a11yTOConf2020

Accessibility Quality Indicators: Love Made Visible

Speaker: Sarah Horton
Twitter:@gradualclearing Slides

• Susan worked in a hospital website.
• Created a quality report to compare with other hospitals
  • Reported comparative data: desseases, costs comparisons, patients
  • Incourage hospital to improve the quality of their services
  • Allow patients to make informed decisions on where they wanted their treatment
• These metrics sometimes can be known as KPIs
• Sometimes metrics can be squishy:
  • For example in a conference: chatting a lot can indicate that you’re engaged but it can also indicate you’re bored.
• Choose an objective” for example:
  • learning about a11To
  • Do you have excitement?
• TPG Integrate a11y into culture and practice! Check TPG a11y Strategy http://bit.ly/accessready
• if we thing as a11y as a goal, not a target
• A11y is a journey not a destination!
• A11y is making a commitment and demonstrating …..

Discovering Accessibility Quality Indicators in Others

• Let’s review Zoom website
  • https://zoom.us/accessibility
  • Check footer, link is under services
  • They have a dedicated page to talk about their a11y features.
  • This page shows, they have process & standard they are trying to follow (WCAG, ADA, Section 508)
  • Have VPAT documentation. Check the VPAT section Steph, it has examples for WCAG report: https://zoom.us/docs/doc/vpat/Zoom%20Application%20v5.3.0%20for%20macOS%20VPAT.pdf
  • There’s a section dedicated to Support
• An accessibility page in a company’s website will tell you a lot of the company’s culture around accessibility

Think about

• Does your company has an accessibility page?
• What information is provided in the accessibility page?

Another Key Indicator is Leadership

• Accessibility maturity can be seen on the leadership sponsoring.
• The person that champions a11y must have level of maturity and enough decision power in the company
• The person in this position should be an Executive Level (C level)

• Ideally we’re looking for a Chief Accessibility Officer

• Only “15 Chief Accessibility Officer” vs “500 Chief Security Officers”
• Obviously there’s more concern in security than service

Think about your Own Indicators

• Influencing changes in an organization can be hard!
• Where does a11y fits in your own domain
  • Where do you have power to act?
  • Where can a11y best practices can be incorporated in your work?
  • If you are responsible for Design System, make them accessible. Document them
  • If you are a video producer, budget time to add captions, never post a video without it
  • If you’re an author, use plain language
  • If you’re a product owner, include a11y in your road map, shift left
  • if you’re PM, never back burn accessibility.
  • If you’re visual designer, always use colour palette that are accessible
  • Keep at it!
• Be the change you wish to see in the world!

Resources

• TPG a11y Strategy http://bit.ly/accessready
• Adrian Rosellis Alt Text plugin

Books

• A web for everyone
• Web Teaching guide