Web Accessibility Evaluation of Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan for Visually Impaired Persons

Abstract

The use of the Internet and digitalization of data is increasing rapidly worldwide. Almost every organization and institution provides essential information or services through the World Wide Web and mobile applications to attract/interact with users/clients worldwide. Researchers have noticed significant accessibility problems in the websites, particularly for people with different disabilities. To assess the accessibility issues, especially for visually impaired users, the websites of Pakistan's top 30 educational institutes were evaluated using three automated Web accessibility tools. All three different accessibility tools showed a different ratio of errors in results. The educational institutes were categorized in public and private sectors to compare the ratio of accessibility errors. The results showed significant accessibility errors related to visual impairment in the websites of educational institutes in both the public and private sectors.