There are several digital accessibility standards that exist to ensure that digital products and services are usable by people with disabilities.  The Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (EITAS) is a set of accessibility standards used by the Canadian federal government to ensure that its electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. Some of the most widely recognized standards used internationally are as follows:

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WCAG is a set of guidelines for making web content accessible to people with disabilities. It provides specific guidelines and success criteria for accessibility in areas such as text, images, multimedia, and navigation.
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act: This is a US law that requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. It includes specific requirements for accessibility in areas such as software, hardware, and websites.
• Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA): ARIA is a set of technical specifications for making web content and applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It provides ways to add additional information to web pages, such as accessibility information for screen readers, to make the content more usable for people with disabilities.
• The EU Web Accessibility Directive: This is a directive from the European Union (EU) that requires public sector websites and mobile apps to be accessible to people with disabilities.

These standards help to ensure that digital products and services are usable by people with disabilities, and that they can participate in the digital world on an equal basis with others. They provide specific guidelines and requirements for accessibility, and serve as a benchmark for designers, developers, and organizations to ensure that their digital products and services are accessible to everyone. A very simple example is the “Tab Test”: People with certain disabilities, such as vision loss, cannot use a mouse, so a website should be navigable by using the tab key, with web-based text components (menu headers, etc.) highlighted accordingly.  Another good rule of thumb is to avoid virtue signaling on websites. Instead, build the tools to the appropriate specs, and then invite people to give feedback.

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