Creating a Culture of Accessibility: Overcoming Obstacles

1. Creating a Culture of Accessibility: Overcoming Obstacles May 16, 2019

2. Speaker Intro: Matt Robinson, Ed.S., CPACC Accessibility Manager, Pearson VUE Anthony Fernando, CPACC, WAS, CPWA Accessibility QA Manager, Assessments

3. Common Accessibility Obstacles

4. Agenda: Logical Arguments Develop Relationships Across Your Organization Leveraging Relationships to Solve Organizational Problems Changing the Organizational Culture Summary Q&A

5. Approaches to Overcoming Common Obstacles: Logical Arguments

6. Image by Mansour Bethone - Pearson The Legal Argument What is the legal argument for accessibility? What are the benefits of using this argument? What are the drawbacks?

7. The Legal Argument for Accessibility Americans with Disabilities Act Signed in 1990 by George H. Bush Prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, government agencies, public building, transportation and telecommunications Rehabilitation Act (Section 508) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act International Disability Laws/Regulations Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (1.0, 2.0, 2.1)

8. The Legal Argument for Accessibility Americans with Disabilities Act Rehabilitation Act (Section 508) 1973 Civil rights law Prohibits discrimination against any qualified individual with a disability in federally funded programs 1998 amendment significantly expanded and strengthened access to electronic and information technology provided by the Federal Government Refresh in 2017 requires that programs and activities funded by the federal government be accessible Individuals with Disabilities Education Act International Disability Laws/Regulations Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (1.0, 2.0, 2.1)

9. The Legal Argument for Accessibility Americans with Disabilities Act Rehabilitation Act (Section 508) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act First passed in 1975 (Originally “Education for All Handicapped Children Act”) Schools must find and evaluate children suspected of having a disability FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) regardless of one’s disability 1997 Reauthorization requires that assistive technology is considered for each student in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) International Disability Laws/Regulations Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (1.0, 2.0, 2.1)

10. The Legal Argument for Accessibility Americans with Disabilities Act Rehabilitation Act (Section 508) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act International Disability Laws/Regulations Civil Rights Laws: Equality Act (UK), Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act -AODA (Canada), Law to Promote the Elimination of Discrimination Based on Disability (Japan) Procurement Laws: EN 301 549 (Europe) Technology and Domain Specific Laws: Web Standards for the Government of Canada Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-1.0, 2.0, 2.1)

11. The Legal Argument for Accessibility Americans with Disabilities Act Rehabilitation Act (Section 508) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act International Disability Laws/Regulations Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-1.0, 2.0, 2.1) Increasingly international disability laws pertaining to accessibility point to WCAG

12. Failing to consider accessibility puts your organization at legal risk.

13. Benefits/Drawbacks of the Legal Argument for Accessibility Benefit: Legal obligations and threats of lawsuits frequently motivates organizations to improve the accessibility of their products/services accessible. Sets the standard for organizations to ensure access to products/services Drawbacks: Fear of legal threat alone is not a good long-term motivator It frequently pinpoints one aspect of accessibility in an organization Other motivations/factors are needed in order to make accessibility part of the culture in your organization

14. Image by LuYi - Pearson The Financial Argument What is the financial argument for accessibility? What are the benefits of using this argument? What are the drawbacks?

15. The Financial Argument for Accessibility Embedding accessibility into your product/service development cycles is considerably less expensive than retrofitting accessibility at the end of development Embedding accessibility into your product/service development cycles is considerably less expensive than attempting to legally defend inaccessible products or services Embedding accessibility into your product/service development cycles increases your customer base and improves the quality of the product

16. The Financial Argument for Accessibility Embedding accessibility into your product/service development cycles is considerably less expensive than retrofitting accessibility at the end of development

17. The Financial Argument for Accessibility Embedding accessibility into your product/service development cycles is considerably less expensive than attempting to legally defend inaccessible products or services

