Introduction:
Welcome to the latest edition of A11y (Accessibility) with Ady. I hope you enjoy it and find something useful. I’m happy to hear any feedback or thoughts or anything you would like to hear more about from the world of accessibility.
Tip of the Month:
Creating the foundation for a new product or platform generally starts with an MVP (minimum viable product). Not making the MVP accessible means it isn’t viable so, no a11y, no MVP.
No A11y No MVP
General:
On the 25th of February 2022 the IAAP (International Association of Accessibility Professionals) finally released an ‘Overlay Position Statement’. There had been quite a bit of pressure on the IAAP to take a position on this particular type of technology as members, of which I am one, had raised many concerns over allegedly false advertising and claims. As well as associations with the IAAP themselves. While many have expressed their disappointment that it does not go far enough there are a number of actions to be taken including a complaint / grievance process against members.
https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/s/overlay-position-and-recommendations
Crystal Preston-Watson’s excellent website a11ysavvy.com contains lots of interesting and thought provoking articles but the one I’m highlighting is about her thoughts on Web3 and NFTs. Talk of a decentralised internet and non-fungible tokens is new and exciting (to some) but as with all things new, is it accessible? Crystal looks into the process of creating a coinbase account, buying crypto currency and purchasing an NFT. Spoiler, there were some ‘significant’ blockers.
https://a11ysavvy.com/2022/02/13/my-thoughts-on-accessibility-of-nfts-and-web3/
I try not to overpost in these newsletters by having a couple of articles under each section but this was too good to save. Stephanie Walter’s gives us her Guide to Documenting Accessibility User Interactions article version of her talk from axe-con earlier this month. It is long but well worth the read with great examples throughout.
Compliance:
Although no longer a member of the European Union the UK joined in the worlds largest accessibility test as countries have to monitor the accessibility of their digital assets. The 23rd of December 2021 was the end of the first three year reporting period so over 800 websites and 286 mobile applications were audited. Sadly, only 4 websites and 8 applications were deemed ‘fully accessible’. Read about the trends Deque found while reviewing these reports.
https://www.deque.com/blog/eu-runs-worlds-largest-accessibility-test/
Technical:
Scott O’Hara’s blog has some great tips and this one on dynamic search results and content is no exception. Search functionality is common but it is also common for instructions not to be announced or to interrupt as inputs are typed. It is hard to strike the right balance but Scott has lots of tips and code snippets to help.
https://www.scottohara.me//blog/2022/02/05/dynamic-results.html
Language is important. In the way you use it, see it, hear it and how web pages communicate it to assistive technology. This article by Craig Abbott focuses on the language attribute and the best ways to utilise it.
https://www.craigabbott.co.uk/blog/using-the-language-attribute-to-make-your-website-accessible
Disability:
While this article might be from 2018 a lot of its content is very important and may surprise you. It certainly did me. The Overlooked History of Black Disabled People article highlights that many black historical figures do not have their disabilities mentioned. From the article;
“What do Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Mary Davidson have in common? They were all important Black historical figures who made incredible strides in our nation’s ongoing struggle for human and civil rights, and they were all disabled.”
https://rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2018/03/16/overlooked-history-black-disabled-people/
This article entitled Disability Hacktivism by Melanie Yergeau shines a light on those who’s ‘well meaning’ actions actually does more harm. She informs us that, ‘Disability activists take note: The hackathon is the new telethon.’ Using examples of real life fundraising telethons who’s methods left a lot to be desired, to telling autistic people they didn’t understand their own experiences Melanie shares examples of the “rhetoric of the telethon (fundraiser) is a rhetoric of charity and exclusion and infantilization.” (Note: I usually check sites accessibility and Wired has a couple of pop ups that may affect your reading)
http://www2.bgsu.edu/departments/english/cconline/hacking/#yergeau
Tools:
Tools come in all shapes sizes and types and visual heuristics are tools I enjoy so these posters from the United Kingdom Home Office.
https://ukhomeoffice.github.io/accessibility-posters/
We know that AI (artificial intelligence) is only as good as the information it has learned from and that it can become discriminatory easily. Peatworks have released an AI Disability Inclusion Toolkit that looks to address some of those problems through what it calls, Equitable AI Principles. A very interesting proposition.
https://www.peatworks.org/ai-disability-inclusion-toolkit/overview/