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"What is the business case for accessibility"

"What is the business case for accessibility"

A 20 minute talk given at responsiveconf.

Alice Bartlett

June 25, 2015
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  1. GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by

    “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard
  2. GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by

    “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case
  3. GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by

    “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case
  4. 11

  5. 12

  6. GDS 19 million visits a week Home to 330 departments

    and organisations Saving £62 million per year
  7. GDS

  8. https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2011/05/06/accessibility/ It is a crying shame that good money has

    been wasted on this run of the mill, unimaginative and pointless website. Stop wasting my money!
  9. GDS

  10. GDS In the beta we built for inclusion In the

    beta, we built for inclusion
  11. - Tom Loosemore, 2011 We want to make the most

    easy to use, accessible government website there has ever been.
  12. Government Digital Service Listed below are our design principles and

    examples of how we’ve used them so far. These build on, and add to, our original 7 digital principles. Start with needs* Do less Design with data Do the hard work to make it simple Iterate. Then iterate again. Build for inclusion Understand context Build digital services, not websites Be consistent, not uniform Make things open: it makes things better Last updated 2 July 2012 ALPHA Design Principles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Government Digital Service Listed below are our design principles and examples of how we’ve used them so far. These build on, and add to, our original 7 digital principles. Start with needs* Do less Design with data Do the hard work to make it simple Iterate. Then iterate again. Build for inclusion Understand context Build digital services, not websites Be consistent, not uniform Make things open: it makes things better GOV.UK Last updated 2 July 2012 ALPHA Design Principles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Search GDS www.gov.uk/design-principles
  13. -GDS Design Principles Accessible design is good design. We should

    build a product that's as inclusive, legible and readable as possible. If we have to sacrifice elegance – so be it.
  14. GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by

    “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case
  15. Anne Gibson We can reframe accessibility in terms of what

    we provide, not what other people lack.
  16. GDS It’s better to say “we should make our site

    accessible on as many inputs and outputs as possible”
  17. GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by

    “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case
  18. Alice Bartlett, parallel universe Here is your magic answer to

    why making your site accessible will make you filthy rich
  19. GDS A good business case should take a problem you

    can prove you have and solve it in the most cost effective way
  20. GDS We need more money We need more ad impressions

    We need people to think of us favourably We are currently at high risk of being sued We need to spend less on maintenance etc
  21. GDS Step 3: You conclude by saying which of the

    possible solutions is the best
  22. GDS Anecdotally there are loads of problems that can be

    solved by making your site more accessible
  23. GDS Because there isn’t a whole lot of evidence that

    making a site accessible is the most cost effective way to solve any of these problems
  24. GDS In fact, the only well evidenced business case that

    I can find for making your site accessible is avoiding litigation
  25. GDS In the public sector we are also bound by

    the Public Sector equality Duty
  26. GDS The litigation angle rests on balancing the probability that

    you’ll get sued vs the cost of making your site accessible
  27. GDS If you’re a high profile company, the risk of

    being sued is big enough that you should make your site accessible
  28. GDS But if you’re a low profile company, then the

    chances of you being sued are a lot smaller
  29. GDS I can’t say with confidence in those cases that

    making your website accessible will show a real return on investment
  30. GDS 1. What is GOV.UK 2. What I mean by

    “accessibility” 3. Why writing a business case for accessibility is hard 4. You don’t need a business case
  31. GDS Bake “our site is accessible on a range of

    devices” into your company’s definition of what “good” looks like
  32. GDS As a front end developer add it to your

    list of the ways you know you did your job well
  33. GDS We share and discuss the accessibility of design patterns

    on a publicly accessible hack-pad: https://designpatterns.hackpad.com
  34. GDS

  35. GDS

  36. GDS Links Leisa Richelt on Alphagov: www.disambiguity.com/alphagov/ Alphagov Accessibility: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2011/05/06/accessibility/

    Anne Gibson ALA: http://alistapart.com/article/reframing-accessibility-for-the-web WAI Business Case: http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/ RNIB guidance: www.rnib.org.uk/services-we-offer-advice-professionals/equality-act-compliance Karl Groves on accessibility costs: www.karlgroves.com/2011/11/30/how-expensive-is- accessibility/ The Design Hackpad: https://designpatterns.hackpad.com