Oh my GAAD! (The wide world of accessibility)

The talk covered:

● what GAAD is;
● why it’s (still) important;
● what we can do to make the world a better place (and our software more usable by more people).

Given at https://www.meetup.com/WOSSAT/events/278074181/ on Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 6:00 PM, for Global Accessibility Awareness Day ❤️

Transcript

1. Oh my GAAD!
   (The wide world of accessibility)
   

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2. Agenda
   !
   1. What is GAAD?
   2. Why is GAAD important?
   3. How can we make the world
   a better place?
   

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3. Who am I?
   !
   Steve Barnett
   FED (and UX) person
   Accessibility at Totara Learning
   naga.co.za
   

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4. Agenda
   !
   !
   1. What is GAAD?
   2. Why is GAAD important?
   3. How can we make the world
   a better place?
   

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5. GAAD?
   Global Accessibility Awareness Day!
   Third Thursday of each May
   (since 2011)
   

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6. What is Global Accessibility
   Awareness Day for?
   Question
   

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7. What is Global Accessibility
   Awareness Day for?
   Talking, thinking, and learning about
   accessibility and inclusion
   (An) answer
   

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8. Agenda
   !
   ✔ 1. What is GAAD?
   !
   2. Why is GAAD important?
   3. How can we make the world
   a better place?
   

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9. Why is GAAD important? (1 of 3)
   

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10. How many people in the world have
    disabilities?
    (World population is about 8 billion)
    Question
    

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11. How many people in the world have
    disabilities?
    (World population is about 8 billion)
    About 1 billion have
    (at least one) disability
    (An) answer
    

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12. How many people in Aotearoa
    New Zealand have disabilities?
    (Population is about 5 million)
    Question
    

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13. How many people in Aotearoa
    New Zealand have disabilities?
    (Population is about 5 million)
    About 1 million have
    (at least one) disability
    (An) answer
    

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14. Why is GAAD important? (1 of 3)
    There are many people with
    disabilities in the world
    

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15. Why is GAAD important? (2 of 3)
    

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16. Social model of disability
    Disability = Ability + Barrier
    

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17. Disability is a spectrum,
    not a binary
    

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18. Many types of disability, for example:
    Auditory
    Cognitive
    Physical
    Visual
    

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19. Raise a hand
    !
    / nod your head
    if you or someone you know is:
    blind
    (Gentle!) activity
    

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20. Raise a hand
    !
    / nod your head
    if you or someone you know has:
    low vision or poor eyesight
    (perhaps from old age)
    (Gentle!) activity
    

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21. Raise a hand
    !
    / nod your head
    if you or someone you know is:
    colour blind
    (Gentle!) activity
    

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22. Raise a hand
    !
    / nod your head
    if you or someone you know has:
    been outside on a sunny day
    with a shiny screen
    (Gentle!) activity
    

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23. Why is GAAD important? (2 of 3)
    Accessibility affects me, you,
    and many people we know
    (Oh, and our customers)
    

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24. Why is GAAD important? (3 of 3)
    

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25. Almost every home page has some
    accessibility problems
    

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26. WebAIM Million
    98% of home pages have
    at least one problem
    About 60 errors per home page
    

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27. Why is GAAD important? (3 of 3)
    Lots of web pages have lots of
    accessibility errors
    

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28. Agenda
    !
    ✔ 1. What is GAAD?
    ✔ 2. Why is GAAD important?
    (many people, many errors)
    !
    3. How can we make the world
    a better place?
    

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29. Use WebAIM Million as a guide
    A. Check for errors
    B. Check for meaningful text context
    

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30. A. Check for errors (what)
    Missing link text or button text
    

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31. Why might link text or button text
    be missing?
    Why might it be a problem?
    Question
    

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32. Why might link text or button text
    be missing?
    When links or buttons are images
    Why might it be a problem?
    You can't tell what it is / does!
    (An) answer
    

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33. A. Check for errors (what)
    Missing labels for form fields
    

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34. Why might missing labels
    be a problem?
    Question
    

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35. Why might missing labels
    be a problem?
    You can't tell what it is!
    "What is this? Username? Password?"
    (An) answer
    

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36. A. Check for errors (what)
    Missing alt text for images
    

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37. Why might missing alt text
    be a problem?
    Question
    

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38. Why might missing alt text
    be a problem?
    You can't tell what it is!
    Bonus points: if the image is inside a
    link or button, it has no name!
    (An) answer
    

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39. A. Check for errors (what)
    Low colour contrast
    

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40. Why might low colour contrast
    be a problem?
    Question
    

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41. Why might low colour contrast
    be a problem?
    If you can't see it, you can't read it!
    (An) answer
    

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42. A. Check for errors (how)
    Use an automated tool:
    run Deque’s axe browser extension
    

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43. B. Check for meaningful text context (what)
    Links with “click here”
    

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44. Why might "click here" as link text
    be a problem?
    Question
    

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45. Why might "click here" as link text
    be a problem?
    Doesn't make sense out of context
    "Where does this link go?"
    (An) answer
    

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46. B. Check for meaningful text context (what)
    Buttons with generic “submit” text
    

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47. Why might "submit" as button text
    be a problem?
    Question
    

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48. Why might "submit" as button text
    be a problem?
    Bad UX for everyone
    "What does this button do?"
    (An) answer
    

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49. B. Check for meaningful text context (what)
    Alt text of “image.jpg”
    

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50. Why might "image.jpg" as alt text
    be a problem?
    Question
    

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51. Why might "image.jpg" as alt text
    be a problem?
    You don't get the same meaning as
    the image
    (An) answer
    

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52. B. Check for meaningful text context (how)
    Use a screen reader
    Run TPGi's ARC Toolkit Chrome
    extension: manually check links,
    buttons, and images
    

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53. Agenda
    !
    ✔ 1. What is GAAD?
    ✔ 2. Why is GAAD important?
    ✔ 3. How can we make the world
    a better place?
    (run some tools, fix some bugs!)
    

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54. Recap
    !
    ✔ 1. What is GAAD?
    ✔ 2. Why is GAAD important?
    ✔ 3. How can we make the world
    a better place?
    

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55. Handy links
    https://globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org/
    https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/
    disability-survey-2013
    https://webaim.org/projects/million/
    https://www.deque.com/axe/
    https://www.tpgi.com/arc-platform/arc-toolkit/
    

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56. Thanks!
    !
    

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