Wikipedia:WikiProject Accessibility/Policy proposal

This page is a draft. Suggestions for its improvements are welcome.

On the editorial level it seems difficult to create a policy. First, the accessibility guidelines of the community are not complete and accurate enough. Second, MediaWiki doesn't always enable the creation of accessible content. A simple example: as of now[when?], we can't provide caption nor alt text to videos nor sounds. A lot of issues prevent us editors from creating accessible content. Third, we'd rather encourage users to create accessible content than force them to do so. Otherwise they may perceive accessibility as a hindrance and/or try to get round the guidelines. For those reasons, we believe it's best to encourage and help users into producing accessible content.

On the WikiMedia Foundation level however, there is a strong need for an accessibility policy. MediaWiki itself should be accessible. But is should also conform to the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) in order to enable users to create accessible content. The WMF should make it a priority and set up a plan to meet those goals. The WMF should also encourage editors to create accessible content. Contact with foundations supporting accessibility and gathering feedback from the handicapped is also recommended.