Live. Learn. Access Intro to Accessibility

What is accessibility? Why is important? How designers should approach it?

What is accessibility?

Accessibility refers to the “ability to access” to any product, device, service, or environment by everyone

Universal Design aka Inclusive Design Refers to designing a product that’s usable by everyone.

Here’s an open secret… Everyone benefits when things are designed accessibly.

The Persona Spectrum

Permanent Temporary Wheelchair Leg injury Situational Travelling

But what happens online?

EXCUSE “People with disabilities don’t really use the web”

253 7.6 M Live with vision impairment BILLION 15% World Population 3.8 ? Live with some form of disability 36 M Are blind 275 M BILLION Are deaf or Hard of Hearing Global Internet Usage (~40%) Stats: World Health Organisation Report

Our audience is often more diverse than we imagine.

Web Accessibility means creating digital products that are available to as many people as possible everyone.

Empathy enable us to design more kindly.

Cerebral Palsy Asperger’s Blindness Low Vision Acoustic trauma Essential Tremor Astigmatism Global Developmental Delay Glaucoma Colour-Blindness Arthritis Autism Presbycusis ADHD Presbycusis Cataracts Hard of Hearing (HoH) Spina Bifida Muscular Dystrophy Dyslexia Alzheimer’s Deafness Otosclerosis Acoustic trauma Parkinsons Down’s Syndrome Multiple Sclerosis Myopia Albinism Obstructed Vision Dyspraxia Epilepsy Visual agnosia Dyscalculia Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)

Visual Auditory Blindness, Low Vision, Colour Blindness, Cataracts, Deafness, Hard of Hearing (HoH), Presbycusis, Glaucoma, Myopia, Astigmatism, Albinism, Visual Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), Acoustic Agnosia, Obstructed Vision (tunnel, patchy, warped) Trauma, Otosclerosis… GOAL GOAL Make it easy to read Make it easy to hear Motor Cognitive Arthritis, Spina Bifida, Cerebral Palsy, Dyspraxia, Down’s Syndrome, Asperger’s, ADHD, Autism, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Parkinson’s… Essential Tremor, Dyslexia, Global Developmental Delay, Dyscalculia, Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s… GOAL GOAL Make it easy to interact Make it easy to understand

Visual

Colour blindness is one of the most common vision deficiencies. It affects about 4.5% of the world’s entire population

Do not depend on colour.

provide high contrast

Ensure sufficient contrast between text and its background. According to WCAG the contrast ratio between text and a text’s background Contrast Ratio: 4.23:1 WCAG AA: Fail WCAG AAA: Fail should be at least 4.5:1 Contrast Ratio: 8.81:1 WCAG AA: Pass WCAG AAA: Pass

Screen Reader: Google Weather Munich Tuesday Image 22° 10°

Screen Reader: Google Weather Munich Friday Scattered Showers 22° <img src=“rain_cloudy.png” alt=“Scattered Showers” /> 10°

Auditory

Motor

The Switch / Clicker

In memoriam Stephen Hawking

  1. Make your interface keyboard accessible. 2. Place key information, buttons and links “above the fold” 3. Use a large text size as default. body: 17px
  2. Avoid time limits.

Cognitive

Animations are fun, but not for everyone

By applying those principles we are not only improving the experience to the people with disabilities but to everyone.

To conclude… • Everyone benefits when things are designed accessibly. • Not all disabilities are permanent: The Persona Spectrum • Designers can must use certain principles to improve accessibility in digital products.

“ ” “The power of the web is in its universality”. — Tim Berners-Lee Director of W3C and inventor of the World Wide Web.

Live. Learn. Access Intro to Accessibility

Global Accessibility Awareness Day May 17th, 2018