Two things happened recently that really made me realise that we need to ensure that there is Accessibility at the door.
What do I mean by that, and how do we rectify it? I’m glad you asked!
A licence to nothing
The first incident was when installing Printer Drivers on my PC. Printers are the IT equivalent of the seven circles of hell but this proved an EIGHTH circle!
I’ve been trying to use keyboard navigation recently to get a feel for how well things are, or not, designed. To install this printer I ran the usual setup application. It opened with the EULA, languages, Agree/Disagree options, and an OK button. Using the keyboard I could get to the scrollbar, could change the language, and get to the OK button. What I could not do was get to Accept or Reject the licence agreement. Therefore I could not continue by using keyboard alone.
What’s worse is that there were 7 applications to install the full suite of tools for this printer that were ALL the same. If I relied on keyboard navigation I wouldn’t be able to install this software. Therefore my printer would be an even more frustrating lump of circuitry and plastic than normal.
Accessibility with the best of intentions…
Then there’s the second incident. I have just been on a lovely family holiday to Cornwall. Beautiful part of England, and plenty to explore and do. If you get a chance to go then you definitely should!
Visiting a National Trust location I did a double take when I saw part of the house with a ramp for accessibility, but to get to it there was some stairs. This was a literal failure in providing accessibility at the door.
A while after spotting this I observed an elderly couple confronted with this conundrum. The husband was in a wheelchair and the wife was frail and small. They had no way of taking in this part of the house. The volunteers weren’t allowed to help (insurance risk). I could have helped them IN, but wasn’t going to be there to help them exit.
Exclusion without intent
In both of these cases I am pretty sure there was no intent to exclude anybody. The printer manufacturers were just working the way they’ve always worked. The National Trust did the best they thought they could do. I know that with historical buildings etc there are limitations to what can be done, but solutions do exist.
The end result was the same with each of these situations though, a glimpse through the doorway but no way to get there.
This is symptomatic of the way that society as a whole approaches accessibility. It is also indicative of how we as solution builders can be. By adopting an “Accessibility at the Door” mentality from the moment someone accesses our solutions we can avoid “steps before a ramp.”
A strategy to build with Accessibility at the Door
In my previous blog post “Sexy, Cheap, and Easy” I talk about how implementing accessibility does not have to cost any extra, and isn’t a difficult thing to do – certainly not the fundamentals of it anyway. One thing I neglected to mention was that to achieve this we need to have a strategy to build.
Very few people I know like doing documentation. It’s even harder when it’s often left to gather dust due to not having time to read and review it. My question is, how long would it take to read a couple of pages with some core guidelines? Could we build that in to our pre-build time plan?
Writing a couple of pages to act as a foundational set of guidelines is key to this. It’s a task that will require time, consideration, and planning. The outcome of this can be something that provides a framework for building solutions that are Accessible By Design.
I’ve also mentioned the awesome Theme Builder by Sancho Harker (see “Power Apps – Instant Accessibility using a Theming Template” here) which can help with developing the colour schemes – including theming the calendar control. It isn’t enough on its own though. Ideally we should be creating a “Template” app of our own that has all the key accessibility changes implemented. This can incorporate the theming done in the Theme Builder and then build the accessibility features that should be there. That way, people can just take a copy of the template and start building using that. By doing so we are making sure that immediately, if used correctly, we are building with that strategy in place.
Testing times
All of this is crucial to the way we should be building, but a fundamental part is ensuring that we test. Not testing our solution functionality, but testing our accessibility functionality.
Make use of the screen narrator on various devices. Utilise the keyboard to tab through and test how it all works, can you do everything without needing the mouse? Test out the contrast modes, and the colour schemes, using filters where possible to get a good feel. Check out the responsiveness when zoomed in to 400%
It will take some getting used to, but as we become more accustomed to building the right way the time taken to do this will decrease massively. Alongside this, Microsoft are constantly improving things, with some massive improvements to Model Driven Apps on the way! This all adds up to us opening the doors and welcoming more and more people into our solutionised worlds.
But Wait – DO NOT FORGET….
The one element I haven’t mentioned in this article, and I’m sure people have been screaming at their screens about it, is including people with accessibility needs right at the beginning. I find it ironic that it’s the last point here, but the most important.
This is THE biggest mistake that gets made all the time. We assume that we know what is needed, without ever talking to the people who need it. The other thing is that we make it an afterthought, as is sadly too common.
I am as guilty as anyone here. In fact, I would say I’m more guilty! With me speaking out so much about this and yet can often work on assumption or a “quick google” rather than a real conversation.
I’m sure we’ve all received gifts from people and thought “I don’t want this, why did they get me this”? Well that’s what we’re doing when we make assumptions without collaboration and we exclude the very people we are looking to include.
I know that it’s not feasible to create a working group of people with every requirement, but talking to some people is better than talking to none! So find someone who uses screen-readers, who has dyslexia, has eyesight issues, and talk to them… and LISTEN to them. As you talk to people over time you will find that your knowledge and understanding will grow. As a result you’ll end up covering a surprising amount of requirements!
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