How well-structured, good content means accessibility. And, in turn, how accessibility helps both companies and users reach their goals.

1. accessibility
means
business
well-designed content = results for everyone
Irene Walker @1rene Confab 2012 Minneapolis

2. noisy

3. fast-paced

4. competitive

5. global

6. noisy
fast-paced
global
competitive
So why cut off large groups of consumers

7. Answer: ignorance
It’ll take too
Hmm. Sounds Blind folks
long. Let’s look
expensive. And won’t use my
at it again in a
unnecessary. product.
year’s time.

8. Accessibly-designed content will:
save
make you
more money
you more
money

9. Accessibility universal
{It’s also quite beautiful too}

10. What accessibility means for business

11. 1.new markets 4.
reduced
legal risk
superior products 5.
2. & services performance
increased
employee
3.relationships
building on

12. “ We shipped IE 4.0 in September 1997. Two months
later, we shipped a minor upgrade, primarily to deliver
features that made IE easier to use for people
with disabilities.
But that upgrade also contained, among other fixes, the
solutions for 6 of the top 10 customer complaints
from that brief interval between the two releases.
”
- Bill Gates, Business @ the Speed of Thought

13. “ There is nothing that you can do
on the iPhone or iPad that I can't
do.”
- Stevie Wonder

14. “ For people without disabilities,
technology makes things convenient.
For people with disabilities,
technology makes things possible.”
- Judith E. Heumann, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of Education

15. “The power of the Web is in its universality.
Access by everyone, regardless of
disability, is an essential aspect.”
- Tim Berners-Lee

16. It makes sense.
Standards-based
design
Accessibility

17. What accessibility is all about

18. Accessibility is…
product
the usability of a service
environment
facility
by people with the widest range of abilities
- The International Organisation for Standardisation

19. It means taking account of:
age
1.
language
Individuals of different physical ability
mental ability
level of literacy

20. It means taking account of:
2.
internal
Individuals who use app-based
different software office systems

21. It means taking account of:
desktops
3. Individuals with handheld devices
different hardware laptops
cross-network devices
telecoms equipment

22. Accessibility & Responsive design

24. Accessibility and responsive design

25. Accessibility is a solution

26. More than just technical accessibility or compliance.
Accessibility
 People

27. What it means for users with disabilities

28. Today
Pre-internet Vision-impaired couldn’t Screen readers read
read newspapers. electronic text out loud.
Motor-impaired couldn’t Assistive technologies
turn newspaper pages. adapt computer interfaces.
Deaf people can view
captioned multimedia.

30. Credit: itutelecommunication
“My quality of life has changed dramatically.
Technology is the limb I never had.” – Joanne O’Riordan

31. Credit: itutelecommunication
“Without Microsoft, Adobe and Apple in my life I would not be
doing and achieving my full potential. My life would be quite different
to what it is now.” – Joanne O’Riordan

32. People with disabilities and their spending power

33. the largest minority group in
20%
the United States
of the total population.
- Disability Funders Network

34. Globally, 1 billion people report having a disability
In the U.S., people with disabilities
control aggregate annual income of
> $1 trillion.
- Disability Funders Network

35. In 2004, 2.3 million undergrad and
grad students reported disabilities -
more than double
the 1.1 million reported in 1996.
- Disability Funders Network

36. 54 million have at least one disability
Americans
baby boomer population
+ more veterans returning from war
= double this number, in 20 years’ time
- Disability Funders Network

37. Baby Boomers account for
of all U.S. families, plus 48%
spending power of > $2 trillion.
- Chris Orestis,The Silver Tsunami White Paper

39. 21 %– 23% have highly deficient
of U.S. adults literacy skills
another have very limited
25 %– 28% literacy skills
- National Adult Literacy Survey,
(via Angela Colter in Contents, Issue No. 2)

40. of online shoppers who experience
75% sites that freeze,
sites that crash,
slow sites, and
a convoluted checkout process
would no longer buy from these sites
- Jupiter Research

41. And over in the UK,
impaired + elderly =
combined spending power of
€297 billion
- RNIB

42. 83% of disabled people “walk away”
from purchases because they
feel unwelcome, or the product
or service offering is inaccessible.
- EFD Survey

43. Tesco implemented a fully accessible version
of their online grocery store.
It cost £35,000 to develop and generates
estimated annual revenue of £1.61m
- Business Taskforce on Accessible Technology

44. What the law says

45. federal departments
and agencies { including web designers
producing work for them }
Section 508:
government-funded
projects { including any states
that choose to adopt it }
“equal or equivalent access to everyone”

