The BBC Accessibility team is responsible for training, standards, and techniques to promote accessibility, but not for making individual sites accessible. They provide training for developers and others on topics like screen readers and standards. While the team is small, they work to spread understanding of accessibility through a champions network and guidelines emphasizing understanding over strict standards. User experience design also plays a key role in accessibility.

1. Accessibility at the BBC
Ian Pouncey

2. Importance of accessibility
“At the core of the BBC’s role is something very
simple, very democratic and very important to
bring the best to everyone. Wherever you are,
whoever you are, whether you are rich or
poor, old or young, that's what we do.
Everybody deserves the best.”
Tony Hall, BBC Director General, 2013

3. Importance of accessibility
“If important bits of web pages are inaccessible
is it the case that what's behind these buttons
is now so complicated and interrelated that
even the quality of the BBC cannot make this
stuff accessible?”
Hugh Huddy,
screen reader user and former iPlayer user

4. The BBC Accessibility team
 3 people
 Responsible for:
 training
 standards and guidelines
 techniques
 framework support
 Not responsible for:
 accessibility of sites or apps

5. Training
 Accessibility for Web Developers
 Introduction to Screen Readers

6. Accessibility for Web Developers

7. Introduction to Screen Readers

8. Upcoming Training
 QA
 UX
 Product management
 Mobile application development

9. Standards and Guidelines
 Mobile Accessibility Standards and Guidelines
 HTML Accessibility Standards
 Assistive Technology Testing Guidelines

10. Mobile Accessibility Standards and
Guidelines

11. HTML Accessibility Standards

12. Assistive Technology Testing
Guidelines

13. Standards vs Guidelines
A Standard is:
 Must or Must not
 Unambiguous
 Unambiguously testable

14. Standards vs Guidelines
A Guideline is:
 Should or Should not
 Must or Must not that is:
 Open to interpretation
 Testing requires judgement

15. Anatomy of a well written standard
 Short description
 Rationale
 Examples
 Testing criteria

16. The short description
“A document must have exactly one <h1>
element.”

17. Rationale
“A logical heading structure is invaluable for
users of screen readers and similar assistive
technologies to help navigate content.
Users should be able to use the document’s
<h1> to identify its main content. Documents
should have one main subject.”

18. Examples
Pass:
<div role="main">
<h1>Main page content</h1>
</div>
Fail:
<div role="main">
<h3>Main page content</h3>
</div>

19. Tests
Procedure:
Use WAVE Toolbar or similar to generate a document
outline
Expected result:
There must be exactly one <h1>
Procedure:
Search document source for ‘</h1>’
Expected result:
There must be exactly one instance of ‘</h1>’

20. Standards vs Understanding
Understanding > Standards

21. Standards vs Understanding
Organisational awareness Understanding

22. Accessibility Champions Network
 Extends our reach
 Spreads knowledge and understanding
 Our eyes, ears, and voice in products

23. Being a champion
 Not just for developers
 Don't have to be an 'expert’
 Not responsible for accessibility
 Shares knowledge

24. Benefits of being a champion
 Additional training
 Closer contact with Accessibility team
 Work with other teams
 10% time project
 Prestige! Fame! Glory!

25. UX: roles and responsibilities
 Visual design
 Interaction design
 Simple semantics
 Markup / content order
 Hidden content

26. Design is critical

27. Beyond design and development
Product managers:
 Encourage training
 Make the accessible decision, not the easy
one
 Plan for testing with disabled users

28. Beyond design and development
Content producers:
 Understand alternatives
 Plan for audio description, subtitling, sign
language, and transcripts

29. Global Experience Language

30. Document design knowledge
 Enables design iteration
 Prevents repeated mistakes
 Encourages evidence based design
 Educates

31. Code based GEL
 Production quality code
 White labelled
 Acceptance tests included

32. The result
“This is extremely accessible with VoiceOver,
and there is plenty to indicate this is by design
rather than chance.”
Applevis
BBC Sports App review

33. Questions?
@IanPouncey
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/a
ccessibility/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/02/2
3/bbc-iplayer-accessibility-case-study/