Presentation delivered by Lisa Barnett during Ignite Session at 2012 Usability Professionals Association in Las Vegas, NV.
Topic: Leveraging an Accessibility Wake-up Call to Drive UX within an Organization
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UX & A11Y: How a Wake-up Call "Flipped it"
1. UX and A11Y:
How a wake-up call “Flipped It”
Driving UX with Accessibility
UPA 2012, Las Vegas, NV
2. Me, in a nut shell
• UX Consulting and design
• Web Accessibility Advocacy and Consulting
• UX Architect
• C.U.A. and M.F.A.
• Focus Areas: Inclusive Design, Accessibility,
Systems Approaches, UX Infrastructure
• Instituted a Web Accessibility Program at a
Fortune 100 Health Insurance Company
3. The UX Honeycomb
Usability and
accessibility are both useful
components of the usable desirable
User Experience valuable
Honeycomb* findable accessible
credible
But accessibility is
often a “nice to have.”
*attributed to Peter Morville
5. Then came a wake up call
“We need to confirm
your site meets our
federal accessibility
requirements.”
6. I’d been handed a stick
Accessibility is now
a legal requirement.
7. The honeycomb had shifted
If you can’t access it, accessible
You can’t use it.
useful
usable desirable
valuable
findable credible
8. I realized it could flip it
• UX now part of A11y
• A11y was a driver
• User-centered
standards
• Testable as
requirements
9. Mapping UX to A11Y
Inclusive Design Principles: WCAG 2.0 Guidelines:
– Equitable use – Perceivable
– Flexible in use – Operable
– Simple and intuitive – Understandable
– Perceivable info – Robust
– Tolerance for error
– Low physical effort
– Size and space for
approach and use
10. Keeping the focus on users
• Technical compliance is not enough
• Must test on real users with disabilities, using
assistive technologies
• Invite developers to watch disabled users
testing the pages
• Take stewardship of accessibility to avoid
code-centered accessibility
13. Now fix it!
•Pressure helped me
•Resources were made available
•I had authority I’d never had before!
•IT was teaching me how to write standards so
that they could interpret them
•Partnerships paid off
14. Cross-referrals
While we’re
under the
hood . . .
Photo: www.captmondo.com
15. Now, how to build these pages?
•Steep learning curve
•All team members required training, especially
developers
•UX collaborated closely with IT
•Accessible code libraries and code standards
were created
•Each consecutive site would be easier and
faster to create, and require less testing
17. No wake-up call at your company?
• Even if you’re not in a high-stakes game
with the government, this approach can
still be relevant
• There’s a big wave coming that can help
you make your case
18. Getting Started
• Socialize “Silver Tsunami” concept
– 72 Million Boomers are at or near
retirement age
– They have a lot of buying power
– Very comfortable online
– Don‘t think of themselves as disabled
– Opportunity to lay a foundation to
support these users
19. Getting Started
• Assess and scope
• Get professional help
• Talk to people who have done this before
• Get involved in the a11y community:
– Twitter: #a11y
– Web Axe blog & podcasts: webaxe.blogspot.com
– Annual CSUN Conference: www.csun.edu/cod
– AccessU: www.environmentsforhumans.com
20. Thank you!
Lisa Barnett
Lisa.barnett@cummins.com