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    Thinking about Digital Accessibility: From Ally to Advocate
    Thinking about Digital Accessibility: From Ally to Advocate
    Thinking about Digital Accessibility: From Ally to Advocate
    Ebook143 pages1 hour

    Thinking about Digital Accessibility: From Ally to Advocate

    By H ROBERT KING

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    About this ebook

    It is sometimes difficult to remember, but most digital resources have not really been around that long. What we affectionately call “the Internet”, more accurately known as “the Word Wide Web,” is younger than the 30 year-old Americans with Disabilities Act, and digital accessibility is younger than that. With the rise in demand for access, and the massive migration to online resources in 2020, designers and engineers are eager to ensure their digital resources are accessible, but they are often at a disadvantage from the lack of information and rapid technological changes they face.

    In this book, we explore what digital accessibility is, how it is integrated with common functional roles, such as content writer, user experience designer, or engineer, and how it grows as the knowledge and skill of an individual develops, answering the question “how do I get there from here”. Three resources developed exclusively for the Thinking about Digital Accessibility series, the Plain Language Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the Plain Writing Guidelines, and the Universal Design Guidelines, are included in this book.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLulu.com
    Release dateAug 20, 2021
    ISBN9781304804525
    Thinking about Digital Accessibility: From Ally to Advocate

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      Book preview

      Thinking about Digital Accessibility - H ROBERT KING

      Introduction

      Organizations are becoming eager to ensure all their products meet accessibility requirements. For some, the effort to ensure products meet accessibility requirements is motivated by the specter of legal action. For others, the effort to ensure products meet accessibility requirements is motivated by the business opportunities they see in filling the gap. Others are motivated by the impact they believe they can have on the lives of those who are able to interact barrier-free.

      Regardless of the motivation of various enterprises, the task of building accessible interfaces is often difficult, not because of the technical challenges, but because of the lack of knowledge and understanding that is required. As Neil Milliken, the Global Head of Accessibility at Atos said in the first session of the Strategic Leader in Accessibility webinar series, the complexity of the program we need to run, if we’re going to be successful, is immense (Casey and Milliken, Session I: Strategic Accessibility Leadership).

      We can try to simplify the needs along product, design, and engineering lines as much as possible, but it will often not be enough. The complexity of delivering accessibility at scale is too great for it to be the responsibility of a grassroots, bottom-up approach that relies on people dedicated to their craft in design or engineering. The complexity will require individuals who are more than convinced of the need for accessibility. The complexity will require individuals who are skilled, knowledgeable, and passionate about accessibility; people driven to bring accessibility to what they create.

      Understanding Accessibility

      When we talk about the development of accessibility roles in an enterprise, the shortest pathway to success is one that begins with an understanding of what accessibility is, because when we begin thinking about accessibility in the enterprise, it is only natural to want to start thinking about the different roles people play. After all, organizations already separate people in an enterprise according to their role, whether it is business or technical, engineering or design, customer support or quality assurance, or any combination of roles. Just as with the functional roles people engage in, before individuals are able to take on roles related to accessibility, there is a degree of knowledge required. However, because of the frequent lack of introductory information and because there are frequent misunderstandings about digital accessibility, it is helpful for all of us to start at the beginning.

      One of the most important tools an organization has is its ability to communicate, both internally and externally. Clarity in communication requires everyone to have a clear understanding of what the words mean in the organization.

      What is Digital Accessibility?

      Once upon a time, a king ordered a servant to gather all those in his kingdom who had been blind from birth and show them an elephant. The man did as the king instructed (Tittha Sutta).

      To some of the blind people he showed the elephant’s head, saying, this, blind people, is what an elephant is like. To some of them he showed the elephant’s ear, saying, this, blind people, is what an elephant is like. To some of them he showed the elephant’s tusk… the elephant’s trunk… the elephant’s body… the elephant’s foot… the elephant’s hindquarters… the elephant’s tail… the tuft at the end of the elephant’s tail, saying, This, blind people, is what an elephant is like.

      The man then returned to the king and asked what to do next. The king then went to the blind people and asked them if they had seen the elephant, and when they responded they had, the king asked them what the elephant was like.

      The blind people who had been shown the elephant’s head said, The elephant, your majesty, is just like a jar.

      Those who had been shown the elephant’s ear said, The elephant, your majesty, is just like a winnowing basket.

      Those who had been shown the elephant’s tusk said, The elephant, your majesty, is just like an iron rod.

      Those who had been shown the elephant’s trunk said, The elephant, your majesty, is just like the pole of a plow.

      Those who had been shown the elephant’s body said, The elephant, your majesty, is just like a granary.

      Those who had been shown the elephant’s foot said, The elephant, your majesty, is just like a post.

      Those who had been shown the elephant’s hindquarters said, "The elephant, your majesty, is just like a

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