"What is the business case for accessibility"

Slide 1

Slide 1 text

Alice Bartlett Senior Developer Government Digital Service @alicebartlett

Slide 2

Slide 2 text

I’m from the Government Digital Service GDS

Slide 3

Slide 3 text

GDS “What is the business case for accessibility?”

Slide 4

Slide 4 text

GDS This isn’t a bad question

Slide 5

Slide 5 text

GDS 1. What is GOV.UK

Slide 6

Slide 6 text

GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by “accessibility”

Slide 7

Slide 7 text

GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard

Slide 8

Slide 8 text

GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case

Slide 9

Slide 9 text

GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case

Slide 10

Slide 10 text

GDS The best place to ﬁnd government services and information

Slide 11

Slide 11 text

Slide 12

Slide 12 text

Slide 13

Slide 13 text

No content

Slide 14

Slide 14 text

GDS 19 million visits a week

Slide 15

Slide 15 text

GDS 19 million visits a week Home to 330 departments and organisations

Slide 16

Slide 16 text

GDS 19 million visits a week Home to 330 departments and organisations Saving £62 million per year

Slide 17

Slide 17 text

GDS We’ve tried to make GOV.UK accessible as possible

Slide 18

Slide 18 text

GDS But it hasn’t always been this way

Slide 19

Slide 19 text

GDS

Slide 20

Slide 20 text

GDS The GOV.UK alpha was terrible for accessibility

Slide 21

Slide 21 text

GDS And we got a massive kicking for it

Slide 22

Slide 22 text

–Leisa Richelt http://www.disambiguity.com/alphagov/ Ultimately, the AlphaGov prototype doesn’t make any signiﬁcant attempt at achieving accessibility

Slide 23

Slide 23 text

https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2011/05/06/accessibility/ It is a crying shame that good money has been wasted on this run of the mill, unimaginative and pointless website. Stop wasting my money!

Slide 24

Slide 24 text

GDS

Slide 25

Slide 25 text

GDS In the beta we built for inclusion In the beta, we built for inclusion

Slide 26

Slide 26 text

- Tom Loosemore, 2011 We want to make the most easy to use, accessible government website there has ever been.

Slide 27

Slide 27 text

GDS And so building for inclusion became part of how we worked

Slide 28

Slide 28 text

GDS Regular testing with people with a broad spectrum of abilities

Slide 29

Slide 29 text

GDS Screen reader training

Slide 30

Slide 30 text

Government Digital Service Listed below are our design principles and examples of how we’ve used them so far. These build on, and add to, our original 7 digital principles. Start with needs* Do less Design with data Do the hard work to make it simple Iterate. Then iterate again. Build for inclusion Understand context Build digital services, not websites Be consistent, not uniform Make things open: it makes things better Last updated 2 July 2012 ALPHA Design Principles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Government Digital Service Listed below are our design principles and examples of how we’ve used them so far. These build on, and add to, our original 7 digital principles. Start with needs* Do less Design with data Do the hard work to make it simple Iterate. Then iterate again. Build for inclusion Understand context Build digital services, not websites Be consistent, not uniform Make things open: it makes things better GOV.UK Last updated 2 July 2012 ALPHA Design Principles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Search GDS www.gov.uk/design-principles

Slide 31

Slide 31 text

-GDS Design Principles Accessible design is good design. We should build a product that's as inclusive, legible and readable as possible. If we have to sacriﬁce elegance – so be it.

Slide 32

Slide 32 text

GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case

Slide 33

Slide 33 text

GDS Let’s keep this brief, but so we’re all on the same page…

Slide 34

Slide 34 text

GDS visual

Slide 35

Slide 35 text

GDS visual hearing

Slide 36

Slide 36 text

GDS visual hearing motor

Slide 37

Slide 37 text

GDS visual hearing motor cognitive

Slide 38

Slide 38 text

GDS This way of talking about users with accessibility needs is problematic

Slide 39

Slide 39 text

Anne Gibson We can reframe accessibility in terms of what we provide, not what other people lack.

Slide 40

Slide 40 text

GDS Anne Gibson has written about this over on A List Apart

Slide 41

Slide 41 text

GDS It’s better to say “we should make our site accessible on as many inputs and outputs as possible”

Slide 42

Slide 42 text

GDS Accessibility needs can be long term

Slide 43

Slide 43 text

GDS You have epilepsy

Slide 44

Slide 44 text

GDS You’re blind

Slide 45

Slide 45 text

GDS You have learning difﬁculties

Slide 46

Slide 46 text

GDS Accessibility needs can be temporary

Slide 47

Slide 47 text

GDS You have a migraine

Slide 48

Slide 48 text

GDS You break your arm

Slide 49

Slide 49 text

GDS You develop RSI

Slide 50

Slide 50 text

GDS You’re in a very noisy and chaotic environment

Slide 51

Slide 51 text

GDS Give users as many ways as possible to access your website

Slide 52

Slide 52 text

GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case

Slide 53

Slide 53 text

GDS I wanted to come here and say…

Slide 54

Slide 54 text

Alice Bartlett, parallel universe Here is your magic answer to why making your site accessible will make you ﬁlthy rich

Slide 55

Slide 55 text

GDS That was naïve

Slide 56

Slide 56 text

GDS A good business case should take a problem you can prove you have and solve it in the most cost effective way

