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Accessible Future 2015

What I Learned at My Conference

Sarah Kennedy

October 1, 2015

sekennedy@mail.wvu.edu

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Accessible Future

Building an Accessible Future for the Humanities Project

five 2-day workshops; participants learn about technologies, design standards, and accessibility issues associated with the use of digital environments.
humanists, librarians, information science professionals, and cultural heritage professionals
looking at research and accessibility issues that are not necessarily addressed by disability support services on university campuses

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My Stake

I attended the 2015 Summer Seminar: Access/ibility in Digital Publishing, July 7-10, 2015

I had so many questions! how do I learn more for a library-based context?

our users
public services
research services
the WVU environment as a whole
what is my role/responsibility?

I wrote a blog post on the experience, along with a post by Melanie Schlosser, Digital Publishing Librarian at Ohio State University Libraries and a post by Susan Ivy, Digital Initiatives Librarian at the University of Mississippi

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Core Themes at Accessible Future 2015

Our themes

technical infrastructure for web accessibility
design and the built environment
cognitive accessibility
“imagine disability otherwise”

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Some History (Ferguson & Nusbaum, 2012)

disability studies in academia = outgrowth of the disability rights movement, born of protests and self-advocacy of the 1970s
within academia, disability studies first gained prominence in the social sciences
today, subcategories of work within:

history, humanities, arts, fgss, memoirs and testimonies

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Some History (Ferguson & Nusbaum, 2012)

putting disability studies and “special education” in conversation (more inclusive rather than exclusive model)
we have to have tolerance for a certain “messiness” to the term disability studies - no exact definition, disagreements emerged over who could and could not use the term (but this contestation was a good thing - a sign of the field maturing and gaining power)
we can say that disability studies is NOT:

a synonym for special education or rehabilitation sciences
disability rights

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Some History (Ferguson & Nusbaum, 2012)

some core concepts of disability studies = the field must be

social
foundational
interdisciplinary
participatory
values-based

some core concepts of disability studies

social: more than an individual impairment (the social model as compared to the medical or deficit model); complex collection of conditions, many of which are created by the social environment; requires social analysis; disability must be studied in its social, cultural, and historical context;
foundational: perhaps the most important reason to explore the meanings of disability is not to understand disability itself, but to understand other categories of human difference; it is our understanding of how we see ourselves as same and different, and in that way certainly has parallels with our discussions of how we construct race, gender, class and other categories of difference; historically, disability as a concept has been used to “hide what scares or repulses us, and to medicalize what shocks us”; disability was the ultimate “other”
interdisciplinary: must cut across traditional academic disciplines, beyond some of the more established fields such as sociology and history
participatory: involves a conversation not just about the questions that get asked but who is asking them; scholars with disabilities should be prominent among those doing the research and teaching; begs a variety of questions, including what is the role of the non-disabled researcher/teacher within the field?
values-based: linking science to the values of those involved - strives for balanced-decision making, mutual respect of differences in values, not prescribing the outcome but arriving to it through a balance of different values. (As an example, “special education” and “rehabilitation” are viewed by some as being services which oppress and pathologize the disabled, but the people who dedicate their professional lives to these pursuits might respond very differently, that they are striving for reform within the constraints of our educational system)

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Some History (Ferguson & Nusbaum, 2012)

What difference are we seeking to make?

historically, difference associated with disability was seen as something that could be remediated away, a problem to be fixed
today, we wish to take a much more interdisciplinary, deeper understanding of disability as part of our shared, human experience

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Session 1: Background and Discussion

Dr. Tina Herzberg told story of her son, who has a central auditory processing disorder
different ways of understanding disability studies

relatively new interdisciplinary approaches
what is the role of others who are not disabled? (at any time, we could all join this group)
an identity category you can move in and out of, depending on temporariness of your disability

the importance of understanding disability as a key aspect of the broader human experience that we have historically neglected

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Session 1: Background and Discussion

start to imagine disability otherwise

build systems and services with disabled users in mind from the very beginning, rather than retrofitting
accessibility is not a “one-time” thing

accessibility

the built and physical environment
intellectual
linguistic
social and cultural
multiple access points for lots of different ability levels

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Session 1: Background and Discussion

reading a book → you have tools to improve accessibility (e.g. magnifying glass, bookmarks, highlighters, etc.)
What about in a non-print world?
think about exposing Linked Open Data → our users can store and manipulate the data using their own preferred access tools

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Session 1: Background and Discussion

How does our understanding of accessibility change depending on the setting, the time, and the individual?
Timebound

Samuel Johnson - Tourette syndrome
Alexander Pope - Pott’s disease (a form of TB that affected the bone) causing him to be short and hunchbacked
Jonathan Swift - discussed the need for accessible language

Gender, race, education, privilege

their experiences were ameliorated by their gender, race, education, privilege
today, we see this mirrored in access to education, social capital, technology, resources, time, etc.

