all you wanted to know about accessibility

Manesh Samuel John

All You Wanted to Know About Accessibility

Accessibility is for Blind People


Accessibility is for the Disabled


RIGHT

Accessibility is for EVERYONE!


As per the dictionary, Accessibility means:

• Convenience

• Easy of access

• User-friendliness

• Easy of understanding

• Easy of use

Persons with disabilities are the most hit with accessibility issues!

So what’s Accessibility?


Its about time we do some reality check on the term disabled!

Disabled = Everyone!

HEARINGDeaf: can’t hearHard-of-hearing or hearing impaired:can hear only with amplification or can hear in one ear only

VISIONBlind: can’t seeVisually-impaired: can’t read small type or distinguish certain colorsColor-blind: can’t distinguish certain colors

MOBILITYPhysical disability: unable to move one or more limbs, fingers, or toesMotor skills impairment:unable to press one key at a time, unable to press a key without duplicate keystrokes, unable to use a mouse

LEARNINGDyslexia: difficulty with reading


• People using a wheel chair

• Those using a white cane

• Those wearing hearing aids

• Those using crutches

Let’s look at some real life examples

• Forgetting glasses at home - finding it complicated to work on the computer

• With age, each one of us acquires some sort of disabilities including;

• memory loss,

• hard-of-hearing,

• deteriorating vision ,

• adversity in climbing stairs, etc

These are the first instances that come to our mind! But what about..

In our every day life we all face impairments, activity limitations, and participations!


“Disability is a socially created problem and not an attribute of an individual”

So the point is ...


1 out of every 5 people in the United States has a learning disability

Did You Know


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Louis_braille.svg


Normal Protanopia

Deuteranopia Tritanopia


• Worldwide - 314 million visually impaired, 45 million of them are blind.

• Old people, and females are more at risk at every age

• 87% of the visually impaired live in developing countries

• Reduction in infectious diseases causing blindness, but age-related impairment is increasing

• Cataract remains the leading cause of blindness globally, except in the most developed countries.

• About 85% of all visual impairment is avoidable globally

• 1 in 12 people suffer from some sort of color deficiency

Did You Know…


One in five have a hearing difficulty or impairment.

Did You Know

Source: MS Forrester Report 2004


• Do not use computers

• Unable to use computers

• Do not need a computer

Senior Citizens – Silver Surfers

Changing rapidly!


Who is your target audience?


Is your audience male or female, old or young?


Are your Users Color Blind?


Does user suffer from epilepsy?

Your users may suffer from epilepsy - 3 flashes within one second can cause a seizure

About 1 in every 200 people have Epilepsy


Why care about accessibility?

750 million people

in the world are disabled


How do people use the web?


Mouse and Keyboard


Mobile Phone


Assistive Technology


What is Assistive Technology (AT)?

AT refers to any "product, device, or equipment,

whether acquired commercially, modified or

customized, that is used to maintain, increase, or

improve the functional capabilities of individuals

with disabilities."

Source: http://www.section508.gov/docs/AT1998.html


Nail Clipper with Magnifier

Assist people with: Limited hand movements Low vision

Also works for cutting nails of new born.


Moldable Spoon Liquid Indicator

Assist people with: Limited hand moment Hand tremors

Assist people with: BlindnessLow vision


Long Handle Comb Writing Bird

Assist people with: Limited hand movement


Loop Handle Zipper

Assist people with: Difficulty in grasping and pulling


Legislations and RegulationsCountry Legislation WCAG Compliance

USA Rehabilitation Act, Section 504 (USA, 1973)Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (USA, 1990) –Title II & Title IIIAmended Section 255 of the Communications Act (USA, 1996)Rehabilitation Act Amendment, Section 508 (USA, 1998)

Section 508 Partial

United Kingdom

Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 (UK, 1995)Disability Rights Commission (DRC) published a Code of Practice for “Rights of Access –Goods, Facilities, Services and Premises” (UK, 2002)DRC Published Code of Practice for Website Accessibility (PAS78) (UK, 2006)

PAS78 refers to the WCAG Guidelines

Australia Disability Discrimination Act (1992)WWW Accessibility (Disability) Policy (Australia, 2000)

WCAG 2.0 Level AA

Canada Canadian Human Rights Act (Canada, 1977)Employment Equity Act (Canada, 1995)Ontarians with Disabilities Act (Ontario, Canada, 2001)Common Look and Feel Standards for the Internet (Canada, 2006)

WCAG 1.0 P1 and P2

Germany Ordinance on Barrier Free Information Technology or BITV (Germany, 2002)

BITV has two priorities & 14 standards, based on the WCAG 1.0 Guidelines

European Union

Unified Web Evaluation Methodology 1.0 (2006) WCAG 2.0


• Color and Contrast - Provide sufficient color contrast for the foreground and background color combinations.

• Color can’t be used as a “sole indicator of meaning”

• Font Sizes - Make your default font size reasonably big (at least 10 point) so that very few users have to resort to manual overrides.

• Icons and Texts for Better Context

• Sensory Characteristics - Do not use size, shape or location to provide any information

• Different heading levels should be appropriately used.

• Alt text inclusion for images is critical and should be null for spacer images and for images that are included with same anchor tag for a textual link.

• Expansion for abbreviations is essential

• Keyboard access is very critical, considering that there could be few users who wouldn’t be using mouse at all.

• “Skip to Main Content” should be available.

• Row and Column headers should be provided for all data tables, <th> tags.

• Descriptive and informative page titles

• Ensure all hyperlinks use descriptive and meaningful text, avoiding short-hand language like

'Click here';

• Captions must be provided for any multimedia (audio/visual) content

• Avoid Flickering - Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.

Web Accessibility Quick Fixes

all you wanted to know about accessibility

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