Navigating Accessibility and Compliance

March 6, 2024

Meet the Panelists

Alaina Beaver, ServiceNow

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Adrian Casas, Miro

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Keith Wessel, University of Illinois

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Terrill Thompson, University of Washington

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Why accessibility? The Student Perspective

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• Why this matters: people like Keith
• Earned two degrees in CS from U. of Illinois
• Faculty often weren’t sure what to do with me
• Often heard stories about the last blind student from 20 years prior
• Illinois was a pioneer in accessibility
• But a blind student in the college of engineering?

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Why accessibility? Challenges and solutions

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• Labs didn’t have assistive tech
• Text books could be brailled
• But math and science texts could not
• Worked through nearly all courses with volunteer readers
• Many faculty members rose to the occasion to accommodate
• OCR was in the early days
• It took a lot of creative problem solving

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Why accessibility? New technology, new challenges

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• The more things change…
• Textbooks are now electronic
• Braille math and science is easier to produce
• Course work is on-line
• Great when it’s built to be accessible
• Not so great when it isn’t
• Many creative things can be built in a web browser
• But are they built with assistive tech in mind?

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Accessibility today at Illinois

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• More students with disabilities in STEM
• More awareness among faculty and developers
• More guidelines in place
• Accessibility reviews are part of the purchasing process
• Reviewed by the TARC: technology access review committee
• If not accessible, must submit an alternative access plan

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Higher Education: How we approach digital accessibility

• An expressed value: People with disabilities should have access to the same services and content that are available to people without disabilities. [Applies to students, employees, and visitors]
• Disability services offices provide accommodations if needed.
• Inefficient, causes delays for the user (which can be critical)
• Usually not equivalent
• Most accommodations for digital accessibility would not be needed if digital products were built to be accessible.

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Higher Education: Laws, policies, and standards

• Federal civil rights law requires our programs and services to be accessible (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Americans with Disabilities Act)
• State or institutional policy may have additional requirements
• For the UW: Washington State Policy #188 requires all IT in state agencies to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA
• WCAG = W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• Our expectation: Our vendors must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA

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Proposed new digital accessibility rules for ADA�

• Notice of Public Rulemaking (2023)
• U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) published an NPRM and solicited public comment
• Proposed final regs were sent to the Office of Management and Budget in January
• New regs could be published as early as April. Proposed regs included:
• Adoption of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as the technical standard (2.1 or 2.2, Level AA)
• A timeline of two years after the final rule ​for most covered entities to comply
• Covered entities are responsible for accessibility of third-party content if it provides an essential service or resource
• These changes are being taken seriously by higher education leadership.

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Accessibility in Procurement at the UW

• The UW Terms of Service includes an IT Accessibility Rider
• IT vendors are expected to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA
• We ask for documentation of their current state (e.g., an Accessibility Conformance Report or VPAT)
• If they currently fall short, they are expected to have a roadmap
• UW-IT Accessible Technology Services is happy to collaborate with our vendors to help them improve their accessibility.
• Active collaborations with about 30 vendors per year, such as:
• Canvas, ServiceNow, Zoom

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Internet2: What is the NET+ Cloud Services Program?

A partnership to provide a portfolio of solutions for Internet2 member organizations that are cost-effective, easy to access, simple to administer, and tailored to the unique, shared needs of the community:�

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Internet2: Key Elements of a NET+ Cloud Service

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the online visual collaboration and innovation platform

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Miro Overview

What is Miro?

Miro is a digital workspace and collaboration platform for continuous innovation and learning. Miro serves more than 60 million users worldwide, including 99% of the Fortune 100.

Typical Workflows

• Students and educators from 5,000+ universities and schools use Miro (4.5 million users)
• 200+ education specific templates
• Prepares students for the workforce

Miro in higher education

Staff

• Strategy development
• Process mapping
• Research synthesis
• Onboarding & offboarding
• Product & service development

Educators & Students

• Curriculum planning
• Create & present lectures
• Classroom collaboration
• Group projects
• Student assignments

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Accessibility at Miro

Our Commitment to Accessibility

We understand that teams include people of different backgrounds, experiences, and access needs — so we strive to give everyone an opportunity to collaborate.

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We recognize that our product is complex and the road to accessibility is a long journey.

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We're committed to delivering incremental improvements to our users over time and will be communicating changes once they’re ready. You can stay up to date with our product updates in the Accessibility changelog.

Miro’s Accessibility Statement

• Dedicated accessibility team and published ACR/VPAT
• Human-centered design approach, which is challenging with an infinite, digital whiteboard
• Preventing actual accessibility issues is Miro’s primary focus
• Miro’s policy integrates accessibility into the product development lifecycle (design, build, testing), with emphasis on education, training, and user research

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Net+ Service Evaluation

Background

• Miro began its Net+ service evaluation back in 2021
• There was an emphasis on functional & technical requirements, as well as accessibility

Working with the Community

Positive Outcomes

• Better understanding of community & end user requirements
• Continued alignment to Miro’s human-centered design
• Strengthened the case for Miro’s continued investment in accessibility

• Collaborative approach with community members
• Miro’s accessibility team was directly involved
• Focused on requirements and feedback/experiences with testing Miro

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Features and Resources

Accessibility Resources

• Accessibility center
• Miro’s ACR/VPAT
• Accessibility survey
• Miro’s eBook: 10 principles for Inclusive Collaboration

