In Real Life Archives - Page 2 of 9

Disability Independence Day

Rachele DiTullio26 July 202116 May 2023In Real Lifeaccessibility

The Disability Rights Movement in the United States is a difficult and ongoing fight. From inaccessible buses and buildings to today’s inaccessible websites, the disability community has a long legacy of protesting for equal access. On March 12, 1990, more than 1,000 disabled people gathered at the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, to advocate for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The path to reach the members of the House, where ADA legislation had stalled, was up 83 stone steps. For dozens of people with mobility impairments, this stairway exemplified the never-ending barriers that cause disability. Under the social model of disability, when people have to navigate an environment filled not only with physical barriers but social and communication barriers that limit access, this results in disability.

In a bold display, more than 60 activists left their wheelchairs and mobility devices and began making their way up those 83 stone steps; it became known as the Capitol Crawl.

A disabled man on his knees and a disabled woman scooting ascend the US Capitol steps. — Members of ADAPT during the Capitol Crawl / Photo credit: Tom Olin

The sight of people literally dragging themselves up stairs to demand equal accommodation left an indelible image on the US public and lawmakers. The Capitol Crawl is credited with being the most influential event to lead to the signing of the ADA on July 26, 1990. Today, we celebrate this landmark piece of legislation as Disability Independence Day.

Accommodations—like curb cuts, ramps and elevators—that make the environment easier for all people to navigate daily life are just some of what the ADA promises. As digital creators, we have a responsibility to extend these rights online when people use websites, kiosks and mobile applications. Since the Web was not around in 1990, it is not mentioned in the ADA, but many accessibility lawsuits have ruled that Title III of the ADA applies to digital commerce. If you want your product to be innovative and inclusive, design with disabled people in mind.

Five ways to include d/Deaf users in your designs

Rachele DiTullio7 July 202125 January 2023In Real Lifeaccessibility, d/deaf, deaf, iot

More than one in twenty people—an estimated 430 million people—experience disabling hearing loss according to the World Health Organization’s 2021 fact sheet on deafness and hearing loss. Some are functionally deaf, having little to no hearing. Others are culturally Deaf with a preference for communicating with sign language. A lack of public awareness and familiarity with d/Deaf people’s needs is still common, which can lead to oversights in the designs of smart devices, web content, mobile apps and communication styles. Let’s look at five ways that we can improve online experiences for d/Deaf users.

a small smart speaker lit up to indicate its listening

1. Include visual indicators of audio cues

If your presentation or device relies on sound alone, that isolates and potentially endangers functionally deaf users. Provide visual indicators in addition to audio cues to lessen any confusion for people who can’t hear errors or successes in a process. You also need to provide a visual indicator for each audio cue in the context of what triggered it. If you don’t, users might not know what the visual indicator refers to.

The Internet of things

Smart devices like talking speakers promise to make our lives easier, but their very nature excludes d/Deaf users who can’t hear those devices or communicate in ways that those devices understand. A talking speaker without a visual display poses an accessibility barrier. Some device makers offer add-on products that have screens, captioning, and access to common actions, but those don’t offer equivalent experiences yet. Researchers have identified several gaps in home automation for d/Deaf users [PDF] with appliances that rely on sounds.

2. Provide text equivalents of audio content

Any communication that contains sound, such as streaming video and audio materials, needs to include visual equivalents. That includes transcripts for podcasts and accurate subtitles for all videos. Beyond word-for-word captioning, you should also indicate who’s speaking as well as any important sounds, like a doorbell ringing or a window breaking. Tag your accessible videos with #captioned.

Video conferencing

The pandemic thrust us into endless video calls, a communication style that d/Deaf people can find challenging when there are many speakers. Enabling auto-captioning can make these conversations more accessible than they would be otherwise. Meryl Evans, who uses lipreading in combination with captions, recommends considering these features when selecting an auto-captioning tool:

Readability of captions: formatting size, color and scrolling
Caption placement
Accuracy of captions
Synchronization options
Caption flow and movement
Support for saving transcripts

Auto-captioning in use during a webinar. The presenter's slide is about a bird called a grackle and how it relates to some software. The speaker's words are not accuratley captured by the auro-captioning though. — Figure 1: Auto-captioning during a live webinar. It’s not always great.

Automatic captions are not perfect—do not rely on them when posting pre-recorded video—but they are a useful accessibility tool for video calls. If possible, clean up captions before posting webinar and conference recordings.

3. Provide sign language

Providing sign language interpretation and captions for content can help deaf sign language users—especially for online webinars and conferences. More and more people are consuming video content in sign languages and more people are creating their own signing videos to communicate online. Keep in mind that sign languages vary across the globe; know your audience and adapt which sign language is used in your videos.

