Accessibility of Software/Hardware

The phenomenal growth in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is rapid and is responsible for changing disruptively the way various day-to-day tasks were being performed earlier. A plethora of user categories has benefitted immensely from this upward growth. It is also providing society with a multitude of entertainment options. The support of user-friendly software platforms for various ICT applications and tools is crucial in all these activities. Unfortunately, in the past, the designers of many software and hardware systems have not appropriately considered the Persons with Disability (PwD) as the active co-fellows of this journey and are being left behind in most of such applications of ICT. Thus, this significant part of the world population often seems to be neglected. Accessibility to every user with specific reference here to the ICT has always been a very important issue. What may be easily accessible to a set of persons may not be completely or partially accessible to another set of persons with disabilities. In this chapter, we discuss various types of disabilities along with the accessibility of hardware and software. Further, we highlight the concept of web accessibility and ICT accessibility for PwDs.

Keywords: Accessibility, Accessible technology, Accessible Website, Adaptive technology, Assistive technology, Causes of impairment, Cognitive impairment, Communication difficulties, Handicap, Hardware accessibility, Hearing impairment, ICT, Persons with Disability, Physical impairment, Reading disabilities, Sensory impairment, Software accessibility, Visual impairment, Voice dictation system, Web accessibility.