Web Accessibility and Ageing

The next few decades will see an unparalleled growth in the number of people becoming elderly compared with any other period in human history. The United Nations estimates that by 2050 one out of every five people on the planet will be over 60 years of age – in some countries the proportion will be much higher than this. With increasing age, we often have increasing visual, auditory, physical, and cognitive impairments.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is undertaking a project to understand the user experiences of older people with age-related impairments and the overlaps with the needs of people with disabilities.

In this presentation we will show that the identified requirements for older people experiencing ageing-related impairments are well addressed by WCAG 2.0 and illustrate some of these with a discussion of the needs of older people on the Web.