Diversity and inclusion… What about accessibility?

bamacaerick — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 20:57:13 +0000

Have you ever thought how would it be like to wake up in the morning having 80% vision loss, or lose your arms mobility? How your daily activities would be affected? Yes, I’m pretty sure we don’t think about that unless you have one of those conditions.

Whether you are an engineer or a designer (actually, any profession you may have) it’s our responsibility to think about these scenarios at the time of creating and implementing products, software, services, etc. Real innovation takes accessibility (a11y) into consideration.

A few days back I attended a “diversity and inclusion” training where some observations came up (besides the obvious ones: race, sexual orientation, religion, etc) like why companies communications don’t include overweight people in their visuals, or why the age of employees is between 20 to 35 years old… and of course, I thought about people with disabilities.

In my everyday work, I have to think about how would be to navigate a website with my eyes closed or navigate a website just with keyboard (no mouse). Is it accessible? Responding to pretty basic needs like contrast colors, accessible font-size, navigate using only the keyboard, all elements should give the right context using assistive technology, custom dropdowns behave like a native select, etc. and of course, is the user able to complete the desired action? Cases like making the monthly electricity payment or a transaction from a bank account to another, book a doctors appointment and so forth.

And it’s hard to think that way, or test new implementations “imagining” a disability. Think about a11y mobile devices, different OS and assistive technologies, and so on. Imagine spreading this way of thinking to product, management, engineering, and quality assurance people.

And then, in a discussion with my peers, an idea popped, which is chasing my mind lately: What if a part of diversity and inclusion at companies would be to hire people with disabilities as Q.A.? Wouldn’t that be real innovation? Wouldn’t that lead companies to deliver products, software or services really accessible? I’m pretty sure there might be companies that already do it, but, are we encouraging this kind of inclusion and diversity actions? I know we can do more of what we are doing now.

Basic stuff on web a11y among a big list of things to consider:
• Color contrast
• Correct font-size
• Friendly keyboard navigation
• Understandable assistive technology context
• Correct usage of HTML elements
• Correct HTML structure and semantic

Questions? Comments? Please let me know as I’m planning to publish more about a11y and the questions or scenarios I have to face day to day.

Stop thinking accessibility is not important

bamacaerick — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 05:06:32 +0000

A few weeks back I started to go to the gym. And it's becoming difficult for me to not judge places based on user experience. To think about the person itself is something that is getting more important as days come by. And then, relate it to what I work on a daily basis.

I realized some trainers usually pay more attention to people that are in better shape. You know... the ones with the big arms and tight clothes, not overweight, those who walk almost like robots. I'm not saying that's wrong. But, I also think about people with overweight or some sort of disability. Illness like eating disorders, hypothyroidism, diabetes, hypertension and, a big list of diseases.

We have no idea what kind of problems people might be struggling with. That's why it's important (in this scenario) for trainers to focus on the "minority". Because in the end, it's more than numbers or money... it's about people.

And then, I thought, Am I acting like some of those trainers? Am I ignoring people with disabilities that use our products? Am I part of those who don't care about accessibility (a11y)? Are you?

It's our responsibility to think about the "minority". I'm double quoting the word minority because we tend to think that way. Usually, we develop applications, websites, products or services based on a specific audience. It's our job to think about everyone.

Sometimes, I need to send money to my mom using some of those transfer platforms. I ask myself: what would happen if I suffer an accident and get some sort of sight impairment. Would I be able to keep using the same service? It this platform accessible enough? And then, think about all the type of eye diseases that exist, or any other disability.

It's the designer's, developer's, Q.A. and project manager's duty to improve product development. Accessibility should be part of our work commitment. It's our job to think about user experience, to be more conscious about the person itself. It should be more than nice transitions, cute color combinations or custom components.

We need to stop thinking about the "minority" as the minority. Let's make internet accessible for everyone, let's innovate on that matter. Think about people with any type of disabilities. Create assistive technology friendly platforms. Develop for countries with a slow internet connection, low-quality devices and so on.

Thanks for reading and sharing so we can impact technology communities on this topic. Do you have a recent experience where you or some of your peers forgot about a11y? Please share your thoughts, comments or suggestions.

DEV Community: bamacaerick

Diversity and inclusion… What about accessibility?

Stop thinking accessibility is not important