Businesses can increase website traffic by making web pages accessible to disabled users, according to an industry expert.

Graham Charlton, e-consultancy researcher, suggests that search engine optimisation (SEO) is also likely to suffer as a result of not having a disability-friendly web design.

He said: "If your website is not accessible to these people, you are missing out on a vast potential market.

"There are about eight-and-a-half million disabled people in the UK and obviously they all have different levels of difficulties with reading etcetera, but three-and-a-half million people are unable to use a normal keyboard."

Introducing disabled access applications into web design, such as voice-enabling technology, can benefit more than just the disabled, according to Peter Abrahams of Bloor Research.

Writing for IT-Director.com, he suggests that those with dyslexia or with English as a second language may also benefit.

What other disabled web design options are available to developers?

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