Creating a culture of accessibility

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Martin Underhill Creating a culture of accessibility Northern User Experience (NUX), 20th July 2023

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Martin Underhill Lead Accessibility Specialist

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@[email protected] What my role involves • Leading a small team of accessibility specialists • Working with designers and developers to make their work more accessible • Helping product owners prioritise work • Accessibility audits • Training sessions and presentations • Community building

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@[email protected] What I’ll be covering 1. What is accessibility? 2. Why a culture of accessibility is important 3. Where to start? 4. What I’ve done at Sage

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@[email protected] What is accessibility?

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@[email protected] ‘Accessible’ /əkˈsɛsɪb(ə)l/ Adjective Able to be used, entered, reached www.dictionary.com/browse/accessible

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@[email protected] Making things usable for everyone • Accessibility is about including everyone • “Everyone” includes people with disabilities or impairments • Motor • Visual • Auditory • Cognitive

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@[email protected] — Me “Accessibility is the thing that prevents us only building things for people who experience the world like we do”

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@[email protected] Why a culture of accessibility is important

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@[email protected] Accessibility is not a checkpoint • Accessibility should be woven into the fabric of your team’s work • Consider accessibility as early as possible • Ask for accessibility critique little and often • Inter-team accountability is the goal • If ‘ready to dev’ is your checkpoint, you’re too late • If quality assurance testing is your checkpoint, you’re way too late

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@[email protected] Accessibility is not a checklist • The goal is accessible • Accessible goes beyond WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliance • Use your products with assistive technology • Test with disabled people www.tempertemper.net/blog/accessibility-doesnt-stop-at-wcag-compliance

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@[email protected] Accessibility is hard • Raising accessibility bugs requires empathy, tact, and good relationships • There are battles to be had: • To fi x existing accessibility bugs • To integrate accessibility in design/development processes • There’s a lot to learn and a lot that can be missed • Change can be very slow

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@[email protected] Accessibility is exciting • People like doing the right thing • There are lots of hidden accessibility champions or specialists • Share wins • Harness and nurture that enthusiasm!

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@[email protected] Where to start?

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@[email protected] User researchers • Ensure you are testing with people that represent your potential user base • Push for budget if your actual user base doesn’t re fl ect the potential • In the interim, test with willing colleagues and friends with disabilities or impairments

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@[email protected] Designers • Use accessibility tools/plugins • Teach yourself a bit of HTML • Design mobile fi rst, always www.freecodecamp.org

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@[email protected] Developers • Learn HTML and a bit of ARIA • Check your work with the keyboard and a screen reader • Add axe-core to your build pipeline www.freecodecamp.org

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@[email protected] Quality assurance testers • Build accessibility testing into your test protocol • Consider an accessibility issue a blocking defect • Dig your heels in when needed

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@[email protected] Managers, etc. • Find time and budget for accessibility learning/training • Make a published commitment to accessibility

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@[email protected] What I’ve done at Sage

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@[email protected] Make friends in high places • The people that make overarching company or business unit decisions • Directors, executives, etc. • Project managers • Not always easy to get hold of • Very few in number

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@[email protected] Focus on the people that make things happen • The real power lies with: • User researchers • Designers (service, content, interaction) • Developers and quality assurance testers • Product owners • Much easier to reach • Lots of them

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@[email protected] ― Mike Monteiro, How Designers Destroyed the World “Every time you make a conscious choice … rather than just letting things happen or accepting what is handed to you by others … you are ful fi lling your responsibility” youtu.be/J0ucEt-La9w

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@[email protected] Attend design huddles • Accessibility starts with research and design • Sit in on as many as possible • Contribute to discussion • Arrange deep-dive sessions when needed webaim.org/blog/accessibility-lipstick-on-a-usability-pig/

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@[email protected] Encourage collaboration • Often a divide between design and developers/quality assurance testers • Developers know how a design will be coded • Testers know how to use assistive technology better than most

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@[email protected] Organise regular accessibility presentations • Monthly event • 1 hour • Presentation or workshop • Q&A • Different presenter each month

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@[email protected] Regular accessibility clinic/surgery • Weekly drop-in session with a specialist • 10 minutes per person • Ask an accessibility question • Get help with an accessibility challenge • Offer advice to others • Sit back with a coffee

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@[email protected] Asynchronous chat channels • Slack or Teams • Post/read an article every day • A place to ask questions (and have them answered) • Somewhere to have a grumble!

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@[email protected] Mark accessibility events • Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) • International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) • Purple Tuesday

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@[email protected] Introductory presentation • What accessibility is • Why accessibility is important • Examples of common accessibility issues (and some solutions) • How to get started

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@[email protected] Workshops and training courses • General • User research • Design • Development • Quality assurance testing

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@[email protected] Accessibility Champions • Accessibility Champions channel • Training course license • Advice and help with IAAP certi fi cation • Of fi cial Accessibility Champion status!

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@[email protected] Accessibility ‘hub’ • SharePoint, Con fl uence, etc. • Central place where everyone can fi nd out about all the community things • Instructions on how to request an accessibility audit • Resources, for example: • Getting started with assistive technologies • Helpful software • Testing methods

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@[email protected] Closing tips

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@[email protected] • Build relationships • Encourage sharing and learning • Be visible and available • Gather a posse • Be persistent • Be resilient • Be in it for the long haul