Analysis of Accessibility Initiatives Applied to the Web

Origins Of Web Accessibility

The first accessibility initiatives registered was around 1950s, by universities in the United States. The high number of people maimed by the 2nd World War drew the attention of the society to the problem of access for disabled people to public areas. Those initiatives were isolated and focused on the principles of independence (decision making) and Autonomy (functionality), as presented by Sassaki (2009).

In 1975, with the Declaration on the Rights of People with Disabilities, the first legal step was achieved for this group. In the 1980, proposals were composed of Adaptive Design (for adapting existing architectural works) and Universal Design (for project development of new architectural masterpieces accessible) supporting people with disabilities (Disabled Peoples' International, 1983). Since then, standards and recommendations for access to all users began to take shape.

Only in the 1990s the term was widespread accessibility worldwide, with UN support, by the construction of the Charter of the third. Millennium. The concept of accessibility to physical environments adopted was discussed, stating that “it is possible to extend access to all community resources - physical, social and cultural rights.” (Reabilitation International, 1999).