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Accessibility | Our mission | W3C

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Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect. </p> <footer>Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Founding Director and inventor of the World Wide Web</footer> </blockquote> <div class="component component--text"> <h2 id="the-power-of-the-web">The power of the web</h2><p>The Web is fundamentally designed to work for all people, whatever their hardware, software, language, location, or ability. When the web meets this goal, it is accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive ability.</p><h2 id="including-everyone">Including everyone</h2><p>Web accessibility is about designing web sites, applications, technologies, tools, products and services in an inclusive manner, and thus <strong>lifting barriers&nbsp;</strong>to communication and interaction that many people face in the physical world.</p><p>The mission of the&nbsp;<a href="/WAI/">Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)</a>&nbsp;is to develop strategies, standards, and supporting resources to help you make the web accessible to people with disabilities, thus enabling everyone to participate equally on the web.</p> </div> <figure class="component component--video"> <div class="l-frame l-frame--16-9"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/20SHvU2PKsM?"></iframe> </div> <figcaption> <p>Introduction to Web Accessibility and W3C Standards</p> </figcaption> </figure> <div class="component component--text"> <h2 id="about-the-web-accessibility-initiative-wai">About the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)</h2><p>WAI develops its work through W3C’s consensus-based process, involving different stakeholders in web accessibility. These include industry, disability organizations, government, accessibility research organizations, and more, and in partnership with organizations around the world, pursues accessibility of the web through these primary activities:</p><ul><li>ensuring that W3C standards support accessibility</li><li>developing accessibility guidelines for web content and applications, browsers, and authoring tools</li><li>developing resources to improve web accessibility evaluation processes and tools</li><li>supporting education and outreach on web accessibility</li><li>coordinating with research and development that may impact future accessibility of the web</li><li>promoting harmonized international uptake of web accessibility standards</li></ul> </div> <div class="component component--text"> <h2 id="shape-an-accessible-web-as-a-w3c-member">Shape an accessible Web as a W3C Member</h2><p><a href="/membership/list/">W3C Members</a> play a significant role in <a href="https://www.w3.org/mission/">shaping the Web</a>.</p><p><a href="mailto:membership@w3.org?subject=Interest%20in%20Web%20Accessibility">Contact W3C</a> to learn more about the <a href="https://www.w3.org/membership/">benefits of W3C Membership</a> to play a significant role yourself!</p> </div> </article> <div class="related"> <nav class="related__inner" aria-labelledby="related-label"> <h2 id="related-label" class="txt-jupiter">In this section</h2> <ul class="clean-list" role="list"> <li><a href="/mission/accessibility/" aria-current="page">Accessibility</a></li> <li><a href="/mission/internationalization/">Internationalization</a></li> <li><a href="/mission/privacy/">Privacy</a></li> <li><a href="/mission/security/">Web Security</a></li> </ul> </nav> </div> </div> </main> <aside class="crosslinks"> <div class="l-center"> <div class="component component--columns component--columns--images"> <div class="component--columns__intro"> <h2>Related content</h2> <p></p> </div> <ul class="clean-list" role="presentation"> <li> <div class="card" data-component="card"> <div class="card__text"> <h3 class="card__heading"> <a href="/get-involved/" class="card__link">Get involved</a> </h3> <p> This page describes the ways individuals and organizations can participate in the World Wide Web Consortium to advance web standardization. </p> <p class="txt-pluto"> Page </p> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="card" data-component="card"> <div class="card__text"> <h3 class="card__heading"> <a href="/news/?search=accessibility" class="card__link">Accessibility in W3C News</a> </h3> <p> Filter only web accessibility-related news items </p> <p class="txt-pluto"> News </p> </div> </div> </li> <li> <div class="card" data-component="card"> <div class="card__text"> <h3 class="card__heading"> <a href="/TR/?tags[0]=accessibility" class="card__link">W3C specifications on accessibility</a> </h3> <p> This page lists all W3C standards and specifications related to web accessibility </p> <p class="txt-pluto"> Directory </p> </div> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </aside> </div> <footer class="global-footer"> <div class="l-center"> <div class="global-footer__links"> <div class="l-cluster"> <ul class="clean-list" role="list"> <li><a href="https://www.w3.org/" hreflang="en"><span lang="en" dir="ltr">Home</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://www.w3.org/contact/" hreflang="en"><span lang="en" dir="ltr">Contact</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://www.w3.org/help/" hreflang="en"><span lang="en" dir="ltr">Help</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://www.w3.org/donate/" hreflang="en"><span lang="en" dir="ltr">Donate</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://www.w3.org/policies/" hreflang="en"><span lang="en" dir="ltr">Legal &amp; 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