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Three Perspectives on Accessibility and the Nonprofit Sector
In 1998, Congress amended Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in an effort to eliminate barriers in information technology, make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and encourage development of technologies to help achieve these goals. The standards that emerged from this legislation have made accessibility a familiar term.
In 2003, some five years after Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act, what does accessibility look like in the nonprofit sector? To find out, we asked Sharron Rush, executive director of Knowbility (http://www.knowbility.org/); Susan Tenby, online community manager at CompuMentor (http://www.compumentor.org/); and Nelson Layag, technology director at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services (http://www.compasspoint.org/) what accessibility means to them and their organizations.
Defining Accessibility and Its Importance
Accessibility as a term has been made to serve a variety of purposes. To frame our conversation, we asked Sharron Rush, Susan Tenby, and Nelson Layag to define accessibility.
They used different terms and highlighted different aspects, but they all agreed that accessibility is about the user’s experience--can she do what she needs to do whether she has a disability or not--not a checklist of guidelines. Rush says, "When a person with a disability can use a Web site or piece of software to retrieve the same information or perform the same functions as someone without a disability, that application is accessible."
For Tenby, accessibility is about equality. "Accessibility has to do with providing an equal playing field for all users." She adds, "Accessibility also involves the organization of content, usability, and functionality. Logical navigation and ease of use are important factors for those with various cognitive, sensory, and physical conditions."
Layag defines accessibility most broadly, "Accessibility means it's reasonably possible for anyone to access services, employment, and information." By way of example, he adds, "Even our fee structure is based on a philosophy of creating reasonable access to services."
Accessibility and Usability
If accessibility is about user experience and the user's ability to achieve a task or get the information she wants, how similar are usability and accessibility?
Rush acknowledges the overlap of the two concepts, "Accessibility is defined by the user experience of a specific group.... What is fully accessible to a blind user, for example--such as streamed audio lecture as part of an online training--will not be accessible to a deaf user, unless a written transcript is provided as well. And by the way, it won't be accessible to many mobile browsing devices either."
For Tenby, the overlap is a little less marked. "A site can be easy to use and pass a usability test with flying colors, but it might not be accessible to a person with limited or no vision and/or mobility." She continues, "Similarly, a site can be totally Bobby compliant1, and it can pass all the accessibility tests, but be very complex in its navigation, rendering it low on the usability scale."
The upshot, Susan concludes, is that we "must design a site with both usability and accessibility in mind, in order for it to be functional for all audiences." Rush mentions a study conducted by the Nielson-Norman Group (of usability guru Jakob Nielson2 fame) that found that users with disabilities were three to six times less likely to accomplish Web-based tasks than users without disabilities. Rush concludes, "So usability is relevant to accessibility as long as users with disabilities are included."
When considering the correlation between accessibility and usability, Layag refers to curb cuts, a familiar metaphor for those involved in accessibility discussions. "There are many ways accessibility can lead to better usability for everyone.... [T]he cut outs at the end of sidewalks are great not just for people in wheelchairs or people with limited mobility, but really for many other people--like me, when I'm pushing my son around in his stroller."
Practical Accessibility
What does accessibility look like in practice? For every organization, it may look a little different.
Knowbility, for example, was created explicitly to work for barrier-free technology. "Knowbility was founded to address technology access issues for people with disabilities," Rush says. "We have been quite conscious of building accessibility into the foundation of our communications systems because of who we are and who we serve. Which is not to say that we are always successful in being 100 percent accessible."
Rush doesn't shy away from a frank assessment of their actual achievement. "We recognize that, despite the best efforts and intentions in the world, sometimes you miss your mark. That is why we try to provide information in varied formats and always provide feedback mechanisms to allow people to inform us if they encounter barriers when trying to access information from Knowbility."
The connection between CompassPoint's mission and the goals of accessibility is clear to Layag: "At CompassPoint the idea of not putting out the effort to make appropriate accommodations goes against our existence--to support the organizations that are working with underserved communities."
For CompuMentor, Web accessibility was not always a mandate, and now that it is a priority, it has meant revisiting existing technology and work. "With each redesign and relaunch we move more towards that goal [of Web accessibility]," Tenby says. "Unfortunately...there are still portions of our organization's Web sites [http://www.compumentor.org/, http://www.techsoup.org/, and http://www.techsoup.org/DiscounTech/] that aren't there yet. We hope to be fully accessible with the next redesign."