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Session 1: Background and Discussion

“Normalcy”

we have an idea of normalcy that DOES NOT include disability, whereas in the past, normalcy HAD to include disability because with a lack of modern technology and medicine it was ever-present
today we have a tendency to enforce a normalcy, which excludes or marginalizes the disabled

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Session 2: Demonstrations of Accessibility Hardware for Disabled Users

In this session, led by Clay Jeffcoat, access technology specialist with the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind Vision Outreach Program, we took an in-depth look at two tools for improving accessibility for the blind/visually impaired:

JAWS for screen reading (Job Access With Speech)
refreshable Braille display

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Session 2: Demonstrations of Accessibility Hardware for Disabled Users

Jaws Screen Reader

TechLearningOnline

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=7vBHCdZjnFI

JAWS allows visually impaired to read the screen either with text-to=speech output or by a Refreshable Braille display
all done using the keyboard, no mouse

(Embedded Video)

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Session 2: Demonstrations of Accessibility Hardware for Disabled Users

Introduction to screenreaders - JAWS

Laurence Veale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yWgoPW0nxM

(Embedded Video)

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Session 2: Demonstrations of Accessibility Hardware for Disabled Users

Introduction to JAWS (Video 1 of 4) - Statewide Vision Resource Centre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7_67n4NTkc

(Embedded Video)

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Sometimes known as “paperless braille”, a refreshable braille display has a row of braille cells made of plastic or metal pins. The pins in the braille cells are controlled by the computer and match the words on the screen. The braille cells change as the user moves around on the computer screen. Whatever JAWS says will show up on the Braille display.

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Session 2: Demonstrations of Accessibility Hardware for Disabled Users

Takeaway lesson = semantic markup (following appropriate syntax rules) is really important for screen readers to accurately and efficiently read the page. Consider using:

Basic HTML5 section elements
ARIA landmark roles

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

How many of you have designer in your title?

even if designer isn’t in your title, you always make design decisions - even in something as simple as the chairs in your classroom
design is something that we are always doing, even if we aren’t consciously making choices. Many of us just make design decisions without thinking

syllabi
assignment sheets
our CV

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

What are some design decisions you make to render a syllabus more accessible (for sighted readers)?

headings
bullets
indenting
white space
paragraph breaks
thoughtful use of font

→ all of these decisions make the text more scannable, easy to pull out the core pieces of information

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

What principles guide our design?

intuition
personal experience
feedback from users
looking at other images
consult other specialists
very rarely consult research
POV- perspective

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

Design Meets Disability

functionality

Does it do what it is supposed to do?

aesthetics

Is it pleasing

functionality AND aesthetics (designing for a mass market)

Does it do what it is supposed to do, and is it also pleasing?

Design Meets Disability, by Graham Pullin

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

Charles and Ray Eames created the technology of molding plywood into compound curves, and during WWII, used it to make splints for injured soldiers. They used this technology to make molded-plywood chairs, screens, and tables, which debuted in 1946.

Chair Shell Experiments, designed 1941-45, molded plywood, metal, and rubber. Courtesy of Vitra Design Museum (F-8 a-e)

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/images/uc9684.jpg

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

Fun hearing aids and cochlear implants

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

Magic Wheelchair is a nonprofit organization that makes epic Halloween costumes for children in wheelchairs. - http://www.magicwheelchair.org/

“It’s been their father’s goal to give them that one special day out of the year when being wheelchair-bound is an asset, not a disability.” - www.goodnewsnetwork.org

(Embedded Video)

Magic Wheelchair Takes Flight on Kickstarter

Stan Winston School

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=4&v=NQXvSb-ZC7U

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

my legs could be wearable sculpture

“...it was my opportunity to put a call out to innovators outside the traditional medical prosthetic community to come bring their talent to the science and to the art of building legs. So that we can stop compartmentalizing form, function and aesthetic, and assigning them different values.”

