Global Accessibility Awareness Day: “Make Technology Work for Everyone”
Thursday 21 May 2015 is the 4th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day. To help promote the day and digital accessibility, Citizens Online collaborated with the Digital Accessibility Centre, DIG Inclusion, and members of our Fix the Web project‘s steering group to create a short animated video about digital accessibility, containing 15 tips to help people creating websites, apps, software and documents improve the accessibility of their technology.
Over the last year the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) has been working hard to share the benefits of inclusive and accessible marketing communications. Whether delivering workshops for various National Governing Bodies of sport and County Sports Partnerships, or giving bespoke advice on particular strategies, EFDS encourages all organisations to embed inclusion in the planning process.
In April 2014, EFDS produced a guide to inclusive communications. Written in partnership with Sport England and Big Voice Communications, it supports providers to reach a wider audience, including more disabled people.
Citizens Online is a national charity that was set up to tackle the issues of digital inclusion, to make sure that the Internet is available to everybody and to help individuals and communities understand and gain the benefits of being online. They work in a number of ways, offering a powerful approach to digital inclusion that can be both sustainable and scalable.
Because this new video can not cover everything, and technology and better practices are always evolving, they have produced more information below that accompanies the video.
Text description of the visual style of the video
Hello Screen reader users! This text description of the video will hopefully help you create an image of it before you listen to the soundtrack. The animated visuals depict and express what’s said in the soundtrack and complement the music.
The video uses a distinctive style, with bright colours and sharp lines to create a modern and digital feel, softened up a little so it’s friendly and encouraging. There are four stylised characters sporting highly simplified features, their faces leave the viewer to imagine their eyes, ears and mouths, rather than depict them explicitly. One character has dark glasses and a white stick, one has a wheelchair, another is short and stocky, and one is tall and thin. Rather than attempt to show all possible impairments, we chose to symbolically represent the “differences” and use symbols when the different broad categories are mentioned. There’s also a space invader character to represent a spam-bot!
There are captions to accompany the key messages and the tips are displayed in clear and large text. You can read these in the full transcript. Sometimes we hint at how to achieve a tip, for instance showing what adding headings or mark up in code looks like – see the transcript with descriptions of the visuals for more details.
The overall animation is designed with high-contrast and with sequences that minimise difficulties for those affected by fast changing images.
An expanded version of the script
This expanded version of the script provides additional explanation, references and links to organisations providing further guidance.
This version of the script is divided into:
- The film’s introduction to digital accessibility,
- 15 tips to help creators of websites, apps, software or documents make their technology more accessible
- The film’s conclusion
The film’s introduction to digital accessibility
“Digital technology has created amazing opportunities for communicating, sharing information, and banking and shopping.”
Digital technology includes a broader list of activities than the ones we highlighted in the script, of course. Gaming is a particular area of interest. Check out this resource list of articles on disabilities and gaming, for instance.
“But users of your digital technologies have different needs. Keep this variety in mind, otherwise millions of people will find it hard or impossible to use your content – people you want to reach.”
At least 11 million people in the UK – over 15% of population – are disabled in some way (according to government figures). When aging-related impairments or health conditions are included, this rises to 20% or more. Across Europe the number of people with disabilities is estimated at 80 million (according to figures from the European Disability Forum), globally over a billion (according to the World Health Organisation).
These impairments significantly affect the level of online task success and satisfaction experienced by disabled people. In the UK, only 41% of disabled people use the Internet, compared to 75% of non-disabled people (figures from research cited in a speech by Former UK Disability Minister Maria Miller in October 2010 – link is to pdf).
A detailed study of 100 blind web users (link is to a PDF) found they reported losing on average 30.4% of their time online due to web access issues. To get an idea of some of the issues, try the case studies in these videos from the Digital Accessibility Centre.
Some impairments can be perceived by others visually. Some are relatively rare and some are relatively common. For instance, it is estimated that around 10% of the UK population is dyslexic. In addition, society is not divided into two clear groups – disabled and non-disabled people. Everyone is likely to journey from relative disability in childhood, through periods of greater ability and then in later life back to relative disability again, as for instance eyesight, memory or dexterity deteriorate.
We are all, at the very least, not-yet-disabled, and it is the ‘standard web user’ – non-disabled adult who is literate which is really the minority group.
“Accessibility is important to at least 60% of your audience”
This figure comes from research for Microsoft conducted by Forrester Research – available as a downloadable Word document.
“Getting accessibility right means you’ll build something that is better for everyone, so it’s good for business!”
According to AbilityNet, disabled people in the UK have an estimated spending power of £120 billion; 73% are heads of households, while 48% are principal shoppers – according to research by the Business Disability Forum.
An accessibility overhaul of insurance firm Legal & General’s web presence in 2005/6 resulted in a 50% increase in search engine traffic, £200k per annum savings in maintenance, and a 135% increase in completed product applications. Legal & General are now supported by Dig Inclusion to keep their content accessible. You can read more about the Legal & General case study on the Web Accessibility Initiative website.
“Digital accessibility is also a regulatory requirement”
In the UK, digital accessibility is covered by the Equality Act (2010) and the associated Code of Practice (2011). The Act creates a duty on both public and private service providers to make anticipatory adjustments to their services to ensure that people are not discriminated against. Coolfields Consulting provide an introduction to the application of the Equality Act to digital accessibility.
“There have been legal cases launched against websites that exclude users”
A recent summary of legal cases in the USA is available from Lainey Finegold. In brief, users
“may be colour blind, or have impaired use of arms or hands, cognitive differences, or visual or hearing impairments.”
Coolfields Consulting provide a summary of types of impairment and their impact on use of digital technology
“It’s best to think about accessibility from the start of a project.”
15 tips to help creators of websites, apps, software or documents make their technology more accessible
- Make accessibility part of the contract when commissioning apps, software or websites
- Use themes and plugins deemed ‘accessible’ when using Content Management Sites
- Allow users to customise their experience of pages, and use responsive layouts
- Always let users know where they are and how they get to somewhere else
- Make sure that every action can be completed using the keyboard alone
- Give the user control over moving content
- Provide captions and transcripts for audio and visual content
- Add ‘Alternative Text’ to images
- Make your text easy to understand
- Organise your text and add ‘mark up’ to make structure and features perceivable
- Make links stand out clearly from surrounding text
- Test text and background colour combinations
- Let visitors extend their sessions
- Provide an accessibility statement
- Use alternatives to CAPTCHA
The film’s conclusion
“Let’s make sure digital technologies are as usable and inclusive as possible – we will all benefit!
This video can’t cover everything, and technology and best practice are always evolving. For more help and information go to citizensonline.org.uk/accessibilitytips
