Ian Pouncey

Accessibility is a human right

I’d like to add my own thoughts to those expressed by Vlad Alexander’s excellent article Is Web accessibility a human right?.

This is a subject I feel strongly about. A sense of morality is all that I think should be required to find the motivation to make accessible websites, the legal argument means little to me.

I his article Vlad mentions specific parts of the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which I will expand upon, but let’s start with Articles 1, 2 and 6:

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Article 6

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

From this we see that human rights respect the dignity of the individual and have no limits or distinctions, and apply to everyone regardless of their status.

Next, let’s look at the three points mentioned in Vlad’s article, the right to choose where we work, the right to access education, and the right to participate in culture.

Article 23.

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

Article 26.

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

Article 27.

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

I think that is safe to say that an accessible web is necessary to meet all of these goals in 21st century Britain, and much of the rest of the world. Article 27 elegantly does away with the argument that only commercial sites are required to be accessible.

Now, I suspect I’m starting sound rather militant about web accessibility which may seem at odds with some of the points I made in my post about Web accessibility myths, particularly Content that isn’t 100% accessible shouldn’t be published.I strongly believe that all content on the web should be accessible to all who want to access it, but I’m also a pragmatic sort of person who thinks that one of the strengths of the web, and reasons for its success, is that it is an easy platform to publish to.

I would not want to discourage a single person from publishing online, or requiring extensive knowledge of the arcane discipline of web accessibility before they do, but at the same time it is imperative that those of us who call ourselves web developers or web designers as well as the suppliers of content authoring tools do our utmost to educate others and develop responsibly.

It isn’t just the law, it is far more important than that. It is a moral obligation.

Speaking out - public speaking made easy

Last night I attended Speaking out - public speaking made easy organised by Laura North and Christian Heilmann with David Bell, Katie Streten and Christian speaking. Here are my notes.

David Bell (Merrill Lynch) - Focus on presentation styles and contexts

• Contexts - style and delivery vary according to type of meeting (small, large, conference) and your role within it (pitching ideas, asking questions).
• Preparation - the key to being relaxes is to be prepared, focussing on:
  • who your audience is
  • message you want to deliver
  • materials - appropriate slides
  • objective - what is the purpose of the meeting / presentation
• Style - presentation style determined by:
  • presenters personality
  • audience
  • subject
• Summary
  • connecting with audience is vital
  • preparation is the key to being relaxed
  • be selective with your material - think big picture
  • your style will develop over time and comes with practice
  • presentations are performances - sometimes they go better than others
  • everyone gets nervous - you aren’t the only one

Katie Streten (Imagination) - Reasons not to like public speaking, and some suggestions for dealing with them

• Reason 1 - no one will be interested in what I have to say
  • they are there
  • you have been asked to speak
  • think what you can give them
• Reason 2 - I will go blank
  • prepare - write script long hand
  • read it to people are yourself
  • write card notes
  • highlight key moments
  • don’t practice too much
• Reason 3 - I’m afraid that everyone will find out that I’m a fraud
  • you’ve been asked to speak
  • everyone thinks this
• Reason 4 - I will look out over the crowd and freeze
  • don’t look at the crown, pick 3 spots to look at
  • place a friend at the back to smile at you
  • they are more interested in the talk than in you
• Reason 5 - I will lose my place and stall
  • use card notes
  • practice
  • audience are on your side
  • ‘fess up
• Reason 6 - I will ask something that everyone else understands
  • most other people are thinking the same thing
  • that’s their problem
  • you are helping someone in the audience
• Reason 7 - It feels artificial, it should feel like a conversation
  • audience hates it to
  • say ‘Hello’
  • move your arms at waist height
  • don’t have a rigid script
• Powerpoint
  • bullet points
  • pictures
• Conclusion
  • people genuinely want to hear what you have to say
  • think about your audience - what can you give them?
  • if all else fails.. try and remember the detail of 1 speech you have heard in your life - no-one can

Christian Heilmann (Yahoo!) - How to inspire as a speaker

Chris has written his own post on the event, which includes a link to his slide deck and video of his presentation.

• Have a different point of view
• Find the story that makes the difference
• Audience and information are more important than the speaker
• Knowing what the audience needs is the most important part of the presentation
• Having the right mindset is important - you have nothing to lose
• How do you get this mindset?
  • know your subject
  • own your talk
  • practice
• Practice by:
  • loud reading in different character voices
  • listening to audio books
  • listen to yourself
  • Powerpoint Karaoke
  • lightning talks
• Get inspired by good examples
• Thinks to avoid
  • imitation
  • reading your slides
  • forgetting the story
  • blinging it up

APIs and accessibility

While there are many things that developers can do to make web applications accessible it remains true that it is near impossible to cater for the needs of all users all of the time. There are simply too many requirements to try and meet, and time pressures alone mean that your application will not be able to deal with them all.

For example, the majority of users of a site like YouTube will benefit from a clean and simple interface, with subtle use of colour which does not distract from the video being played. They may like to have other videos recommended for them to watch. Users with learning difficulties however may benefit from large buttons with strong colours so that they can easily differentiate between them; recommended videos may be an unwanted distraction.

Of course YouTube could provide two different interfaces, but would then also need to design a mechanism to switch between them and from the requirements we have already defined this may necessitate a large colourful button on a clean interface, which somewhat ruins the user experience. And this is just one extra version, it may also need to create a version for low vision users (perhaps a high contrast version), deaf users (more space dedicated to captions), motor control impaired users (larger buttons), and many more. This is not maintainable for most companies, no matter how large.

By offering an Application Programming Interface, usually referred to as an API, which allows access to content and interactions other developers can create their own interfaces catering to a specific need.

One of the best known examples of this in the accessibility world is the work that Antonia Hyde and Christian Heilmann did on Easy YouTube.

Easy YouTube is an interface to YouTube aimed at users with learning difficulties. It has large and colourful buttons, clearly explained controls and an intuitive interface which makes it easy for users to either watch a specific video or search for new videos.

YouTube and Easy YouTube player is a great video demonstrating the difference that an interface designed for a users specific needs can make.

This wouldn’t have been possible had YouTube not provided a method for accessing and interacting with their content, so the next time you are working on a new web app give some thought to providing an API.