18. The Financial Argument for Accessibility Embedding accessibility it your product/service development cycles increases your customer base and improves the quality of the product The total after-tax disposable income for working-age people with disabilities is about $490 billion *Yin, Michelle “A Hidden Market: The Purchasing Power of Working-Age Adults with Disabilities” April 2018

19. Failing to consider accessibility throughout the development cycle puts your organization at risk for lost revenue.

20. Benefits/Drawbacks of the Legal Argument for Accessibility Benefit: Organizations may become motivated to consider accessibility when they see the impact on the bottom line of the company. Drawbacks: Other motivations/factors are needed in order to make accessibility part of the culture in your organization Organizations may overemphasize common myths of accessibility to downplay the potential impacts to revenue.

21. Image Credits: http://thegolfclub.info Myths of Accessibility

22. A=Q The Quality Argument Support for low literacy levels. Helps SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Available for multiple formats or devices. Increase support for Internationalization. Assisting access for low-bandwidth users. Reduce site maintenance. Address server-load and bandwidth. Improve usability for all visitors. It’s the right thing to do!

23. Approaches to Overcoming Common Obstacles: Develop Relationships Across Your Organization

24. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” -African Proverb

25. Photo Credit: Flickr: Carol Jacobs-Carre Breaking Down Silos

26. Image Credits: Patrice Jones - Pearson Develop and Promote Accessibility Stories

27. Image Credits: Danilo Victoriano - Pearson General Accessibility Stories

28. Image Credits: Todd Rose - The End of Average General Accessibility Story: The Case for Accessibility

29. Image Credits: Flickr - Alan Wilson General Accessibility Story: The Case for Accessibility

30. “Any system designed around the average person is doomed to fail” -Lieutenant Gilbert S. Daniels

31. Image Credits: Flickr - Stick Kim General Accessibility Story: The Case for Accessibility

32. You cannot have a quality product without having an accessible product.

33. Approaches to Overcoming Common Obstacles: Leveraging Relationships to Solve Organizational Problems

34. Image Credits: Sue Barr - Pearson Identify Accessibility Issues and Provide Solutions

35. Image Credits: Bridge International - Pearson Potential solutions Technical recommendations Provide code samples Test their work Help them with Assistive Technology Provide demand trainings

36. Image Credits: NASA goddard space center Build Your Reputation In a typical organization there are plenty of opportunities for you to conduct a presentation or create awareness. Organize a tech talk that interest someone Share new knowledge that you gather Do a pocket discussion with small teams Do a voluntary review of a prototype and provide feedback.

37. Image Credits: http://401kcalculator.org Assist Departments in Calculating the Cost of Accessibility and Inaccessibility

38. Approaches to Overcoming Common Obstacles: Changing the Organizational Culture

39. Image Credits: Flickr- Nicola Centenaro The 1st New Ideas Often Be Attacked

40. Hire People with Disabilities Here is my personal experience of hiring people with disability.

41. Image Credits: LuYi - Pearson Provide Direct Assistance Change the Dev and QA mindset about a11y Get involved early Follow-up 100% Accessible Releases Be flexible

42. Image Credits: Ioannis D. Giannakopoulos Shared Service/Deputy Model Centralized Model Decentralize Model More accountability at the team level Typically a QA Engineer should play this role Needs to go through initial training Should not be overwhelmed

43. Keep Moving Forward

44. Q/A

46. References Slides 7-9: Spradlin, Levon - Pearson VUE Slides 7-11: Deque University: IAAP CPACC Certification Preparation Course Slide 16: Bailey, Bonnie: What Does It Really Cost to Fix a Software Defect? Slide 18: Yin, Michelle “A Hidden Market: The Purchasing Power of Working-Age Adults with Disabilities” April 2018 Slide 27: Rose, Todd “The End of Average” Slide 31: Karl Groves Blog “You don’t have accessibility problems, you have quality problems.” Slide 40: Katrina Aaslaid “50 Examples of Corporations that Failed to Innovate”