The W3C pub­lished these rec­om­men­da­tions last week on mak­ing the inter­net more acces­si­ble to peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties and oth­ers, includ­ing seniors, who might have a hard time access­ing online content:

• Some­one who can­not see well will want to hear or feel (via braille or tac­tile graph­ics) an equiv­a­lent of the visual information.

• Some­one
  who does not have the strength to move quickly or eas­ily will want to
  use as lit­tle move­ment as pos­si­ble and have as much time as they need
  when oper­at­ing Web interfaces.

• Some­one who does not read well may want to hear the infor­ma­tion read aloud.

• Some­one who can­not hear well will want a visual rep­re­sen­ta­tion of infor­ma­tion pre­sented via sound.

If
Web con­tent employs the design prin­ci­ples described in this doc­u­ment,
then users should be able to access the con­tent using adap­tive
strate­gies and assis­tive technologies.

These rec­om­men­da­tions are likely to imple­mented through reg­u­la­tions in dif­fer­ent countries.

How long before these affect the mobile indus­try as well? Today’s
cell phones and PDAs are obvi­ously ill-suited for use by seniors and
those with disabilities.