as a non-negotiable and with no extra fee.
The widget can and will integrate with any website platform and UserWay steps you through how to insert the widget into your website with their easy to follow guides for all platforms.
Again, check out UserWay for full information and details.