Lightning talk given at Confab Central 2014.
Figure out ways to explain accessibility work to your leadership or executive team in terms they'll understand.
The slides don't make much sense without the talk - there's a full text transcript at http://webmeadow.com/blog/archives/201405/path-accessible-content .
If you want to learn more about the business arguments for a11y, check out Karl Groves' amazing series on the topic at http://www.karlgroves.com/2011/09/22/chasing-the-accessibility-business-case-part-2/ .
1. Iâm here to talk about accessibility. In particular:
How to talk your leaderships, your executive team into
giving you a budget and a personnel commitment to make your content
accessible.
2. Youâre here at Confab, which means you already care about content.
Youâre paying attention to your content and making it
better and more relevant for your users.
3. WellâŠmost of your users.
I feel really comfortable saying that no matter who you work for, not all of
your organizationâs content is accessible.
!
Does your homepage slideshow work for people who canât see it?
4. Do your infographics have meaningful alt tags?
Howâs the help text on your form fields?
Do all your videos and podcasts have full transcripts?
Did you know that most PDFs are *profoundly* inaccessible?
5. Inaccessible content is not OK.
Between 18 and 132% of internet users have some sort of disability.
It doesnât matter what the real number is, because itâs not zero.
6. Accessibility is almost always talked about as being a technical problem -
about semantics and ARIA roles and building good HTML,
but the code is relatively easy to fix.
7. Much harder are governance and workflow issues.
Whoâs going to transcribe the video?
When does that happen in your process?
Whoâs going to proofread it?
Is there a separate field in the CMS for it?
8. Do those questions sound familiar?
Governance, workflow, CMS
Accessibility is a classic content problem.
Which means: fixing accessibility is part of your job.
9. Youâve already started this:
The copy work we do - getting rid of jargon, using language thatâs clear
and straightforward - Thatâs huge for people using the web with cognitive
disabilities.
But we need more.
10. Hereâs the deal:
Every executive team,
and each individual on that team
has a pet issue that they love.
11. Youâre going to take their pet issue, and
find a way to explain accessibility
that enhances their project.
!
I am giving you permission, and a mission, to go back to work next week
and manipulate your executive team.
12. None of of these arguments are overwhelmingly strong on their own. You
need to piggyback on something your boss already has an irrational
passion for.
!
For example: SEO!
13. Have you heard of âSEOâ?
Do you spend a lot of time talking about the Googles?
Structurally & practically:
Accessible content improves your rankings.
14. Does your company target baby boomers?
72 MILLION people
48% of American families
2 billion dollars in spending power?
Accessibility work keeps your content available to aging populations.
15. How about mobile?
Accessibility improves experience for users with low-bandwidth.
Thatâs rural, thatâs developing nations, that is every cell phone in the
Western world.
16. Are you looking for a new market?
Disabled users are a huge untapped buying force.
If yours is the only site with accessible content, you have an instant
competitive advantage.
17. Do you have a worrywart legal team?
The Americans with Disabilities Act applies to private-sector sites as well as
govât ones.
Not having an accessible site puts you at a massive risk for lawsuits.
18. If you have Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, or
if your organization leans on morals or values in any way:
Inaccessible content undermines your impact and your reputation.
19. Thereâs only real reason to have accessible content:
it is the right thing to do.
Full stop.
End of story.
20. Start to think through the projects
your leadership is really jazzed about, and
figure out where you can include accessibility work.
It will improve every project; you just need to know how to explain it.