One no, many yesesSharing responsibility for accessibilityDavid Sloan @sloandrEdinburgh UX Meetup, August 22nd 2016

A consultant’s perspective on accessibility in UX

Example of accessibility audit spreadsheet

Some personas

The project manager with responsibility for accessibility but no clear idea of what is needed (and is possible)

The Rumpelstiltskin developer

Image credit: Flickr user Shardayyy https://www.flickr.com/photos/shardayyy/6060374429

The accessibility specialist who speaks, but does anyone listen?

So.How can we best distribute responsibility—and authority—for accessibility?

One no.We will not deliver a digital product or service that hasn’t taken into account the needs of disabled people

Many yeses.Each part of a project team that can influence accessibility does so positively, and embraces accessibility as a key quality

Responsibility as part of accessibility maturity

Accessible Design Maturity Continuum

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

“By concentrating solely on the bulge at the center of the bell curve we are more likely to confirm what we already know than learn something new and surprising.”Tim Brown, Change by Design

Activity-based accessibility responsibility

QA testing and responsibility for accessibility

Tactics• Test accessibility as early as possible• Automate accessibility tests that lend themselves

to automation• Write tests that correspond to WCAG SCs– Keyboard operation– Name, role, state– Accessible notifications and updates– Semantic structure

Development and responsibility for accessibility

Tactics• Prioritize using native elements over relying on

ARIA to polyfill accessibility• Focus on:– device-independent interaction– flexible display

• Make sure accessibility informs selection and use of third party frameworks and players

• Query designs that cannot be delivered accessibly

UX/UI design and responsibility for accessibility

Tactics• Visual design: colors, fonts, use of icons• UI design: Select appropriate UI patterns for

interactions• Resources:– Style guides that reference best practice in

accessibility– Annotate design artifacts with accessibility

guidance• Focus on handing over designs that can be

implemented accessibly

Content strategy and responsibility for accessibility

Tactics• Appropriate plain language• Consistency in:– Terminology– Alternative text provision

• Labelling, instructions, error messages• Accessible video, audio, animation

User research and responsibility for accessibility

Tactics• Up-front user research:– Understand a problem space from a disabled

person’s perspective– Include disability in personas, scenarios, user

stories• Usability evaluation:– Focus on the user experience of key

interactions for people with different disabilities

Project/product management and responsibility for accessibility

Tactics• Processes:– Ensuring all team members understand

responsibility for accessibility– Ensuring there are exception processes for

defining and dealing with unavoidable issues– Communicating progress and best practice

• Standards:– Ensuring technical standards are established to

be met by all code and content produces

Other stakeholders?

Responsibility needs authority

Things to do now• Use accessibility audits to find out reasons for

existence of barriers• Communicate progress internally and externally• Standardise on solutions, and share them• Identify accessibility points of contact, and grow a

network• Use pilot projects to demonstrate value of

integrating accessibility

W3C Accessibility Responsibility Breakdown:

bit.ly/1MYLcbi

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

Want more?Accessibility Scotland, 16th September: http://accessibility.scot/Accessibility Meetup Edinburgh

Thank you!@sloandr