• Keyboard navigation support, including linear, spatial, and hierarchical navigation modes
• Support for assistive technologies by providing labels, descriptions, and actions for objects
• Reduced motion setting
• Board background color and color labels
• Command palette
• Closed captioning for Talktrack
• Alt-text descriptions for images
• Investments into stability and observability of accessibility related features

Learning & More

• Compliance at Miro
• Internet2 Net+ <> Miro
• Getting started with Miro (video)
• Miro Academy
• Miro AI (BETA) & Talktrack

Accessibility Inquiries

Contact accessibility@miro.com

�Interested in Miro for your institution? �Contact Meredith@miro.com to learn more about the exclusive Net+ Miro offer

Features

Links and Resources

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Internet2: NET+ Service Advisory Board

• Provide the Internet2 community a voice to provide input to Service Providers and continue to evolve the NET+ offering to meet the needs of the community
• Help build and expand a higher ed community that effectively shares solutions and use cases
• Continue to advise on the contractual relationship between Service Provider and Internet2
• Help drive the use of the NET+ service in the academic and research community
• Provide input/recommendations to the Service Product Roadmap process based on broad institutional needs and experiences
• Promote the development of new applications across the higher ed community
• Develop a pipeline of students with service knowledge and experience

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Accessibility @ ServiceNow

Committed, conformant, listening, leading

Alaina Beaver, Head of Accessibility Customer Engagement

Safe harbor notice for forward-looking statements

This presentation may contain “forward-looking” statements that are based on our beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to us only as of the date of this presentation. Forward‑looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward‑looking statements. Further information on these and other factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors,” set forth in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in our other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. We cannot guarantee that we will achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in our forward‐looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward‐looking statements. The information on new products, features, or functionality is intended to outline our general product direction and should not be relied upon in making a purchasing decision, is for informational purposes only, and shall not be incorporated into any contract, and is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion. We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update the forward‑looking statements.

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ServiceNow, U. of Washington, & Internet2

History of our collaboration:

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• U. of Washington began working with ServiceNow on digital accessibility back in 2016!
• UW began providing training for engineers on best practices
• As a partner, remained “helpful and relentless” in holding ServiceNow accountable
• ServiceNow answered back by growing and resourcing capacity internally—and still growing!
• Set the foundation for the ways that Accessibility at ServiceNow has grown to this day

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• U. of Washington sponsored Internet2 and got ServiceNow involved
• Negotiation of an updated contract with Internet2 is underway and hopefully closing soon
• Remain in-good-faith partners and collaborators

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• Both Internet2 and UW are part of ServiceNow’s Accessibility Product Advisory Council
• Provide feedback and help shape ServiceNow’s roadmap and features

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What we focus on

There are 5 disability categories, 3 groups, and 17 functional limitations.

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A person’s disability does not define who they are, it is a variable of their being.

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Visual

Auditory

Speech

Cognitive

Physical

Permanent

Blind

Deaf

Muteness

Autism

Amputation

Temporary

Lost glasses

Ear infection

Laryngitis

Sleep deprivation

Broken arm

Situational

Bright sunlight

Party with loud music

Heavy accent

Distracted while driving

New parent

Functional Limitation Groups

Colorblind, partially sighted/low vision, legally/totally blind

Low auditory loss, nearly complete/complete auditory loss

Trouble speaking/cannot speak at all

Memory, solving problems, focus, learning/understanding

Missing or paralysis/limited use of limbs, dexterity

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Accessibility benefits everyone

Then: Classic accessibility features become standard

• Curb cuts (physical)
• Closed captioning (digital)

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Now: 3 Examples of AI features originally developed for a11y, but benefiting everyone

• Predictive Text
• Text Summarization
• Auto Captions/Description

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Accessibility drives innovation

Now: AI advancements to improve accessibility and innovate for everyone

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• Developing AI Feature: VoiceAssist 
• Manage a variety of user workflows through voice control and page summarization/simplification
• ETA: 2025 release 

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• NowAssist in the current release is an AI tool that already can benefit everyone!

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2024 Key Goals

1. Continue to Achieve Higher Conformance Levels (WCAG 2.1AA) for Web & Mobile

• Improve overall User Experience
• Assist with Customer Compliance
• Implement accessibility features to ensure users have the preferences to support their needs
• Ensure key Employee�Tools/Portals/3rd party tools are audited to improve our Employee Experience

2. Improve Customer Engagement & overall Satisfaction

• Ensure roadmap is a combination of customer needs & improved compliance
• Create best practices for Accessibility
• Create process to benchmark overall customer satisfaction
• Increase customer participation in our Accessibility Product Advisory Council

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3. Embed Accessibility into the Product Development Life Cycle

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• Ensure initial specifications include Accessibility requirements
• Increase amount of automation during development and testing phases
• Increase designer engagement for Accessibility review and sign offs
• Ensure accessibility requirements are captured in future RPFs for internal tools/products

4. Increase A11y Knowledge & Awareness across ServiceNow

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• Establish knowledge baseline/benchmark and track progression
• Ensure all ServiceNow Employees have access to respective levels of training & track participation
• Partner with DEI to share Accessibility awareness

5. Market ServiceNow as an Accessibility Champion

• Generate competitive analysis baseline to identify where we currently are in industry
• Partner with multiple non-profits and community entities to Do The Right Thing
• Present at Accessibility conferences and compete for Accessibility Awards

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Thank you!��Q&A

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