Making Sense of Accessibility

About Adobe

 Founded in December 1982  74 Offices in 43 Countries
 $4.2 billion in revenue in FY2011  Corporate Headquarters in
San Jose, California
 More than 10,000 employees
 Adobe donates a minimum of 1%
of net income to philanthropy

We simplify complicated, inefficient, and expensive workflows.
We enable more engaging, compelling content.
We drive greater return from digital media and marketing investments.


Your Webinar Host

 Maxwell Hoffmann
 Adobe Product Evangelist, Tech Comm Suite
 Former Product Manager and Sales Training Director
for Frame Technology
 15 years in translation industry, working on
“whatever documents walked through the door”
 Trained over 1,200 people in hands-on,
scalable publishing solutions


Your Webinar Guest Speaker

 Char James-Tanny
 More than thirty years of experience in tech comm
 Frequently speaks about accessibility, Help authoring
concepts, social media, web standards
 Primary coordinator for the Boston Accessibility
Conference
 Microsoft MVP since 2002


People with disabilities constitute the
nation's largest minority group, and the
only group any of us can become a
member of at any time.

Disability Funders Network – Disability Stats
and Facts
(http://www.disabilityfunders.org/disability-stats-
and-facts)


Alex E. Proimos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/proimos/4199675334/

Myths

May Michaely. http://www.flickr.com/photos/maymichaely/3126604121/

People who are disabled don’t use
the Internet. Or work as
programmers. Or as astronomers.

Sina Bahram. Photo by
Jennison Ascuncion. Michael Francis McCarthy.
Photo by William Lawrence. http://www.flickr.com/ph
otos/sagamiono/482791
9176/.

You must create a text-only version
of your website for screen readers


Accessible websites are ugly


No, they’re not!


Sometimes they’re really cool


People who are disabled don’t play
games

Copyright 2011-2012. The AbleGamers Foundation. Used with permission.

People who are colorblind can’t see
colors

From Vision Simulator (http://webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/2.html).

It’s OK to touch a guide dog

Sini Merikallio.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smerikal
/5555789969/ Photo by
Char James-Tanny


People who can’t use a mouse or
keyboard don’t use computers.
(@SteveBuell)

Photo by Char James-Tanny.


We don’t have any disabled
customers

Glenda Watson Hyatt,
http://www.doitmyselfblog.
com/2010/the-ipad-as-an-
Photo by Char James-Tanny. affordable-communicator-
initial-review/


Accessibility is free. (@nethermind)
No, it’s really expensive. (@redcrew)

Michael Francis McCarthy. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sagamiono/4827919176/.


If the page passes an HTML
validator, it’s accessible


If the page works with a screen
reader, it’s accessible. (@SteveBuell)


Standards

CSS

HTML

Types of Disabilities

• Vision
• Hearing
• Speech
• Physical/Motor
• Learning
• Psychiatric
• Cognitive
• Intellectual

Qualifying Disabilities

 When they occur
 How they occur
 How long they last


In countries with life expectancies over 70
years of age, people spend on average
about 8 years, or 11.5 per cent of their life
span, living with disabilities.

Disabled World – World Facts and Statistics on
Disabilities and Disability Issues:
http://www.disabled-
world.com/disability/statistics/#ixzz1wM3G3pdg


Benefits of Accessible Documents
and Web Pages


“Web accessibility is not a
legal issue. It’s an equal
opportunity issue.”
Rakesh Babu, quoted in To The
Blind, The Internet Isn’t Always So
User-Friendly


Laws

kcp4911. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29712230@N08/2861478881/


Don Baird. http://www.flickr.com/photos/old-curmudgeon/2298969471/

Available Solutions

 Screen readers  Hyperlink indicators
 Zoom (magnify)  CART
 Larger fonts  Captions, transcripts,
 Color contrast audio descriptions
 “Skip” links  Plain language
 Speech recognition  Keyboard access
 Heading tags  Usability testing
(sequential)  Browser extensions /
plugins

Resources

 Visit “Bits, Bytes, and Words” at JTF
Associates for list of resources from today’s
webinar


Upcoming Adobe TechComm Webinars

 Char James-Tanny
 Part II: Creating an Accessible Layout – Tips to make documents more
accessible (structure, colors, fonts, more) (17 July, 10-11 AM PST)
 Part III: Developing Accessible Content – Tips on grammar, paragraph, and
sentence length, alternate text, and more (31 July, 10-11 AM PST)
 Getting Real: Electronic Documents for the Field, 21 June, Joe Golner
 Future of TechComm series: Designing technical documentation for
tablets
26 June, Ellis Pratt, Cherryleaf
 Content Scenarios for Exploring New Information Products, 27 June, Joe
Golner
 Find Out How to Write XSLT Statements for XML to XML Transformations
in a 5-part eSeminars Series, 28 June to 19 July, Tom Aldous


Questions and Answers


Contact Information

Information
Char James-Tanny LinkedIn charjtf
User Assistance Advocate Email char@jtfassociates.com
JTF Associates, Inc. Web www.jtfassociates.com
Twitter @charjtf / @helpstuff

Maxwell Hoffmann Blog blogs.adobe.com/techcomm
Adobe Systems, Inc. Blog blogs.adobe.com/mbhoffmann
Product Evangelist Twitter twitter.com/maxwellhoffmann
Twitter twitter.com/AdobeTCS
Email n
mhoffma @adobe.com
Web www.adobe.com
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellhoffmann
Facebook As maxwell.hoffmann1
Facebook As Adobe Technical Communication
Professionals Group

Calendar of upcoming eSeminars: http://adobe.ly/xdzOYa
Previously recorded eSeminars: http://adobe.ly/qo3pzc

Making Sense of Accessibility

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