Is there a standard icon for web accessibility?

Question

The International Symbol of Access is a standard icon for building and parking access for people with disabilities.

Has this icon, by itself, gained acceptance as a standard icon for web accessibility? If not, is there a variant of it or another icon which is considered acceptable?

Most web accessibility initiatives are targeted toward improving the user experience for users with blindness, colorblindness, hearing impairments, learning difficulties, or inability to use a mouse. The International Symbol of Access depicts a person in a wheelchair, and the conditions I just listed are unrelated to being in a wheelchair.

I would like to know if user feedback has shown any icon as acceptable/canonical, or if (for example) users with colorblindness would be insulted at seeing a wheelchair icon on on my site.

Answer 1

I understand it's meaning but as you mentioned that icon looks more applicable for someone with a physical disability only.

Specific uses of the International Symbol of Access include:

• Marking a parking space reserved for vehicles used by disabled people/blue badge holders

• Marking a vehicle used by a disabled person, often for permission to use a space

• Marking a public lavatory with facilities designed for wheelchair users

• Indicating a button to activate an automatic door

• Indicating an accessible transit station or vehicle

• Indicating a transit route that uses accessible vehicles

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Symbol_of_Access

People who fall into the category of requiring an accessible website may sometimes have other afflictions beyond just physical.

This can include:

• Mental disability (examples: ADHD, inability to focus, various forms of alzheimers...etc)

• Sensory disability (examples: Blindness, Deaf..etc)

• General inability to fully engage in content (examples: multitasking with tablet in front of TV, inability to view video because driving, inability to hear audio because of lack of head phones in public spaces)

Why not just use the Universal Access icon?

I know this was created by Apple but I agree with their definition including more barrier-free digital access for all of the above (Hearing, Sight, Physical, and Learning Impairment)

Or if copyright is the issue as always with Apple, the other icon you can use is the official one for web, as provided by W3C:

http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG2-Conformance

This one is probably the best one depending on your conformance level to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines.

Answer 2

I'm surprised nobody has really asked why you need an icon like this.

I've been in the 508 business for quite a while now and I can tell you that there's a LOT of things you can do on the web to make it just work for everyone. There doesn't need to be an entrance for normal people and a back door entrance for those who have disabilities. You shouldn't really need to blow your own horn and announce that the site is accessible because it should just be from the get go.

If you want a universal icon to let people know 'Hey! We're accessible, click here for our charter!", well, do you REALLY need one? Why not just use a standard text link that reads "Accessibility"? It's clear, simple, and accessible to anyone on the web.

As a design challenge, though, this is really interesting :) It's probably as difficult as finding an alternate to the floppy "save" icon. Unfortunately, a single all inclusive icon will be pretty darn hard to generate considering the sheer amount of disabilities one must encompass. How do you differentiate Schizophrenia from panic attacks? It's definitely going to be very conceptual as it can't really rely on physical metaphors. There isn't a real world analog that I can think of that expresses this concept.

I'd have to agree with Evil Closet Monkey. The standard should suffice if you really need to use one. Just make sure it has a relevant title or alt tag!

Answer 3

I think you should include a multi-selection menu or popup alerts to ask the user to select an option, based on that you can update the icon so the other user won't get offended by the (wheel) icon.

In most of the websites the designer are using wheel icon for disability.

http://www.disabledgo.com/our-icons

http://www.iconeasy.com/iconset/people-and-disability-icons/