“...from an identity standpoint, what does it mean to have a disability?...this magazine, through the hands of graphic designer Peter Saville, went to fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and photographer Nick Knight, who were also interested in exploring that conversation...I did my first runway show for Alexander McQueen on a pair of hand-carved wooden legs made from solid ash. Nobody knew -- everyone thought they were wooden boots.”

See full video at: https://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_prosthetic_aesthetics?language=en

Aimee Mullins was born without fibular bones, and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was an infant. She learned to walk on prosthetics, then to run -- competing at the national and international level as a champion sprinter, and setting world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. At Georgetown, where she double-majored in history and diplomacy, she became the first double amputee to compete in NCAA Division 1 track and field.

After school, Mullins did some modeling -- including a legendary runway show for Alexander McQueen -- and then turned to acting, appearing as the Leopard Queen in Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle. In 2008 she was the official Ambassador for the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

She's a passionate advocate for a new kind of thinking about prosthetics, and recently mentioned to an interviewer that she's been looking closely at MIT's in-development powered robotic ankle, "which I fully plan on having."

“...kids are naturally curious about what they don't know, or don't understand, or is foreign to them. They only learn to be frightened of those differences when an adult influences them to behave that way, and maybe censors that natural curiosity, or you know, reins in the question-asking in the hopes of them being polite little kids.”

“I had woven carbon fiber sprinting legs modeled after the hind leg of a cheetah ...And also these very life-like, intrinsically painted silicone legs.”

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...this sign (a) has no Braille and (b) even if it did is too high to reach and read.

What do you notice about this sign?

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What do you notice about this sign?

...this sign (a) does have Braille to indicate the room number and the direction but (b) the Braille does not convey “Conference Room” or “Gender Studies.” It is only partial information.

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We see multiple generations of signage on the same door, all reflecting different attitudes and understandings about design and accessibility.

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What do you need to have in order to comfortably use this water fountain?

...a hand, preferably with a sturdy thumb.

(Even if you had 2 functioning thumbs, what if your hands were full?

Would perhaps a “bump bar” work better, for both groups of users?

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(*sigh* Just….no. Please no.)

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What do you notice this sidewalk and crossing?

...this sidewalk has a curb cut and the crossing is indicated with textured paving.

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Who benefits?

The visually impaired and also people in wheelchairs.

Also, an unanticipated group of users: delivery people, cyclists, people with strollers, etc.

(But what if the curb cut did not have such wide usage? Would it still be so prevalent?)

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology

is any technology NOT assistive? Isn’t that inherent to the definition of technology?
WE choose to categorize: THIS is assistive, THAT is not. This creates boundaries and doesn’t really embrace inclusivity

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Session 3: Design Principles and Assistive Technology

Easy Wins

look for simple strategies to improve accessibility in our home and work environments

signage
crossings

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Session 4: Cognitive Disabilities and Accessibility

Cognitive Disabilities and the Web

more and more people are being diagnosed with cognitive disabilities because criteria are more nuanced and diagnostic tools are more available
more people returning from war are struggling with traumatic cognition disorders

Imagine Disability Otherwise

It isn’t lack of intelligence, it is processing

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Session 4: Cognitive Disabilities and Accessibility

Cognitive Disabilities and the Web

memory

passwords and recurrent forms
remembering how to navigate
content flow and access patterns

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Session 4: Cognitive Disabilities and Accessibility

Cognitive Disabilities and the Web

problem solving

error information - e.g. 404 messages
links that don't resolve
navigation elements that don’t make sense, redundant, or verbose
lack of titles, alt text, and descriptions to aid in problem solving
embedded information (e.g. file names)

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Session 4: Cognitive Disabilities and Accessibility

Cognitive Disabilities and the Web

attention issues

scrolling
revolving images - e.g. carousel
blinking icons
pop ups
navigating in and out of the site
our brains chains as we get older

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Session 4: Cognitive Disabilities and Accessibility

Cognitive Disabilities and the Web

reading. linguistic, verbal comprehension

15-20% of all users have some sort of difficulty with reading, linguistic, or verbal comprehension
sarcasm, satire, parody, metaphor, slang
implied meaning
length of sentences, paragraphs, titles
(in academia, intentional exclusion depending on the language. It takes longer to make something simple and elucidate clearly than to just fall back on the standard)

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Session 4: Cognitive Disabilities and Accessibility

Cognitive Disabilities and the Web

visual comprehension

images may not be discernable as that image
inability to identify maps, logos, graphics, feed, icons, etc.
questions of scale
interactivity
indicates navigation but also branding - immediate recognition

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Session 5: Web Accessibility

Jeremy Bogg’s “Modest Web Accessibility Workflow” (http://clioweb.github.io/accessiblefuture/)

I'm always asking: What do my design and development decisions do for accessibility and usability?
I build with progressive enhancement and graceful degradation in mind.
Accessibility is something I constantly attend to.

