100 Days of A11y
Day 33: A11y, UX, or Both?
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Things I accomplished
Permalink for "Things I accomplished"- Read Accessibility, Usability, and Inclusion: Related Aspects of a Web for All (W3C).
- Read The role of accessibility in a universal web (DSpace@MIT).
- Read Disability is a Spectrum Not a Binary (24 A11y).
What I learned today
Permalink for "What I learned today"Comparing accessibility and user experience, both have benefits for all, yet differ mostly by audience:
- accessibility
- audience: people with disabilities
- intent: the targeted audience can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with websites and tools (an equivalent user experience)
- user experience
- audience: anyone
- intent: a product should be effective, efficient, and satisfying
Accessibility includes a more technical aspect (considerate of assistive technologies, for instance); UX is more principled in its approach.
Usable accessibility = a11y + UX.
Accessibility is just one aspect of the "universal web".
Looking at accessibility a little closer, what makes a person disabled? We may think of someone with a disability as having a certified report by a doctor or proving an obvious physical or mental difference from our own. Yet disabilities are actually better defined as a conflict of a person's ability with their environment. It puts us all on a spectrum, doesn't it?
An accurate statement
Permalink for "An accurate statement"For people without disabilities, technology makes things convenient. For people with disabilities, it makes things possible.- Judith Heumann, U.S. Department of Education’s Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
Factoid resource
Permalink for "Factoid resource"- Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996: Fueling the Creation of New Electronic Curbcuts A timeline of IT innovations built for someone with disabilities, but made its way into mainstream tech use. To my surprise: the typewriter!