46. set of international guidelines
developed by the W3C
WCAG: basis of most web accessibility laws
Version 2.0, based on POUR

47. P
erceivable Available to the senses
Operable Users can interact with all controls
Understandable Content is clear and unambiguous
Robust Wide range of technologies

48. Source: quicklycode

49. 21st Century U.S. smartphones to have accessible
Communications web browsers by 2013
and Video Smartphones to be accessible in general
Accessibility Act: Solutions must be free or of “normal cost”

50. Where others went wrong
2000
Sydney Olympic Games Organizing
Committee doesn’t provide braille
alternatives for ticketing or
souvenir programs. 2009
Arizona State University encourages
students to use electronic textbooks
2011 that are not accessible.
Walt Disney Company fails to
accommodate the needs of vision-
impaired customers across its
websites and within its theme
parks.

52. Where others got it right

53. “ We have evidence that online shoppers with
Sainsbury’s also shop in-store. If the online
experience is inaccessible or disappointing,
shoppers are very likely to move to a competitor
– as will the in-store spend.
”
- Hamish Elvidge, Director at Sainsbury’s

54. “ At Barclays, we believe that our commitment
to diversity and inclusion, backed up by a
philosophy of accessibility, it not just a
social and legal responsibility, but will be
fundamental to the performance and
competitiveness of our business in years to
come.
- John Varley, previous Barclays CEO

55. “ We believe, from our own experience, that those
organisations that signal their commitment to diversity and
inclusion, particularly through technology, are reaping
increasing commercial benefits.
They recognise that investing in accessible and usable
technology products and services, workplace environments
and facilities opens up new markets, increases productivity
and liberates talent, and enables the provision of innovative
accessible technologies based on an understanding of
individuals’ technological aspirations.
” previous Barclays CEO
- John Varley,

56. Banco Bradesco becomes 1 st bank
1998: in the world to offer online banking
for people with visual disabilities
Its internet customers grew by 12 percent
each month.

57. “ From the beginning, we said that all our to the
would be aimed at connecting everyone
actions
power of technology.
HP has made a public commitment to provide
leadership in designing accessible products and
”
services for people with disabilities.
- Hewlett-Packard

59. How accessibility increases findability

60. more often
An accessible website gets found with increased regularity
by users who get
exactly
the information
they are looking
context loyalty
to find via Search

61. But wait, there’s more.
Accessibility really does mean business.

62. Less development time
Increased usability Direct cost savings
Accessibility
means business
Wider clientele Increased findability
Optimised mobile content

63. Whose job it is

64. IA? IxD? PM? Devs? CS?
(sorry)
…it’ssaw that coming, didn’t you?)
(you
everyone’s job.

65. CS & A11y, sitting in a tree

66. “ The longest journey begins with
the shortest alt text. ”
- Jeffrey Zeldman

67. assessing
user goals

68. briefing
writers

69. testing
usability

70. change
management

71. community
management

72. How not to listen to your users… and lose business
1.

73. 2.

74. 3.

76. Accessible content tools

77. Qualitative content audit

79. Style guide

80. Style guide
Keep your writing short and scannable
Start strong
Write in the active voice
Be inclusive
Avoid abbreviations wherever possible
Use contractions sparingly
Link text must make sense out of context
Ensure all images have appropriate alt text
Use thoughtful microcopy

81. Writing checklist

83. How to spread the love

85. 1.drive it from
the top down 4.collate and
share
2.appoint an
A11y champion 5.how theyup
let them see
square
3.decision-makers
workshop with

86. If all else fails…

88. Remember. This is why.

89. “ Beautiful, meaty, lengthy, clear, accessible:
these can all exist, side by side.
It’s up to us – people who live and breathe
content, whose literacy levels are high and
whose understanding of content is nuanced
enough to know when to use what - to simply be
thoughtful enough to make it so. ”
- Sara Wachter-Boettcher
in a comment on Angela Colter’s Contents article, ‘The Audience you didn’t know you had’

90. Let a11y be
your ally

92. helps businesses reach their objectives
Accessibility helps users reach their goals

93. Thank you.
Irene Walker @1rene Confab 2012 Minneapolis

94. Recommended resources
• Developing a web accessibility business case for your organization
http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/
• Yahoo! Accessibility Library http://yaccessibilityblog.com/library/
• Web accessibility - a holistic business perspective, Ph.D
dissertation by Marie-Luise Leitner, Universität Wien
http://othes.univie.ac.at/7773/1/2009-11-30_9806366.pdf
• One Voice for Accessible ICT www.onevoiceict.org
• Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance, Jim
Thatcher et al. (Friends of Ed, 2006)