Slide 57

Slide 57 text

GDS A good business case should go something like this:

Slide 58

Slide 58 text

GDS Step 1: You have a problem

Slide 59

Slide 59 text

GDS We need more money We need more ad impressions We need people to think of us favourably We are currently at high risk of being sued We need to spend less on maintenance etc

Slide 60

Slide 60 text

GDS Step 2: You come up with some solutions to your problem

Slide 61

Slide 61 text

GDS This includes case studies, cost / beneﬁt analysis, data

Slide 62

Slide 62 text

GDS Step 3: You conclude by saying which of the possible solutions is the best

Slide 63

Slide 63 text

GDS And your best solution is…

Slide 64

Slide 64 text

We should solve X by improving the accessibility of our site

Slide 65

Slide 65 text

We should solve X

Slide 66

Slide 66 text

GDS Anecdotally there are loads of problems that can be solved by making your site more accessible

Slide 67

Slide 67 text

GDS We need better SEO!

Slide 68

Slide 68 text

GDS We need to lower our maintenance costs!

Slide 69

Slide 69 text

GDS We’re missing out on revenue from seniors!

Slide 70

Slide 70 text

GDS We’re missing out on revenue from people with accessibility needs!

Slide 71

Slide 71 text

GDS We need to improve our image!

Slide 72

Slide 72 text

GDS (the list goes on)

Slide 73

Slide 73 text

GDS But when you start writing a business case for these it gets a lot trickier

Slide 74

Slide 74 text

GDS Because there isn’t a whole lot of evidence that making a site accessible is the most cost effective way to solve any of these problems

Slide 75

Slide 75 text

GDS And that’s what a good business case should do

Slide 76

Slide 76 text

GDS Take a problem you deﬁnitely have

Slide 77

Slide 77 text

GDS And solve it in the most cost effective way possible

Slide 78

Slide 78 text

GDS In fact, the only well evidenced business case that I can ﬁnd for making your site accessible is avoiding litigation

Slide 79

Slide 79 text

GDS The RNIB has a handy explainer: http://www.rnib.org.uk/services-we-offer- advice-professionals/equality-act-compliance

Slide 80

Slide 80 text

GDS The Equality Act (2010)

Slide 81

Slide 81 text

GDS The duty to make reasonable adjustments

Slide 82

Slide 82 text

GDS In the public sector we are also bound by the Public Sector equality Duty

Slide 83

Slide 83 text

GDS The litigation angle rests on balancing the probability that you’ll get sued vs the cost of making your site accessible

Slide 84

Slide 84 text

GDS If you’re a high proﬁle company, the risk of being sued is big enough that you should make your site accessible

Slide 85

Slide 85 text

GDS But if you’re a low proﬁle company, then the chances of you being sued are a lot smaller

Slide 86

Slide 86 text

GDS So actually, maybe there isn’t a business case for companies doing low proﬁle work

Slide 87

Slide 87 text

GDS I can’t say with conﬁdence in those cases that making your website accessible will show a real return on investment

Slide 88

Slide 88 text

GDS But…

Slide 89

Slide 89 text

GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case

Slide 90

Slide 90 text

GDS If you’re building right now, from scratch

Slide 91

Slide 91 text

GDS Why wouldn’t you make your site accessible?

Slide 92

Slide 92 text

GDS Building accessible websites has never been easier!

Slide 93

Slide 93 text

GDS Bake “our site is accessible on a range of devices” into your company’s deﬁnition of what “good” looks like

Slide 94

Slide 94 text

GDS As a front end developer add it to your list of the ways you know you did your job well

Slide 95

Slide 95 text

GDS Sneak it in if you have to

Slide 96

Slide 96 text

GDS You don’t need a business case

Slide 97

Slide 97 text

–Karl Groves, http://www.karlgroves.com/2011/11/30/how-expensive-is-accessibility/ When [accessibility] becomes part of how you do things, of course it is free.

Slide 98

Slide 98 text

GDS On GOV.UK building for inclusion is how we work

Slide 99

Slide 99 text

GDS We share and discuss the accessibility of design patterns on a publicly accessible hack-pad: https://designpatterns.hackpad.com

Slide 100

Slide 100 text

GDS

Slide 101

Slide 101 text

GDS

Slide 102

Slide 102 text

GDS Start today

Slide 103

Slide 103 text

GDS Eventually it will be how you work and then it will be free

Slide 104

Slide 104 text

GDS Summary Good business cases for accessibility are quite difﬁcult to write You don’t need a business case.

Slide 105

Slide 105 text

GDS Links Leisa Richelt on Alphagov: www.disambiguity.com/alphagov/ Alphagov Accessibility: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2011/05/06/accessibility/ Anne Gibson ALA: http://alistapart.com/article/reframing-accessibility-for-the-web WAI Business Case: http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/ RNIB guidance: www.rnib.org.uk/services-we-offer-advice-professionals/equality-act-compliance Karl Groves on accessibility costs: www.karlgroves.com/2011/11/30/how-expensive-is- accessibility/ The Design Hackpad: https://designpatterns.hackpad.com

Slide 106

Slide 106 text

Thanks! Alice Bartlett @alicebartlett