Speaker's information
Alistair GARRISON is the Managing Director of Accessinmind Limited. He has a long experience in evaluating websites and is an invited expert member of WAI's Web Content accessibility Guidelines Working Group.
Information sur l'auteur
Alistair GARRISON est Directeur Général de Accessinmind Limited. Il a une longue expérience professionnelle dans le domaine de l'évaluation des sites Web. Il est membre expert invité du groupe de travail Web Content accessibility Guidelines de W3C/WAI.
Short paper
When talking about the World Wide Web, the term 'accessibility' means different
things to different people. It depends on who you are, what you do, what you
use, your environment, and your society.
For instance for blind user 'accessibility' could mean the possibility to
access to certain banks, home shopping, news, dictionaries, travel agents,
etc... with a screen-reader software (assistive technology). It would also
mean that additional information were provided to cover the fact that he/she
cannot take in purely visual information.
Or, for a user with epilepsy 'accessibility' could mean confidence that a
web page does not contain harmful flashing content.
For an elderly user 'accessibility' could mean just being able to increase
the text size in a page, consistent navigation which allowing to remember
the way around, the provision of a site map or table of contents.
But 'accessibility' might also have a meaning for a non-disabled user, like
less irritating websites - without pop-ups - faster loading times, the possibility
to use a PDA to view pages.
Internet Software Developers will consider 'accessibility' in the validity
of the software code, how as mistakes can be removed at the authoring stage.
They will appreciate to save the time spent 'correcting' poor code to more
productive tasks.
A Website Owner will define 'accessibility' in terms of legal responsibility,
Web Content accessibility Guidelines. He/she would possibly relate it to a
decision on which level of WCAG 1.0, implementation, staff training, maintenance.
A Procurement Manager has to incorporate 'accessibility' into tenders and
contracts, referring to precise technical specifications, to evaluation procedures
for assessing the 'accessibility' of delivered products, either internally
or by a third-party.
Web Designers and developer will adopt more technical understanding of 'accessibility'
from the WCAG, and the related documents and techniques. They will have to
identify which tools can help them to generate WCAG conformant content - minimizing
development time and to make web content which works on different platforms
and in different browsers. They will evaluate the 'accessibility' of their
finished content using tools and WAI checklists.
To a lawyer 'accessibility' means understanding legislation to determine people's
rights and duties, seeking independent advice about what is 'reasonable'
in terms of accessibility, identifying accessibility experts to evaluate whether
or not a reasonable level of 'accessibility' has been provided.
For Disability Rights Groups defend 'accessibility' as a means to comfort
equalisation of opportunities, universal adoption of standards.
To politician 'accessibility' means making a more inclusive society through
policy, setting standards & benchmarks, promoting the widespread adoption
and use of guidelines, measuring progress and showing visible results.
Conclusion
The 'accessibility' corresponds to different understandings according to the
context it is used and with what objective. 'accessibility' refers to technical
and non technical notions like: Conformance to W3C/WAI recommendations and
documentations, technical accessibility, health & safety, user considerations,
better user experience, valid code, tools & techniques, precise definition
of accessibility & an evaluation mechanism, independent expert advice, equalisation
of opportunities, visible signs of accessibility adoption.
All these aspects constitute a valuable knowledge and expertise that shall
be developed in order to consolidate the European policies for 'Accessibility',
making, the Information Society far more 'accessible' for everyone.
