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
2. @abbott567 These slides are available in HTML: https://empathy-in-accessibility.netlify.app
3. Empathy in Accessibility 335 6,388 Craig Abbott @abbott567 Head of Accessibility at @DWPDigital. Cat botherer. Code writer. Newcastle upon Tyne Following Followers
4. I don’t have a disability… yet @abbott567
5. @abbott567 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-facts-and-figures/disability-facts-and-figures The prevalence of disability rises with age
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
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
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
9. People living with a disability are far more common than you might have realised @abbott567
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%
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
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
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
14. @abbott567
15. @abbott567 DISABLED PARKING
16. @abbott567 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Symbol_of_Access#Modified_ISA
17. @abbott567 ACCESSIBLE PARKING https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Symbol_of_Access#Modified_ISA
18. @abbott567 http://accessibleicon.org/
19. @abbott567 Disabilities and impairments are not the same
20. Impairment: An impairment is medical. It’s the condition or symptoms that person experiences. eg: low vision or blindness @abbott567
21. Disability When a person finds it difficult to perform everyday tasks to a level that is considered normal for most people. @abbott567
22. An impairment doesn’t always mean a person considers themselves disabled. !important @abbott567
23. Imagine you are a wheelchair user, and you want to get a book from the library… @abbott567 Example 1
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29. People are not always disabled by their impairments, they are disabled by poorly designed environments @abbott567
30. An environment might not always be a physical space. It can be digital. @abbott567
31. @abbott567 Imagine you’re colour blind and you want to check how well a team is playing before placing a bet… Example 2
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36. @abbott567 https://michelf.ca/projects/sim-daltonism/
37. @abbott567 http://www.funkify.org/
38. @abbott567
39. When using colour, contrast is important @abbott567
40. The wrong contrast can make things INTENSE! @abbott567
41. People with dyslexia often prefer soft contrasts @abbott567
42. Low contrast can make everything difficult to read! @abbott567
43. @abbott567 https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
44. @abbott567 https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/contrast-color-accessibility/id1254981365?mt=12
45. Accessibility should be designed from the start, not an afterthought. @abbott567
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47. @abbott567
48. Even if we are thinking about accessibility, implementing it without talking to any users will be disastrous. @abbott567
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51. Designers don’t usually make things inaccessible on purpose. It’s just a lack of awareness or foresight. @abbott567
52. @abbott567 Photo credit: Katy Arnold, Home Office Digital
53. Sometimes we try to make things better and we make things worse @abbott567
54. @abbott567
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56. @abbott567
57. @abbott567 if (month === ‘september’) { month = 9; }
58. @abbott567
59. @abbott567
60. @abbott567 <input type=“text” /> <input type=“number” />
61. @abbott567
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.
63. Learn how to use your device’s own assistive technology @abbott567
64. @abbott567 https://empathy-in-accessibility.netlify.app/slides/58.html
65. @abbott567 https://empathy-in-accessibility.netlify.app/slides/59.html
68. @abbott567
71. Not everyone who uses a screen reader is blind. So it’s important to test with a range of people. @abbott567
72. Research regularly with users on their own devices in their own environment. @abbott567
73. Getting people onboard is hard @abbott567
74. Try empathy building exercises with your team. @abbott567
75. @abbott567
76. Lip reading is hard @abbott567
77. @abbott567 http://actiondeafness.org.uk/product/deaf-awareness-posters/
78. @abbott567 @malcolmcanvin Chair Share
79. @abbott567 @beesarahlee Talent Salad
80. @abbott567 @jamesgordon1 Colourful I love you
81. @abbott567 https://vinesimspecs.com/
82. @abbott567 Retinitis pigmentosa (tunnel vision) Macular Degeneration
83. @abbott567
84. Unplug the mouse and have people try and do an everyday online task. @abbott567
85. Play a video with the screen turned off @abbott567
86. @abbott567
87. @abbott567
88. @abbott567 http://www.aegisub.org/
89. @abbott567 * * Kind of…
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91. @abbott567
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
93. @abbott567 https://ukhomeoffice.github.io/accessibility-posters/posters/accessibility-posters.pdf
94. @abbott567 https://ukhomeoffice.github.io/accessibility-posters/posters/accessibility-posters.pdf
95. @abbott567 http://www.craigabbott.co.uk/error-messages-are-not-funny
96. @abbott567 http://www.craigabbott.co.uk/error-messages-are-not-funny
97. @abbott567 @mrstevenproctor - Content design. What it is and what it isn’t.
98. @abbott567 https://wave.webaim.org/
99. Automated accessibility tools are not enough! @abbott567
100. @abbott567 https://alphagov.github.io/accessibility-tool-audit/
101. Tools can be good to build empathy and find obvious errors, but they can never replace usability testing. @abbott567
102. Inclusion > Empathy @abbott567 - Liz Jackson
103. “More than 1 in 3 people show an unconscious bias against those with a disability.” @abbott567 Staci Kroon CEO of BraunAbility
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
105. @abbott567 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps
106. Private sector companies are not necessarily exempt @abbott567
107. @abbott567 https://www.law360.com/articles/934358/winn-dixie-loses-ada-fight-over-website-accessibility
108. @abbott567 https://www.sitepoint.com/target-settles-accessibility-lawsuit-for-6-million/
109. @abbott567
110. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/04/beyonce-parkwood-entertainment-sued-over-website-accessibility
111. Spend your money on accessibility, NOT lawyers @abbott567
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
113. If your product is accessible, you have another 10 million potential customers @abbott567
114. Accessibility experts are rare, people will pay for your knowledge! @abbott567
115. Be passionate about accessibility because it’s the right thing to do! @abbott567
116. If we design things with accessibility in mind, it makes things better for EVERYBODY! @abbott567
117. Why are we even talking about accessibility? It’s a human right and it should be done by default! @abbott567 - Colin Oakley
118. That’s all folks @abbott567 https://empathy-in-accessibility.netlify.app/slides/109.html Tools, articles and resources: