Complementing Standards by Demonstrating Commitment and Progress—W4A 2015

Complementing Standards by Demonstrating Commitment and ProgressSarah Horton, UX Strategy LeadDavid Sloan, UX Research LeadHenny Swan, UX and Design Lead

Screenshot of compliance audit with red “Fail” notations

Common thinking that a site is or is not accessible

Accessibility compliance is a fleeting illusion—like a rainbow

What if we complement technical standards with making a commitment and demonstrating progress?

Accessibility Maturity Continuum• Identify• Prioritize• Inject• Integrate

ADA Scoping Applied to Digital• New digital resource—build accessible• Altering existing resource—fix key features• Removing existing barriers—prioritize and fix

ADA Program Applied to Existing• Get organized• Obtain resource documentation• Conduct audit• Summarize barriers and solutions• Make decisions and set priorities• Maintain documentation• Make changes• Follow up

Demonstrating commitment

Establish leadership and responsibility• Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO)• Director of User Experience/CAO• Accessibility Program Lead• Accessibility Specialist

Commitment through specification of policies and standards

Demonstrating progress

Set a baseline and track progress• Set a standard, e.g.,– Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

2.0• Define scope of applicability, e.g.,– Teaching and learning– Research– External communications and business

processes– Internal communications and business

processes

Commitment through documentation of accessibility

“Academia has Questions and Answers. Industry has Problems and Solutions.”—Paulo Urbano, IHC’14

Problems > Questions > Answers > Solutions

Thank you!@gradualclearing@sloandr@iheni