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Session 5: Web Accessibility

Validate the HTML and CSS. Are there validation errors?
Look at the page in a variety of browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari
Disable CSS. Is content still displayed in a readable and ordered way? Do actionable links or icons or content remain, or disappear?
Disable JavaScript. Does your site still work? Do actionable links or icons or content remain, or disappear?
Disable images, audio, and video. Is the content still available, understandable and usable? Do any important controls or information disappear?

Unplug the mouse or use the keyboard. Is it possible to use the keyboard to navigate the page? Is it obvious where they keyboard focus current is?
Test the web page through WebAIM.
Test the web page through an Accessibility audit in Google Chrome.
Test the web page through pa11y.
View source and read the page's code.
Listen to the page in a screen reader.
Ask people to use the page. Does the content and its presentation make sense to them? Does it work for them?

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Session 11: Advocating for Accessibility on Your Campus - Brainstorming Session!

contact the relevant campus offices
form an ACCESS committee at your library
organize presentations to the stakeholders in your community
use your student feedback forms to encourage students to reflect on your class

tap into your ASL (American Sign Language) program - is there a way to have students sign the content and then add? or caption it?
incorporate accessibility testing into coursework
hire Federal Work Study students through your Office of Disability Services - hire, train them to do accessibility enhancement

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Session 11: Advocating for Accessibility on Your Campus - Brainstorming Session!

reflections in class addressing accessibility
accessibility audit
accessibility as part of the job description - especially for instructors
creating incentives within the structures of the university - as in merit reviews

create incentives at the institutional level - as in professional development committees
put into your teaching philosophy statements
connect with local community groups/organizations/student groups
badging?

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Session 11: Drafting an Accessibility Statement at Your Home Institution

See example at: http://scholarslab.org/about/accessibility/
At minimum, strive to ensure that your services are:

ADA-compliant
WCAG 2.0 compliant
following Section 508 guidelines

W3G‘s standards for HTML5 and CSS3

Correct ordering of headings to aid in navigation;
Alternative text for media where appropriate;
A skip link at the beginning of each page to jump to the page’s main content;
ARIA roles to better describe the purpose and content of various parts of our pages;
Text alternatives for image links.

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Quotes

“so many of us will become disabled at one point or another in our lives”
“accessibility is not a one-time deal - it has to be sustained. And that is not popular to many - the idea that you are “never done” (as in computer to mobile or watch-based design) - information is a “‘never-ending process of tending, like a garden’”
it is always a bad idea to STOP with your own experience
“[T]he UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes access to information and communications technologies, including the web, as a basic human right.”
not something nice to have, or only governments are bound by, but a basic human right. Everyone in the world has to have access to information and be able to communicate in order to participate in society and be a part of the human race. As critical as the ability to eat, breathe, sleep.

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Discussion

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Resources (partial list)

For full list, email me: sekennedy@mail.wvu.edu

reading list

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time / Mark Haddon.
Cognitively Accessible Language (Why We Should Care) / Elizabeth Grace
Design meets disability / Graham Pullin.
George Williams in The Chronicle of Higher Education

Responsive Web Design, Second Edition [electronic resource] / Ethan Marcotte.
Publisher: A Book Apart - Brief Books for People Who Make Websites

e.g. HTML5 For Web Designers
e.g. Mobile First

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Resources (partial list)

For full list, email me: sekennedy@mail.wvu.edu

cognitively accessible language

web accessibility to-do & checklists

W3C Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List

examples

MediaQueries (responsive design examples)

web accessibility tools

Developer tools in Chrome See also Accessibility Developer Tools
Developer tools in Firefox. See also Firebug tools for Firefox
Developer tools in Internet Explorer
Developer tools in Opera
Safari for Developers
WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool (also available as Firefox toolbar)
pa11y Accessibility Testing Pal
HTML_Codesniffer
Code Pen (really cool for quickly writing and testing your code)