Accessibility as Innovation

Presenters

Elle Waters @Nethermind (worked at Humana)

What it takes to create an accessibility program at a large organization

Susan Moon was the one who was going to make that decision:

• Head of digital experience program at Humana
• SUSAN’S QUOTABLE QUOTE:  “Accessibility is the OXO of web design”
• This quote unlocked the possibility of doing accessibility in the enterprise.

OXO:  products are geared toward the user.

• Triggers innovation; is a catalyst for new ideas
• Prioritizes value for the user first
• Demands best efforts
• Yields extensible benefits to all users

 

Showed NASA project plan guide:  85 pages of instruction in how to write a project plan

 

What does it take to truly innovate?

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Robot Needs (http://laughingsquid.com/maslow%E2%80%99s-hierarchy-of-robot-needs/)

Hierarchy of web accessibility project needs (in reverse order)

1. a web page
2. a responsive, personalized experience
3. a world class user experience
4. a universally accessible experience

 

QUICK:  What makes the Bugatti Veyron worth 2 million bucks?

• It’s not the body, it’s the engine
• The things you don’t see are the things that count the most

Showed form error messaging detail

• Most fundamental business interaction
• Reviewed boilerplate form error messaging
• Error messaging appears at top, only showing those fields that needed to be remedied.  This helps dissipate “tab stop hell”

 

Inaccessible Map State Selector

• Thought about image map – NO, not forward-looking
• What about SVG?  Not quite there yet
• Drop-down menu (in alpha order) with submit button
• What about tab order in the map itself?  Tab-able by west coast to east coast.

 

Skip to Main Content

• Not used much because it’s not consistent
• If there are lots of repetitive links, could we use a numeric threshold to determine where the skip link would land?
• What if we put a Table of Contents (list of headings) at the top?

 

CONCLUSION

• Close your eyes
• Put down your mouse
• Imagine a well-designed web page
• Once you’ve cleared the paths, where do you want to go next?