Reading Inclusively
A weekly collection of things that i’ve read on inclusive design, accessibility and ethics, things that were interesting to me and hopefully to you too.
Given this is the second week running this has been done on a wednesday and i’ve only done 5 in total i’m no longer sure if this is late or if i’ve moved the day? Either way it’s here for you to read and contains a fair bit this week as it feels like the looming November deadline for the adoption of WCAG2.2. has meant the accessibility and inclusive design space is deep in conversation with itself.
I’d normally, neatly wrap this into sections but today i’m going to start with a rant that’s inspired by an article.
It’s harder than ever for the visually impaired to shop online
Honestly this should shock you to the core. If you’re reading this blog then you’re almost certainly already a convert to inclusive design and accessibility, you’re here because you want to make things better, you understand exclusion is real, but it would also seem you’re in a minority.
The fact that we’re still seeing exclusion happening online, despite laws, despite movements, despite the best practice and attempts of inclusive design and accessibility professionals, and despite — dare I say it — the field becoming “fashionable” shows how far we have to go.
As part of my role i’m often asked for a business case for accessibility, I do like i’m sure you all do and reel out the financial benefits, the stats on people with impairments and the talk of the inclusivity spectrum. We do this because that’s what gives ROI, what gets our foot in the door, well on here I don’t have to do that.
A lack of access for people with visual impairments is wrong.
The fact it’s not changing is worse. We are failing people here, and we shouldn’t be having to put a number on doing the right thing because, goddamn it, not doing it is the act of a wanton sociopath.
And talking of wanton sociopaths, yes i’m sorry this is a semi polemic, this other article got my shackles up too
Disability hate crime: Rise in reports of online abuse
It seems in amongst all this there’s been a rise in hate crimes targeting people with disabilities online.
If you want another reason for why it’s imperative we increase representation and increase participation for people with disabilities then this is it.
Hate for minority groups goes down when they’re more visible and more represented.
That’s not just part of a rant or a polemic, it’s true. When Procter & Gamble looked at the stats behind their more inclusive advertising campaign they proved that inclusion of more LGTB+ people was fundamental in driving acceptance.
If we are to change perceptions, if we are to provide a safe and inclusive space for all, then we have to start including people of all ilks in what we do, in how we do it, in the stories we tell and the people we show.
To quote directly the disabilities rights movement.
Nothing about us without us!
Inclusive Design
Microsoft Stories, Project Tokyo
Another week another nod to Microsoft. Honestly though the insights, innovations and learnings that happen in Microsoft around inclusive design and accessibility are quite frankly nothing short of ground breaking. They have to be THE leading tech company in this space and I hoover up their content on a regular basis, always learning something new.
This time round that new is a podcast — with transcript of course — from their head of accessibility Hector Minto, covering so many topics that are weirdly perfect timing for my work.
“Overcoming” disability is something i’ve never done
This is one of those wonderful heartfelt articles you stumble upon from time to time and it reminds you that you are responsible for the language you use and you are responsible for how you use it (you can tell i’m from a family of socio linguists here).
Disability blogger Chloe Tear writes here about how she’s never “overcome” her disability, because it’s not something to overcome. I won’t steal her thunder because I couldn’t put it better than her, so just click the link and read it, you won’t be disappointed, you might change your mind and your language.
Accessibility
Accessibilities next gen break throughs will be in your head
This is one of those articles that brings a lot of stuff into my mind, questions around the sci-fi nature of innovation, the incredible advances in medical and technological fields, always followed up by the fact i’ve just finished watching the tv re-make of Brave New World, the ethics of technology and the underlying questions about what “normal” is and should we be truly looking to “fix” disabilities in this way.
Whilst some of these innovations are incredibly impressive, and arguably will make people’s lives easier, who are we to judge that someones identity needs fixing in this way? Certainly not me as a sighted person, that if nothing else is the one thing I know.
Scope’s guide to using captions, subtitling and transcripts
Scope, the British charity for disability equality have been running a superb series in recent months called “The big hack” that pushing the accessibility agenda superbly, there’s been a lot published on their side worth engaging with — their End The Awkward campaign in particular is superb — but this guide from August on captioning, subtitling & transcribing videos is one of those perfect “laypersons guides” and really helped me in educating a content team on what best practice looks like.
A guide to accessible animations with CSS
Animations are a funny one, they often seem to be one of the THE biggest sticking points between marketing, design and accessibility when they really don’t have to be. My personal opinion is that the reason for this is people take a reductive attitude to certain aspects of design when applied to accessibility, they thing a fix is to remove, which almost always isn’t true.
So it’s great to see a video that demonstrates the options you have, and how with some good progressive enhancement and empathetic choices you can still have beautiful content rich sites that work for a broad community of people.
Also if you want more detail and more examples of how you can write better CSS for people with access needs then i’d also strongly point you to this article, Writing even more css with accessibility in mind
“the intent of :focus-visible is to allow authors to provide clearly identifiable focus styles which are visible when a user is likely to need to understand where the focus is, and not visible in other cases.”
Focus states, to many of us they’re a weird blue line that goes around links on a website, to some of us they make the site look “broken”, but to users with disabilities and impairments they are one of the most important things we have in our accessibility toolkit — something recognised again by the new WCAG 2.2 guidelines.
Focus-visible is a “new” technique we can use as inclusive designers that allows us to denote focus to those that need them, whilst avoiding it for those that don’t, something that we’ve long needed, though something i’d also test with real people as part of the design flow.
Ethics
The long and complicated history of people analytics (behind a paywall)
Data. Data, data, data, ad nauseam. It’s everywhere, we are utterly obsessed with it. I think if anything is going to define our current times it will be data, we share, stream, collect, sell and talk about it constantly. A handful of people do it brilliantly, the majority talk about it the vaguest possible terms, and in general we forget the simplest of rules.
Data creates averages, it tells you what went before, not what is to come.
This review of the book If Then gives us an insight into the history of data tracking when applied to humans and the ethical pitfalls and concerns that surround it.
I am someone that believes that most of what we see is cyclical in nature, so learning the past can allow us to avoid our current mistakes, and that’s why I have this book on order. Because I want to be prepared for the upcoming conversations that will begin when we realise that our abuse of data is something to which we can, and will, be held accountable, and that using it ethically is more important than the insight we collect with it.
To quote the book itself (well to be more honest, and ethical, to lift a quote direct from the article) as Lepore says:
“The profit-motivated collection and use of data about human behavior, unregulated by any governmental body, has wreaked havoc on human societies.”
Programming fairness into algorithms
This article isn’t for the feint hearted, it’s not the usual collection of “what’s wrong with everything”, it is instead something that says to you, “this is what’s wrong, this is how to fix, now get up and do something about it”.
Programming fairness into algorithms is as good a guide as i’ve read that sums up the problems of algorithmic bias and provides actual solutions — mathematical and otherwise — on how to make sure you don’t fall in those traps and what you can do right now to fix it if it exists in your own AI/ML.
Yes it’s “dry” but it’s actionable, intelligent and explains what you should be doing now to at least do better, if you if you can’t do perfect.
