Today, I wrap up what really has been an insightful interview with Jennison Asuncion. Check out Interview with Jennison Asuncion and Interview with Jennison Asuncion, continued if you haven’t already.

We’re down to the last question, about how to tackle web accessibility with less-than-receptive audiences.

Steve (SG): When people getting into web accessibility advocacy are met with obstacles such as businesses or cultures who do not “get it” or see its value, what advice would you give them?

Jennison (JA): The advice I would give someone would be similar to the advice I would give for any advocacy effort. Absolutely my first piece of advice would be to listen. Listen to understand what possible constraints and/or lack of knowledge may exist that is resulting in a business or culture not “getting it.” I truly believe no one sets out to build a website or application with the express intention to exclude anyone. That said, if, for example, a client does not explicitly state and fund accessibility as a requirement, a development shop cannot be expected to slip accessibility in just because it’s the right thing to do. In this case, the complaint and/or issue rests with the client not with the developer.

The other advice I would give, and again, it can be applied to any issue, is to keep the tone respectful throughout, as much as possible. While I mentioned earlier that I am seeing constructive conversations happening among and between the communities of developers, accessibility champions and end-users with disabilities, I have certainly seen a few not so constructive conversations on all sides. It’s obvious that none of this advances the cause at all. Of course it goes without saying that if you are being ignored or are just not getting anywhere, you may need to take a different approach, but I would hope that would be the exception and not the rule.

On a more practical level, when discussing web accessibility problems, as an end-user, don’t assume that the first person you communicate with will be highly technical and/or will know what you are talking about. I would highly recommend reading Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites, which is I believe in draft stage. However, it is a document from the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative, and provides practical steps and templates on how to address the topic of web site inaccessibility.

I want to thank, for a final time, Jennison for taking the time to put together such extensive, articulate answers. He obviously put a great deal of thought and attention into them, and as you can see, he has a wealth of information from several different vantage points — from working in the business sector, education sector, and having a visual disability.

For anyone, like myself, who is taking on web accessibility and trying to wrap their head around where to go for information, how to advocate it effectively, etcetera, Jennison provided a lot of direction. He shared a ton of organizations and web sites that are great places to go for information, consultation and all-around insight.

I have to share that it wasn’t until many months after following Jennison and conversing on Twitter that I even realized that he is blind. At first, I felt bad I didn’t catch that, that I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Then it hit me as he, again, worded it as being a web user who “happens to be blind”.

Jennison doesn’t beat you over the head with his disability. He’s a person who utilizes web sites like all of us do. He wants to access the same social media sites, the same information sites, the same transaction sites as any of us. Having or not having a disability makes you who you are, but at the same time it isn’t some bright, blinking badge on your shirt.

It’s the same thought that occurred to me as I became familiar with the AbleGamers organization, whom I recently interviewed and will be sharing next week. One of my favorite hobbies is video games. If, today, I lost my hearing or lost my sight, that wouldn’t automatically make my love for games go away. I’d then become a disabled video game enthusiast, and I’d want as much the same experience as before, as close as possible.

In closing, I’m very grateful that Twitter and my growing place in web accessibility has enabled me to meet people like Jennison Asuncion. I’m hoping to meet more people, attend accessibility conferences and unconferences, and learn from it all.

Series Recap:
Interview with Jennison Asuncion – part one
Interview with Jennison Asuncion – part two
Interview with Jennison Asuncion – part three and wrap-up

Tags: jennison asuncion, W3C, wai

Last night, I was privileged to attend the great “Multiple Facets of Accessible Design” presentation conducted by MilwauCHI and hosted by IndependenceFirst (a place so amazing that I’ll be doing upcoming blog posts about the experience)

After a great introduction to the IndependenceFirst facility by Carol Voss, including a 5 minute video about their new building, we were treated with two very different but equally compelling presentations.

The first was “Unleashing Opportunities through Accessibility” from Shawn Henry. Shawn Henry needs no introduction in the web accessibility ranks, as the Outreach Coordinator of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and an all-around advocate and voice for accessibility awareness. She is also the author of Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design.

Shawn covered a lot of ground. She explained that accessibility doesn’t just pertain to those with visual disabilities — there are many more to varying degrees. There are also other “limitations”, such as technology, bandwidth, literacy, non-fluency in a certain language, etc.

She raised a point that has really been hitting home with me lately, as I discussed in my last post. There are easy things to do to improve the accessibility of a site. Sure, complexity increases when you deal with rich applications, Flash, and more complicated scripting, but many important obstacles can be cleared on the simple markup level — alt tags, page titles, headings, lists, to name just a few.

