Empathy in Accessibility

This talk is about building empathy for users with impairments, making sure we are aware of how to design services that don’t disable people.

Examples of things that have tripped me up in the past as well as suggesting tools we can use to help us test our designs.

This talk was delivered at:
- Chester Devs - November 2020
- BPDTS - October 2020
- Asda / Walmart - September 2020
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Canada - July 2020
- Northumberland Council - June 2020
- Middlesbrough Frontend - March 2020
- Digital Leaders Week - Newcastle - June 2019
- Newcastle City Council - Newcastle - June 2019
- Child Maintenance Group - June 2019
- DWP - Blackpool - May 2019
- HMRC - May 2019
- Leeds Digital Festival - May 2019
- DWP Software Engineering Roadshow - Blackpool March 2019
- DWP Software Engineering Roadshow - Newcastle March 2019
- DWP Frontend meet-up - February 2019
- Services Week - January 2019
- HMRC - January 2019
- Sunderland Digital - August 2018
- Accessibility London - July 2018
- Frontend North East on - July 2018

Transcript

1. @abbott567
   Empathy in Accessibility
   

   View Slide

2. @abbott567
   These slides are available in HTML:
   https://empathy-in-accessibility.netlify.app
   

   View Slide

3. Empathy in Accessibility
   335 6,388
   Craig Abbott
   @abbott567
   Head of Accessibility at @DWPDigital.
   Cat botherer. Code writer.
   Newcastle upon Tyne
   Following Followers
   

   View Slide

4. I don’t have a disability… yet
   @abbott567
   

   View Slide

5. @abbott567
   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-facts-and-figures/disability-facts-and-figures
   The prevalence of disability rises with age
   

   View Slide

6. @abbott567
   6% of children
   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-facts-and-figures/disability-facts-and-figures
   The prevalence of disability rises with age
   

   View Slide

7. @abbott567
   6% of children
   16% of working age adults
   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-facts-and-figures/disability-facts-and-figures
   The prevalence of disability rises with age
   

   View Slide

8. @abbott567
   6% of children
   16% of working age adults
   45% of adults over State Pension age
   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-facts-and-figures/disability-facts-and-figures
   The prevalence of disability rises with age
   

   View Slide

9. People living with a disability are far
   more common than you might have
   realised
   @abbott567
   

   View Slide

10. 11.9 million adults in the UK
    are living with a disability
    @abbott567
    http://www.craigabbott.co.uk/accessibility-is-not-an-edge-case
    Roughly
    1 in 5 people or 20%
    

    View Slide

11. In 2017, only 22% of adults
    living with a disability said they
    had never used the internet
    @abbott567
    http://www.craigabbott.co.uk/accessibility-is-not-an-edge-case
    About 2.6 million people
    

    View Slide

12. 9.3 million people in the UK alone
    are living with a disability and
    browsing the internet
    @abbott567
    http://www.craigabbott.co.uk/accessibility-is-not-an-edge-case
    

    View Slide

13. When we think of a disability, we
    often think ‘wheelchair’. But there
    are so many that are less obvious. And
    this can make us ignorant.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

14. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

15. @abbott567
    DISABLED
    PARKING
    

    View Slide

16. @abbott567
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Symbol_of_Access#Modified_ISA
    

    View Slide

17. @abbott567
    ACCESSIBLE
    PARKING
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Symbol_of_Access#Modified_ISA
    

    View Slide

18. @abbott567
    http://accessibleicon.org/
    

    View Slide

19. @abbott567
    Disabilities and impairments are
    not the same
    

    View Slide

20. Impairment:
    An impairment is medical. It’s the
    condition or symptoms that
    person experiences.
    eg: low vision or blindness
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

21. Disability
    When a person finds it difficult to
    perform everyday tasks to a level
    that is considered normal for most
    people.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

22. An impairment doesn’t always
    mean a person considers
    themselves disabled.
    !important
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

23. Imagine you are a wheelchair
    user, and you want to get a
    book from the library…
    @abbott567
    Example 1
    

    View Slide

24. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

25. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

26. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

27. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

28. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

29. People are not always disabled by
    their impairments, they are disabled
    by poorly designed environments
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

30. An environment might not always
    be a physical space. It can be digital.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

31. @abbott567
    Imagine you’re colour blind and
    you want to check how well a
    team is playing before placing a
    bet…
    Example 2
    

    View Slide

32. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

33. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

34. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

35. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

36. @abbott567
    https://michelf.ca/projects/sim-daltonism/
    

    View Slide

37. @abbott567
    http://www.funkify.org/
    

    View Slide

38. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

39. When using colour,
    contrast is important
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

40. The wrong contrast can make
    things INTENSE!
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

41. People with dyslexia often
    prefer soft contrasts
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

42. Low contrast can make everything
    difficult to read!
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

43. @abbott567
    https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
    

    View Slide

44. @abbott567
    https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/contrast-color-accessibility/id1254981365?mt=12
    

    View Slide

45. Accessibility should be designed
    from the start, not an afterthought.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

46. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

47. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

48. Even if we are thinking about
    accessibility, implementing it
    without talking to any users
    will be disastrous.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

49. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

50. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

51. Designers don’t usually make things
    inaccessible on purpose. It’s just a lack
    of awareness or foresight.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

52. @abbott567
    Photo credit: Katy Arnold, Home Office Digital
    

    View Slide

53. Sometimes we try to make things
    better and we make things worse
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

54. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

55. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

56. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

57. @abbott567
    if (month === ‘september’) {
    month = 9;
    }
    

    View Slide

58. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

59. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

60. @abbott567
    
    
    

    View Slide

61. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

62. https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2018/05/15/what-we-learned-from-getting-our-autocomplete-tested-for-accessibility/
    It’s important
    to test your
    product with
    people who use
    assistive
    technology.
    

