Are You at Risk? Identifying Web Accessibility Gaps at Your Organization

Are You at Risk? Identifying Web Accessibility Gaps at Your Organization

Mike PacielloFounding PartnerThe Paciello Group

www.3playmedia.comtwitter: @3playmedialive tweet: #a11y

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Lily Bond (Moderator)Director of Marketing3Play Medialily@3playmedia.com

Are You at Risk?Identifying Web Accessibility Gaps at Your Organization

Mike Paciello @mpaciello

The Foundation Stones of Risk…

Web A11Y Laws & Standards• WCAG 2.0 • Section 508 / Refresh• CVAA • International Standards

Accessibility as Compliance Audit

Results in Bugs that Need Fixing

Identifying Web Accessibility Gaps at Your Organization

What if we define accessibility as making a commitment and demonstrating progress?

What would accessibility look like?

Accessibility maturityMoving your organization along the continuum toward a mature approach to accessibility

Identify and repair accessibility issues based on standards compliance

What is the primary driver for organizations to pay attention to accessibility?• Legislation• Reputation• Business benefit• Improving UX• User demand

Activities• Identify methodology• Identify samples to test• Test samples against standards• Write up issues• Test and recommend code fixes

Deliverables• Audit results spreadsheet• Common issues report• Accessibility documentation (e.g., VPAT)• Help desk support• Remediation support

Insights• Frequency and distribution of issues• Estimate of impact and effort of issues• Potential design and code changes to repair

issues

Potential outcomes• Accessibility documented• Vendor works to fix issues • Vendor engages consultancy for retest and

revised accessibility documentation

Prioritize evaluation and repair activities based on real-world impact

How active are organizations in researching the difficulties faced by customers with disabilities?• Very• Somewhat• Not very• Not at all

Context• Legal obligation to provide accessibility• Custom-built system fails to meet accessibility

requirements• Group of users with disabilities demanding

accessibility improvements

Activities• Conduct contextual inquiry interviews• Create sampling strategy based on insights from

interviews

Deliverables• Same as “identify” activity, plus…• Task-based sampling strategy• First-person perspectives in report

Insights• Real issues encountered by people with

disabilities• Accessibility issues not surfaced in standards

review

Outcomes• Partners with user groups to improve accessibility• Focuses on real issues that impact stakeholders• Fixes issues related to accessible user experience

Inject accessibility best practices into the design and development process

What is the most important phase in the design/development process to address accessibility?

• Strategy• Design• Content• Development• Quality Assurance (QA)

Context• Your organization understands that remediation is

costly and ineffective• Your organization knows its current processes do

not support accessibility• Your organization seeks to address accessibility

early in process and improve processes

Activities• Determine appropriate interaction points and

methods• Review and respond to design artifacts

Deliverables• User stories to help guide design decisions• Design reviews (wireframes, style guides)• Training in accessible design best practices• Code library reviews (technical and design)• QA test design and implementation

Insights• Optimal time to address accessibility in

design/development lifecycle• Roles and responsibilities with respect to

attention to accessibility• Appropriate and effective ways of communicating

accessibility knowledge

Outcomes• Addresses accessibility issues during the

design/development process• Builds internal capacity for accessibility

Integrate accessibility best practices into culture and practice

What sector is most receptive to transforming culture and practice to integrate accessibility?

• Government• Finance• Technology• Education• Healthcare

Context• Advocacy group makes a complaint to your

organization about digital accessibility• Organization cannot fix all IT services• Organization understands it must fix culture and

process to respond

Activities• Perform gap analysis to understand current state • Build understanding of desired future state• Assess gaps between current state and future

state

Deliverables• Roadmap report• Commitment to ongoing partnership

Details• Definition of future state• Assets and opportunities• Challenges and barriers• Roadmap toward Accessibility in Practice• Supporting information: Applicable policies

Insights• Perceptions of accessibility and responsibility

within an organization• Governance requirements to advance an

integration agenda• Requirements for activities for change

Outcomes• Your organization makes visible commitment to

providing accessible IT services• Organization embarks on initiative to address

shortcoming in existing services• Organization establishes policy and processes to

support accessibility in new services

An Accessible Design Maturity ContinuumBy David Sloan, UX Research Lead, The Paciello Groupuxfor.us/mature-it

Where is your organization currently on the accessibility maturity continuum?• Identify (compliance)• Prioritize (targeted)• Inject (early attention)• Integrate (culture, practice)

Accessibility process standardsEngaging your organization in activities that demonstrate commitment and show progress

Make a commitment to IT accessibility

Responsibility and accountability• Designate a senior official for “plain writing”• Explain the Act’s requirements to staff• Establish a procedure to oversee the implementation of the

Act within the agency• Train agency staff in plain writing• Designate staff as points of contact for the agency plain

writing web page• Post its compliance plan for meeting the requirements of

the Act on its plain language web page

Plain Writing Act of 2010—uxfor.us/plain-writing

ActivitiesEstablish leadership• Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO)• Director of User Experience/CAO• Accessibility Program Lead• Accessibility Specialist

Establish an accessibility baseline and track progress

Activities• Set a standard, e.g.,– Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

2.0• Define scope of applicability, e.g.,– Teaching and learning– Research– External communications and business

processes– Internal communications and business

processes

Foster a community of practice

Activities• Integrate usability and accessibility support into

existing IT facilities• Tie accessibility into existing professional

development and training activities• Include expectations around accessibility

awareness and skills in position descriptions

People working together, committed to making progress, and targeting success

There are two ways to creating lasting change:• Take baby steps (& feel successful)• Change your environment—BJ Fogg

Design for Lasting Change, bjfogg.org/lastingchange

Changing the environment …Radical accessibility

What if we prioritize people with disabilities when making

design decisions?

With focus on people with disabilities…• User experience activities focus on people with

disabilities• Accessibility activities are not isolated to QA

• Recruitment requires accessibility skills and knowledge

• There are no accessibility specialists

What if accessibility was integrated into

training and education programs?

With integrated accessibility education…• Accessibility is a core digital literacy• There are no accessibility majors/specialists

• Accessibility is part of continuing professional development

• There is no accessibility certification

What if accessibility investment was for new products rather than fixing existing

ones?

With a focus on new products…• Investment is in resources for accessible

development• There are no accessibility audits

• Accessibility efforts focus on improving processes• There is no remediation of accessibility issues

When people feel successful taking baby steps they often find themselves want to make big changes, including their environment. —BJ Fogg

We have an organizational mandate that UX won’t hand anything to engineering that cannot be made accessible.—Becky Reed

Accessibility for Business and Pleasure uxfor.us/accessibility-roi

If I could call it something other than accessibility I would. I would call it design that works for everyone, or good design. —Rick Ferrie

Accessibility for Business and Pleasure uxfor.us/accessibility-roi

Accessible Design Maturity Continuum

An Accessible Design Maturity Continuum, uxfor.us/mature-it

Thank you!@mpaciellompaciello@paciellogroup.com

Mike PacielloFounding PartnerThe Paciello Group

Lily BondDirector of Marketing3Play Medialily@3playmedia.com

Q&A

Register for upcoming webinars at:http://www.3playmedia.com/webinars/

Upcoming Webinars July 7: Evaluating Web Application Accessibility

July 29: Accessibility at Yahoo

August 4: Impact of Recent Lawsuits on Video

Sept 29: 2016 Legal Update on Digital Accessibility Cases (with Lainey Feingold)

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