Shawn summed up accessibility poignantly by calling it, “an act of enlightened self-interest.” After all, any one of us may at any point become a disabled web user, through accident, illness, or just through the aging process.

We had the pleasure of chatting with Shawn further after the event. She is very down-to-earth and clearly passionate about accessibility. She gave us some very good advice and tactics on pursuading organizations to see both the business needs and obligations of ensuring their web presence is usable by all.

The second speaker was downright amazing. His name is Scott Mayer, a usability services specialist for American Family Insurance, who became blind at the age of 24. In my next post, later this week, I’ll share highlights from his powerful presentation.

Related Links:

• IndependenceFirst (@Independence1st on Twitter)
• MilwauCHI
• Shawn Henry (@shawn_slh on Twitter)
• Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design – online version

Tags: alt tags, assistive technology, IndependenceFIRST, milwauCHI, milwaukee, Scott Mayer, screen readers, shawn henry, W3C, wai, wai-aria

I’m excited to mention that there will be an accessibility presentation right here in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area this month.

On January 18th, “Multiple Facets of Accessible Design” will take place at IndependenceFirst. Shawn Henry from the W3C and Scott Mayer from the American Family Usability Department will be the guest speakers.

Those of you who follow this blog may recall the three-part interview I conducted with Carol Voss from IndependenceFirst last July. I really enjoyed that experience and am very much looking forward to making my first visit to their facilities. Part of the evening’s events includes a tour of IndependenceFirst.

The event is being held by MilwauCHI, the Milwaukee-based chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction.

For more information, visit the MilwauCHI web site.

Related Links:

Tags: association for computing machinery special interest group, computer-human interaction, IndependenceFIRST, milwauCHI, milwaukee, Scott Mayer, shawn henry, usability, W3C

This past week, Apple released Safari 4.0 beta. With touted speed enhancements that put it ahead of the competition, the beta reportedly has even pushed Safari’s market share over the 10% hump.

As touched on in “The iPhone and Accessibility“, Apple openly demonstrates a commitment to accessibility in its products. How much they succeed will always be open for debate, but it’s certain that they treat the subject seriously.

Even though alphabetizing has more to do with it than anything else, front and center on their 150 Features page for Safari 4 is Accessibility.

New to Safari 4, according to Apple, is support of Accessible Rich Internet Applications, or ARIA. On the heels of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 becoming a Recommendation this past December, just last week WAI-ARIA was published as a Last Call Working Draft. WAI-ARIA takes web accessibility considerations to the next level, helping establish guidelines for dynamic content using more advanced technologies like Ajax and JavaScript. ARIA opens the door for utilizing such coding to interact with assistive technologies.

Also improved with Safari’s new beta are greater Zoom features — combining keyboard commands, Multi-Touch, and a Zoom button that can easily be added to the toolbar. The user can zoom in and out while text and imagery scale accordingly and keep the layout intact.

These, paired with Apple’s already-integrated VoiceOver screen reading feature, keyboard shortcuts, and the ability to create or download custom stylesheets for desired viewing states, make Safari 4.0 — while certainly not a perfect accessibility experience just yet — appear to be progressing respectably.

Tags: accessible rich internet applications, apple, aria, multi-touch, os x, safari, safari 4 beta, VoiceOver, W3C, wai-aria, web browsers, zoom

With a little research, you’ll find that the subject of web accessibility is a growing buzzword in the United States and Great Britain, in particular. How is it being regarded or dealt with elsewhere?

Apparently, the topic of making websites more accessible to the disabled is gaining some exposure in India.

As reported in the Deccan Herald in “Accessible websites could become a reality“, a non-government entity in Bangalore, India called the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) recently reported that a whopping 99% of government websites in that country fail to meet the W3C guidelines on web accessibility.

Interestingly, according to visually-impaired lawyer Kanchan Pamnani, many India-based web developers adhere to web accessibility standards in work they do for their international partners, but not for sites they build domestically.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), feeling pressure because of the perception that India web developers aren’t taking the subject seriously, is making efforts now to tackle web accessibility. For starters, it is making its own web site accessible, then will urge its members to do the same.

It certainly seems as if web accessibility is gaining momentum all over the world. It will be interesting to follow NASSCOM‘s progress on this, particularly with growing pressure.

Tags: India, NASSCOM, National Association of Software and Services Companies, W3C, World Wide Web Consortium