a11yTOConf2019

Procurement - Where It All Goes Wrong!

• Speaker: Mike Gifford
• Title: Procurement - Where It All Goes Wrong!
• Twitter: @mgifford
• Company URL: https://openconcept.ca/

When companies are creating RFPs, currently they usually only add: “Must meet WCAG 2.0”

Why some don’t care about a11y?

• Vendors know that they can get away with it.
• Client doesn’t know better, don’t have the knowledge or are afraid of it.

“a11y is complicated!
a11y is a journey.
It shouldn’t be the thing you do last minute.”
-Mike Gifford

We need to have people writing RFPs with a11y knowledge. Vendors should now the best practices.

QUOTE

“Good a11y is something you have to invest in.
It’s not free.
It’s not an add-on.”
- Mike Gifford

How do we try to make sure this is something were committed to?

Here are 10 steps to do so:

• Define and use a11y policy
• Define a11y targets
• Vendor process (what they are doing, how are they meeting criteria, do they have people with disabilities on field)
• Lead by example (provide accessible RFP)
• Make sure your team has internal expertise
• No VPATs
• Contract vs proposal
• 3rd party validation (evaluated by a 3rd party)
• Post-Launch (there will always be issues after launch)
• Monitoring (it should be the same as security, it should be always monitored)

Ask your vendors, and evaluate your vendors website.

Important reference

Checkout ATAG 2.0 (framework)
https://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/