Website Accessibility: U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Centers as a Case Study

Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Dec 2018

Website Accessibility: U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Centers as a Case Study

Norman E. Youngblood ; Michael Brooks

Abstract

The Internet is a critical eHealth/eGovernment information source, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs operates the United States’ largest integrated health care system. This case study used machine-based accessibility testing to assess accessibility for 116 VA Medical Center websites, based on U.S. Section 508 standards and international WCAG 2.0 guidelines. While we found accessibility issues on each website analyzed, problems were generally limited. Notable exceptions included PDF accessibility and fixed-text sizes. The study’s results offer implications for practitioners (accessibility problems likely overlooked and ways to check accessibility) and educators, particularly the need to better integrate accessibility into the curriculum.

Journal: Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published: 2018-12-01
DOI: 10.1177/2329490618778329
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Topics: qualitative research disability studies

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Cites in this index (1)

Youngblood (2013)

Communicating Web Accessibility to the Novice Developer

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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