1. Centre for Excellence in Universal Design
Demystifying Web Accessibility and WCAG 2.0
Dónal Rice
Senior Design Advisor, ICT
Irish Internet Association
24 June 2009

2. Contents Why legislate for web accessibility?
What are my obligations under Irish law?
What is Universal Design?
This presentation provides a better understanding of Equality legislation and policy and whay and how it relates to web accessibility

3. Aims of the Centre Standards Stimulate research
Participate in Standardisation work nationally and internationally
Provide advice to stakeholders
Encourage compliance
Education and Professional Development
Incorporation into design curriculum
Application of Universal Design for Learning approach to teaching and examinations
Awareness
Best practice database
Promote awareness and understanding

4. Why legislate for web accessibility

5. Equality principle
Unequal treatment is outlawed (race, gender, age, religion...)
Requires blindness to human difference...
... except in case of objective human difference
This is not the moral or business case for web accessibility but an overview of how the equality (or equal treatment) principle leads to specific legislation as it relates to web accessibility

6. Equality law
3 tenets
Acknowledges existing patterns of inequality – whatever the reason

7. “Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms”
Poster of the Chocago 1933 World Fair. Image of a Romanesque bust with a stylised crown of an eagle and the word “I will” in front of a background image of a native american wearning ceremonial feathered head-dress. Tagline reads “A Century of Progress”
Source:
“The stark pronouncement of the fair's motto, "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms," was challenged by iconoclasts such as Sally Rand, whose provocative fan dance became a persistent symbol of the fair, as well as a handful of other exceptional individuals, including African Americans, ethnic populations and foreign nationals, groups of working women, and even well-heeled socialites. They all met obstacles but ultimately introduced personal, social definitions of "progress" and thereby influenced the ways the fair took shape.”
Source: University of Illinois Press webpage for “The 1933 Chicago World's Fair - Century of Progress” by Cheryl R. Ganz

8. “Good” vs “Bad” design
After a century of repid technological innovation and development
Philips (2004) “The Philips Index: Calibrating the Convergence of Healthcare, Lifestyle and Technology. “
Source: “What is inclusive design?” Inclusive Design Toolkit
A web-based survey of 1500 internet users aged 18-75, found that about two thirds of the population as a whole have difficulties with technological products

9. Bad design excludes
Images courtesy of John Clarkson and Sam Waller, University of Cambridge. Images show Sam experiencing difficulty in opening a pack of Supermarket ham manually and then using a series of tools including a cutting blow torch, an industrial drill and a bolt cutters to open the pack. This series of images illustrate the poor design of many everyday objects which present significant difficulties for people to use.
Source: Inclusive Design Toolkit:
Source: Inclusive Design Toolkit:

10. Equality law
2. Sets the playing rules (levels the playing field) – including those for the State market player

11. Diversity is normal Children (<16 years) 20%
Older people (>65 years) 15%
Primary language not English 5%
Left-handed %
People with disabilities ~10%
Warning: Treat these figures solely as indicative of the order of magnitude.

12. Equality law
3. positions the individual to challenge the status quo and tackles the dynamics of exclusion

13. Obligations under Irish Law

14. Irish Legislation Prior to 2005 Some policy recommendations
Suite of Equality legislation
Goods and services: Equality Act
“reasonable accommodation” and “undue burden”
Employment: Employment Equality Act
some case law

15. Irish Legislation Disability Act 2005 Universal Design
Part 5: Public information made available in accessible format on request to persons with a vision impairment to whom adaptive technology is available
Code of Practice:
public websites should be reviewed to ensure they achieve Double-A conformance rating with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (no version number stipulated!!)
a statutory instrument
Public procurement
Complaints procedure:
Enquiry officer
Office of the Ombudsman
Universal Design

16. What is Universal Design

17. What is Universal Design
What Universal/Inclusive design is -
“Design of mainstream products and/or services that are accessible to, and usable by, as many people as reasonably possible on a global basis, in a wide variety of situations and to the greatest extent possible without the need for special adaptation or specialised design.” - BS 7000 Part 6
“Universal Design -
means the design and composition of an environment so that it may be accessed, understood and used by persons of any age or size or having any particular physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual ability or disability
means in relation to electronic systems, any electronics-based process of creating products, services or systems so that they may be used by any person”
- Irish Disability Act 2005

18. Universal Design process
A design and development methodology
Clear knowledge of user requirements
User centred design
Walking a mile in the shoes of the end user
Iterative process
Standards, principles and guidelines
Tools to aid design

19. CEUD IT Guidelines 5 technology areas Web Public access terminals
Application Software
Telecoms
Smart Card Systems

20. IT Procurement Toolkit
Practical advice on procurement:
Writing an Request for Tender document
Assessing candidates and tenders
Evaluating deliverables
eg – sample text to insert into RFT

21. Techniques ‘How-to’ - advice for developers, designers and editors:
Good and bad practice examples alongside…
How to do it
Code snippets (for developers), videos of users…
Eg – good and
bad form layout

22. CEUD ICT Listserv

23. Contact Details Dónal Rice Senior ICT Advisor
Centre for Excellence in Universal Design
NDA
25 Clyde Road
Dublin 4
Ireland
Tel: (0)