'Let it Go' from Frozen performed with sign language — Figure 2: Screen shot from a video in which the music ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen is performed with sign language.

Video chat

Providing video options in chat apps is crucial for including deaf sign-language users. A Deaf American Sign Language instructor I had emphasized how video-phone technology on devices like smartphones has dramatically improved sign language users’ ability to communicate easily with each other, compared to using relay services and text-telephone devices.

4. Write with d/Deaf people in mind

If you’re interested in creating better written content for d/Deaf users, read Deafness and the User Experience by Lisa Herrod. Her guidelines when writing for the web include:

Use headings and subheadings
Use plain language whenever possible
Avoid unnecessary jargon and slang
Provide a glossary of specialized vocabulary
Write clearly and concisely to help readers avoid misinterpreting what you’ve written, which will help all people readers, not just those with disabilities

5. Test designs with d/Deaf people

There’s a saying in the disability rights movement: “Nothing about us without us”. In essence we cannot build systems for people with specific needs without involving them in the process. We might know all the right success criteria to meet, have confidence in our transcripts and captions, yet we are not our representative users. It’s essential to get feedback from d/Deaf people during usability testing of wireframes and prototypes, before going live with designs that might be excluding them.

Conclusion

Understanding d/Deaf users’ needs is crucial for creating systems that allow fair and equal access. When designers and developers consider these needs, it helps teams build systems that go beyond a reliance on sound to include d/Deaf people.

Web Accessibility Specialist Certification

Rachele DiTullio26 March 201912 July 2021In Real Lifeaccessibility

I’m not new to accessibility (a11y) but because it is not the focus of my job, I’ve had to do a lot of self-study to gain enough experience to consider myself proficient. Through the process of studying for this exam (and applying for a job along the way), I think I have finally found my passion.

I work in the United States for a large Canadian company in Ontario that is under pressure to comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). It requires that websites updated since 2014 conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level A. Level AA is required by January, 2021.

At last year’s AccessU accessibility conference in Austin, Texas, I learned about the International Association for Accessibility Professionals (IAAP):

IAAP is a not-for-profit membership-based organization for individuals and organizations that are focused on accessibility or are in the process of building their accessibility skills and strategies. The objective of this association is to help accessibility professionals develop and advance their careers and to help organizations integrate accessibility into their products and infrastructure. The IAAP will provide a place for accessibility professionals around the world to gather, share experiences and enrich their knowledge of accessibility.

I heard they had a few certifications and I thought that would be a great way to test myself and perhaps come out with a credential that will help me in the future. The Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) credential is where I started.

What is the WAS credential?

The Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) credential is a technical-level credential for people who have hands-on experience with web technologies and accessibility. The exam assesses one’s web accessibility competence and takers are expected to know and use relevant technologies in a hands-on way, not just know about them. Per the IAAP, it’s ideal for intermediate level professionals (3-5 years’ experience) who have worked with WCAG 2.0 in context.

What is the WAS exam?

The WAS exam consists of 75 multiple choice questions with four options in the following content areas:

Create accessible web content – 40%
Identify accessibility issues – 40%
Remediate accessibility issues – 20%

The exam is pass/fail and administered by a testing service either remotely or in-person. I took it at a local testing center because I was worried about all the things that could go wrong remotely.

The exam is administered during a testing window for scoring purposes.

Preparing for the WAS exam

I reviewed the comprehensive WAS body of knowledge document which is a 20+ page overview of everything that could show up on the exam, from WCAG success criteria to testing with assistive technologies to recommending techniques for fixing issues. It’s a lot of stuff and honestly, I was pretty worried since I don’t work a job where I do accessibility evaluations every day.

I decided to study by going through a WAS exam preparation course offered by Deque University. I gave myself four weeks to prepare. My strategy was to cover about one content area per work day leading up to the exam. I took longer with those areas I had less experience in, such as ARIA widgets. I highly recommend this course and think it covered all the necessary subject matter.

My one piece of advice is to really practice using a screen reader and learn the common commands as two questions on my exam related specifically to hotkeys.

After the exam

They evaluate all candidates’ responses during the testing window and utilize a modified Angoff methodology and cut rate score exercise. Because of this, it takes a few weeks to find out if you pass. IAAP does not issue percentage scores or provide feedback on specific responses.

Three weeks after I took the exam, I got an email from the IAAP.

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you have passed IAAP – Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) examination. Your hard work, study, and perseverance helped you achieve a significant goal – recognition of your skills and knowledge as a web accessibility specialist.

Per the email, just over 250 people have been WAS certified since the exam started in 2017.

So what now? I am really happy to have this certification and I know that going through this studying and exam process did a lot to get me used to looking for accessibility issues and communicating to developers how to fix them. I think this is a great exercise for anyone who wants a career in web accessibility.