An introduction to accessibility and things that content designers should consider

1. Accessibility for content designers
Alistair Duggin
Head of Accessibility
Government Digital Service
@dugboticus

2. What is accessibility?
Why accessibility matters
Accessible content design
How do you know if it’s accessible?
Lessons from a service
How can GDS help?

3. What is accessibility?

4. Accessibility = no barriers
The inclusive practice of removing barriers
that prevent interaction with, or access to
websites and services, by people with
disabilities.

5. Accessibility = empowerment
Accessibility means that people with disabilities
can use things independently

6. Accessibility is about people
Accessibility means
designing for the range
of abilities your audience
has

7. Accessibility means people can use
the assistive technologies they
rely on

8. Accessibility is achieved through
• content
• design
• code

9. Accessibility means ensuring that
people can successfully use a
service - regardless of impairment
or assistive technology

10. Accessibility has 4 characteristics
• Perceivable
• Operable
• Understandable
• Robust

16. GDS

18. Accessibility includes providing
alternative formats

19. Accessibility = no barriers
Assisted digital = help to use

20. Why accessibility
matters

22. This is for everyone
We build our digital service for all our citizens.
Everyone needs to be able to use them -
regardless of ability and technology used to
access them.

23. 1 in 5 people
have a disability

24. Visual impairments
2 million people in the UK have significant
sight loss
360,000 people are blind or partially sighted

25. Auditory impairments
12 million people in the UK with some kind of
hearing loss
900,000 people are severely or profoundly deaf

26. Cognitive impairments
6.4 million in the UK have dyslexia
700,000 are on the autistic spectrum

27. “1 in 6 adults struggle to read”
The Reading Agency

28. Mobility impairments
1.2 million people use a wheel chair
577,000 people receive benefits as a result of
having problems with mobility

29. Ageing population
12 million people of state pension age
The number of people aged 60 or over is
projected to rise by over 50 percent in the
next 25 years

30. 1 in 2 people will be disabled at some point
in their lifetime

31. Everyone experiences impairments
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/design/practice

32. Designing for disability benefits everyone

33. If people are excluded from digital
services they will have to use older
more expensive channels

34. Equality Act 2010
We have a legal obligation to provide
equal access to people with disabilities

35. Accessibility is
requirement to pass a
service assessment

36. Accessible content
design

37. Can everyone perceive my content?

38. Ensure text has good legibility and
readability
• size
• contrast
• line height
• line length

39. Ensure information is not
communicated by colour alone

40. Ensure instructions do not rely on
shape, colour or location

41. Provide appropriate
text alternative for
images

42. Provide transcript
and captions for
video with sound

43. Provide an audio
description for
information
communicated
visually in video

44. Can everyone operate my content?

45. Ensure link text
helps a user know
where they will be
taken

46. Ensure headings are useful and hierarchical

48. Ensure page titles
are unique and
descriptive

49. Ensure all content
and functionality is
available to a
keyboard

50. Can everyone understand my content?

51. Use plain English
and keep content
short, clear and
simple

52. Avoid jargon, metaphors,
colloquialisms and slang

53. Use contractions carefully

54. Expand the first use of an
abbreviation

55. Ensure the language of your
content provided

56. Use headings
and lists to break
content into
manageable
chunks

57. Ensure your
content is in a
logical order in
the code

58. Provide clear form labels and hints

59. Provide helpful error messages

60. Ensure tables are simple and use
the correct HTML

61. Provide a summary for complex
information such as tables and
charts

62. Consider using images and videos
to support meaning

63. Avoid PDFs whenever possible

64. Is my content robust?

65. Is the code good?
HTML - most appropriate elements
CSS - no barriers
Javascript - no barriers

66. Has your service been tested with a range of
assistive technologies?

67. Who is everyone?

68. GDS

69. Example of people with
visual impairments

70. I am colour blind and
cannot perceive the
difference between
some colours

71. I have low vision and
need to increase the
text size in my browser

72. I have low vision and
need to use a screen
magnifier to make
things bigger and
cannot read text that
has poor contrast

73. I am blind and use a
screenreader

74. I am deafblind and use
a braille device

75. Example of people with
hearing impairments

76. I am hard of hearing
and struggle to hear
most things

77. I am Deaf; British Sign
Language is my first
language and I find
English hard to read
and write
GDS

78. Example of people with
motor impairments

79. I have a mild motor
impairment so struggle
to use a mouse with
fine control

80. I have a medium
motor impairment so
have to use a keyboard
instead of a mouse

81. I have a severe motor
impairment and am
unable to use a mouse
or keyboard so use
speech recognition
software

82. Example of people with
cognitive impairments

83. I have dyslexia and struggle to process
written text

84. I am on the autistic spectrum and have
a literal understanding of text

85. I have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) and find it hard to concentrate

86. I have a learning difficulty and need thing to
be simple and easy to understand

87. I have a poor memory and I get easily confused

88. How do you know if
it’s accessible?

89. Getting an accessibility
specialist to evaluate your
service against WCAG 2.0
is an effective way to
identify accessibility barriers

91. The WebAim Checklist is
a great introduction to
WCAG 2.0
http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist

92. Include a range of
people with disabilities
in your user research,
throughout the project

93. Lessons from the
Passport Renewal
Service

98. The earlier you start considering
accessibility the easier it is

99. Join the Accessibility
Community

100. The accessibility
community is a place to
observe discussions,
ask questions, share
experiences and
establish best practice

101. The newly re-launched
accessibility blog is
also great way to find
out more about
accessibility

102. Help GDS understand
your needs?

103. What challenges do you face?

104. What support and resources
would be useful?

105. Thanks!
Alistair Duggin
Head of Accessibility
Government Digital Service
@dugboticus