    View Slide

63. Learn how to use your device’s
    own assistive technology
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

64. @abbott567
    https://empathy-in-accessibility.netlify.app/slides/58.html
    

    View Slide

65. @abbott567
    https://empathy-in-accessibility.netlify.app/slides/59.html
    

    View Slide

66. View Slide

67. View Slide

68. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

69. View Slide

70. View Slide

71. Not everyone who uses a screen
    reader is blind. So it’s important
    to test with a range of people.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

72. Research regularly with users on their
    own devices in their own environment.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

73. Getting people onboard is hard
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

74. Try empathy building exercises
    with your team.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

75. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

76. Lip reading is hard
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

77. @abbott567
    http://actiondeafness.org.uk/product/deaf-awareness-posters/
    

    View Slide

78. @abbott567
    @malcolmcanvin
    Chair Share
    

    View Slide

79. @abbott567
    @beesarahlee
    Talent Salad
    

    View Slide

80. @abbott567
    @jamesgordon1
    Colourful I love you
    

    View Slide

81. @abbott567
    https://vinesimspecs.com/
    

    View Slide

82. @abbott567
    Retinitis pigmentosa
    (tunnel vision)
    Macular Degeneration
    

    View Slide

83. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

84. Unplug the mouse and have
    people try and do an everyday
    online task.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

85. Play a video with the
    screen turned off
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

86. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

87. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

88. @abbott567
    http://www.aegisub.org/
    

    View Slide

89. @abbott567
    *
    * Kind of…
    

    View Slide

90. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

91. @abbott567
    

    View Slide

92. At the very least, include a
    transcript of the video. This can
    just be a text file or a HTML page
    that somebody can read.
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

93. @abbott567
    https://ukhomeoffice.github.io/accessibility-posters/posters/accessibility-posters.pdf
    

    View Slide

94. @abbott567
    https://ukhomeoffice.github.io/accessibility-posters/posters/accessibility-posters.pdf
    

    View Slide

95. @abbott567
    http://www.craigabbott.co.uk/error-messages-are-not-funny
    

    View Slide

96. @abbott567
    http://www.craigabbott.co.uk/error-messages-are-not-funny
    

    View Slide

97. @abbott567
    @mrstevenproctor - Content design. What it is and what it isn’t.
    

    View Slide

98. @abbott567
    https://wave.webaim.org/
    

    View Slide

99. Automated accessibility tools
    are not enough!
    @abbott567
    

    View Slide

100. @abbott567
     https://alphagov.github.io/accessibility-tool-audit/
     

     View Slide

101. Tools can be good to build empathy
     and find obvious errors, but they
     can never replace usability testing.
     @abbott567
     

     View Slide

102. Inclusion > Empathy
     @abbott567
     - Liz Jackson
     

     View Slide

103. “More than 1 in 3 people show
     an unconscious bias against
     those with a disability.”
     @abbott567
     Staci Kroon
     CEO of BraunAbility
     

     View Slide

104. By law, all public sector websites and
     apps will need to be accessible
     by 2021.
     @abbott567
     https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps
     

     View Slide

105. @abbott567
     https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps
     

     View Slide

106. Private sector companies are
     not necessarily exempt
     @abbott567
     

     View Slide

107. @abbott567
     https://www.law360.com/articles/934358/winn-dixie-loses-ada-fight-over-website-accessibility
     

     View Slide

108. @abbott567
     https://www.sitepoint.com/target-settles-accessibility-lawsuit-for-6-million/
     

     View Slide

109. @abbott567
     

     View Slide

110. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/04/beyonce-parkwood-entertainment-sued-over-website-accessibility
     

     View Slide

111. Spend your money on accessibility,
     NOT lawyers
     @abbott567
     

     View Slide

112. 20% of the population have blue eyes.
     This is the same statistic as people who have
     a disability.
     Imagine saying you can’t use this product
     because you have blue eyes.
     ~ Molly Watt
     @abbott567
     twitter.com/@MollyWattTalks
     

     View Slide

113. If your product is accessible,
     you have another 10 million
     potential customers
     @abbott567
     

     View Slide

114. Accessibility experts are rare,
     people will pay for your knowledge!
     @abbott567
     

     View Slide

115. Be passionate about accessibility
     because it’s the right thing to do!
     @abbott567
     

     View Slide

116. If we design things with accessibility in
     mind, it makes things better for
     EVERYBODY!
     @abbott567
     

     View Slide

117. Why are we even talking about
     accessibility? It’s a human right
     and it should be done by default!
     @abbott567
     - Colin Oakley
     

     View Slide

118. That’s all folks
     @abbott567
     https://empathy-in-accessibility.netlify.app/slides/109.html
     Tools, articles and resources:
     

     View Slide