Three Reasons why your Company Should Become More Accessible

 In Accessibility

Three Reasons why Your Company Should Become More Accessible 

New and emerging technologies have created the opportunity for businesses to open their online content to a diverse range of clientele. Assistive technology comes in many forms, including American Sign Language (ASL) and Langue des signes du québécoise (LSQ) Translation. Designing your website and online content to be accessible to the Deaf and hard of hearing community, using translation, can accelerate your business in these three ways:

(1) An Untapped Consumer Segment Opening up your business to be accessible to the Deaf and hard of hearing community opens an entire market of savvy consumers. It is estimated that 10% of the Canadian population is Deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, people with disabilities have an estimated spending power of 25 billion dollars. Allowing communication barriers to deter this estimated 3.8 million people from consumer participation significantly reduces the potential revenues of any business. Translation tools can be used to effectively tap into the 10% of the Canadian population that your company is missing out on. 

(2) Strengthening of Human Capital Beyond the lucrative gain of a new consumer segment, creating accessible content adds to opportunities for diversity in human capital. In his blog post for the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association,  Keegan Noxell describes why he understands Deaf and hard of hearing individuals to be invaluable employees. He draws on his values of “work ethic, above average attendance and unique perspectives,” as just a few that he shares with the Deaf and hard of hearing community. Deaf and hard of hearing individuals are extremely detail-oriented, a crucial skill in every caliber of career. Creating opportunities for accessible employment for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals will foster improved employee satisfaction, increase employee buy-in and loyalty and reduce employee turnover.

(3) Increased Exposure There are over 1.5 million User Experience (UX) specialists worldwide that focus on fulfilling a website user’s needs. Their job is to create a positive experience that transforms consumers into customers. UX allows a company to guide customers through their journey and good UX makes it easy for consumers to navigate and absorb the company’s content. UX that is inaccessible to those with a disability is not truly UX, as it excludes a large demographic of consumers. As discussed by researchers at software field leader, Adobe, accessibility has a positive correlation to increased Search Engine Results Pages. This increased accessibility using Translation improves the overall User Experience, creating a domino effect towards increased consumer exposure and usability of your website and online content.

To learn more about how your company can leverage Translation, click the following link; https://sliao.ca/services/text-to-asl-lsq/ 

References: 

1 http://cad.ca/issues-positions/statistics-on-deaf-canadians/

2 https://www.chha.ca/top-benefits-to-hiring/ 

3 https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/perspectives/social-impact/designing-users-sux/  

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