Technology: Enabler or Barrier?
When asked if technology is primarily an enabler or barrier to accessibility, Rush sees the possibilities not the limitations, "Technology has the potential to be an unprecedented enabler of access to opportunity and information."
“The President's Council on Disabilities a few years ago issued a study which concluded, 'For most people, technology makes things easier. For people with disabilities, technology makes things possible.'" Rush goes on to cite some specific examples, "Internet-based video relay services (VRS) allow the deaf to talk in their own language on the telephone through a sign language interpreter who views the caller through a Web cam and translates to the hearing person on the other end of the phone. Web-based access to emergency instructions provided by blind Web master Gregory Rosmaita3 following the 9/11 attacks were well documented."
Layag agrees in general, "Whether it's screen readers for the visually impaired or being able to communicate to those that are physically isolated by geography, technology has opened the doors to in many ways."
But he acknowledges the limitations, as does Tenby. "Technology can open up many options for people, if used appropriately, but it can also cut people off from information, if it's not accessible to them," she says.
The Importance of Learning--and Learning Again
An emphasis of accessibility--whether as a central mission in Knowbility's case or as a sympathetic value in the case of CompuMentor and CompassPoint--influences how the organizations work with those they serve, as well as how they make internal decisions. In many cases, whether overtly or indirectly, the accessibility efforts are educational.
Perhaps Knowbility's best known program, the Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR) is the organization's primary initiative to raise awareness about access issues. The premise is simple: Designers volunteer their time to build a Web site for a nonprofit--but first they are trained on how sites can be made accessible without sacrificing function or elegance. AIR events are sponsored in different cities across the country--CompuMentor partnered with Knowbility to produce AIR-California.
Rush says the AIR program has been very successful, but the trick is "giving them [the nonprofits] the tools they need to maintain the accessibility of their sites once the competition is over and they are on a regular maintenance schedule."
The concept of ongoing maintenance and investment is crucial because accessibility is not a fixed target. Existing technologies develop, and new ones emerge. "The accessible design techniques that we teach are, of course, always evolving along with the technology," explains Rush. "For example, we used to discourage the use of tables for layout because of reading-order problems with screen reading software. That rule becomes less relevant as the screen reader software has improved to handle content laid out within tables much more effectively."
In addition to changes in technologies, there's also the learning curve for those dealing with the issues. Layag says, "Our approach has evolved over time--mainly because we as a whole organization learn more every year."
Increasing accessibility is a matter of remaining flexible--staying up on the latest technology and innovations and being willing to revisit policies. Rush explains, "Our approach [to accessibility] is not necessarily changing, but it is really important that the policy remains flexible because the accommodation software and compatibility with other applications is always changing."
Nonprofits and Accessibility
Asked if the nonprofit sector has a unique relationship to accessibility issues, not shared by other sectors, Layag replies, "At CompassPoint, we believe that the nonprofit sector leads social change by championing unpopular or overlooked ideas." He sees the possibility for nonprofits to lead the charge on accessibility. Tenby sees the same potential, "I do think that nonprofits care more about these issues, as most organizations that deal with underserved populations, such as people with disabilities, happen to be nonprofits."
Rush approaches the question from the perspective of duty and implementation: "I actually think that any organization that serves the general public has the highest obligation to provide accessible opportunities.... My opinion is that any business, school, government agency, or nonprofit group that makes information available on the Web has the same social, if not legal, responsibility to make that information accessible."
Talking about an initiative in which access issues took a back seat, Rush says, "I would say that the status quo won in the place of accessibility. Even though accessibility techniques are not difficult, they must be learned, tested for, and maintained."
Rush's statement--taken in light of a view of nonprofits as leaders of change and of accessibility as touchstone, rather than a finite goal--suggests the sector's responsibility is to assure that the status quo is always just a snap shot of a point in time rather than a satisfaction with things as they exist.
1 Bobby is a Web accessibility software tool designed to help expose and repair barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines, including the U.S. Government's Section 508 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines provided by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Access Initiative. See http://bobby.watchfire.com/.
2 For more on Jakob Nielson and the Nielson Norman Group, see http://www.useit.com/ and http://www.nngroup.com/.
3 See http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,47054,00.html for more about Rosmaita’s work following the 9/11 attacks.
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