How to Improve Accessibility for Users with Anxiety

1. How to Improve Accessibility for Users with Anxiety Presented By: Marty Strauss CSUN 2019 Assistive Technology Conference March 13, 2019

2. Here’s what you can expect to hear • Introductions • What is an anxiety disorder? • Anxiety and the web • Principles to lean on • Looking ahead • Staying on course • Looking back • Potential areas of conflict • A positive example! • Q & A levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

3. A brief introduction • Accessibility Analyst at Level Access • Living with OCD levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

4. What is an anxiety disorder? • General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) • Characterized by “persistent and excessive worry” • People “may anticipate disaster” • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) • A wide range of different obsessions and compulsions • Obsessive worrying and uncertainty • Compulsive repetitive checking levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

5. What is an anxiety disorder? (cont.) • Other types of disorders exist as well, such as: • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • Social Phobia • Panic Disorder • All of these disorders exist on a spectrum • There are no guaranteed-to-be-accessible solutions! levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

6. Anxiety and the web • Potential for disaster • Money • Work • Health • Social interactions levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

7. Principles to lean on • Set up expectations unambiguously • Follow through on promises and avoid unexpected deviations • Let users review what has occurred and confirm as needed levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

8. Principles to lean on (cont.) • Drawing from: • WCAG 2.1 A & AA success criteria • WCAG 2.1 AAA success criteria • Additional ideas levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

9. Looking ahead Setting up unambiguous expectations • Provide clear instructions (WCAG 3.3.2) • Clarify jargon and abbreviations (WCAG 3.1.3, 3.1.4) • Set as many expectations as you can! • Number of pages in a multi-page form • Upcoming opportunities for review • How much time a user will have (WCAG 2.2.6) • Where to find additional help levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

10. Staying on course Following through – and avoiding the unexpected • Keep navigation and controls consistent (WCAG 3.2.3, 3.2.4) • Avoid unexpected context changes on focus or input (WCAG 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.5) • Provide help! (WCAG 3.3.5) levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

11. Staying on course (cont.) Following through – and avoiding the unexpected • Avoid unnecessary distractions, such as: • Automatically-playing audio (WCAG 1.4.2) • Automatically-playing animations or slides (WCAG 2.2.2, 2.2.3) • Flashes (WCAG 2.3.1/2.3.2) • Unexpected timeouts (WCAG 2.2.1) • Other interruptions (WCAG 2.2.4) • Consider expandable sections to minimize stimuli • If deviations are necessary, ask for confirmation first levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

12. Looking back Letting users double-check • Keep users informed of progress (WCAG 2.4.8) • Let users save work and return to previous sections • If work cannot be saved, let users know before they exit • Prevent errors by ensuring that submissions will be reversible, checked for errors, or confirmable and correctable (WCAG 3.3.4/3.3.6) • Provide a clear confirmation of success • If users will receive other forms of confirmation (such as a follow-up email), let them know what to expect and how soon levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

13. Potential conflicts • Most guidelines discussed overlap with the needs of other users • However, some conflicts might occur: • Overly detailed instructions • Too many confirmation pages/dialogs • Let users choose! • Tooltips • Expandable sections • Bypass blocks levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

14. A positive example: Turo.com • Car sharing marketplace/rental service • “Airbnb for cars” levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

15. A positive example: Turo.com (2) • The user is explicitly told that they do not need to worry about being charged when clicking to continue levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

16. A positive example: Turo.com (3) • Checkout process has expandable sections to let the user process information at their own pace levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

17. A positive example: Turo.com (4) • Clear cost breakdown • Tooltips provided to eliminate ambiguity about fee purposes levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

18. In conclusion Let me just check to make sure I’ve said everything… • 18% of the American population lives with some type of an anxiety disorder • With thoughtful design, you can make the web a less scary place! • But these are only a few of my ideas... • What do you think? levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com

19. Thank You! Speaker Contact Information: Marty Strauss marty.strauss@levelaccess.com Level Access Contact Information:​ info.levelaccess.com (800) 889-9659 ​ ​ Follow Us @LevelAccessA11y linkedin.com/company/level-access​ facebook.com/LevelAccessA11y/ levelaccess.com/blog/ Slides available for download March 15th at: www.levelaccess.com/CSUN2019

20. Questions?

21. References • ADAA - Generalized Anxiety Disorder • ADAA - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder • ADAA - Statistics levelaccess.com |(800) 899-9659 | info@levelaccess.com