Dealing with (ir)responsibility for accessibility in UXDavid Sloan @sloandrUX in the City, Oxford, April 1st 2016

What does irresponsibility for accessibility look like?

Example of accessibility audit spreadsheet

The project manager with a vague notion accessibility is really important

The Rumpelstiltskin developer

Image credit: Flickr user Shardayyy https://www.flickr.com/photos/shardayyy/6060374429

The accessibility specialist who speaks, but does anyone listen?

So.How can we best distribute responsibility—and authority—for accessibility?

Responsibility as part of accessibility maturity

Accessible Design Maturity Continuum

An Accessible Design Maturity Continuum, uxfor.us/mature-it

“By concentrating solely on the bulge at the center of the bell curve we are more likely to confirm what we already know than learn something new and surprising.”Tim Brown, Change by Design

Role-based responsibility for accessibility

User research

Visual design

Content strategy

Research and design: responsible for handing off an inclusive design that can be implemented accessibly

Development

QA testing

Development and QA: responsible for delivering a functional solution that is as accessible as possible

Project/product management

Project/product management: responsible for owning accessibility for the project or product

Senior management/C-level

Senior management: responsible for organisational strategy and accountability for accessibility

Dealing with responsibility for accessibility that isn’t well distributed

Tactics• Use accessibility audits to find out reasons for

existence of barriers• Communicate progress internally and externally• Standardise on solutions, and share them• Identify accessibility points of contact, and grow a

network• Use pilot projects to demonstrate value of

integrating accessibility

“When people feel successful taking baby steps they often find themselves want to make big changes, including their environment.” —BJ Fogg

“We have an organizational mandate that UX won’t hand anything to engineering that cannot be made accessible..” —UX lead at health information provider

W3C Accessibility Responsibility Breakdown:

bit.ly/1MYLcbi

Manifesto for Accessible User ExperienceWhen we examine accessibility through the lens of user experience, we see that accessibility is:• A core value, not an item on a checklist• A shared concern, not a delegated task• A creative challenge, not a challenge to creativity• An intrinsic quality, not a bolted-on fix• About people, not technology

accessibleux.org

Thank you!@sloandrpaciellogroup.com