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Accessibility DCNovember 19, 2013

Dragon Sucks! Digital Accessibility for the Physically Challenged

+Physical Challenge

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I am a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton.

I currently serve as the Section 508 trainer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

My favorite accessibility guideline is ADAAG 5.2.

I’ve been a Dragon user since 1997.

I have cerebral palsy.

About Eric

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Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder, hence “cerebral.”

The United Cerebral Palsy foundation estimates that between 1.5 million and 2 million adults in the US have cerebral palsy (courtesy UCP: November 2013).

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 10,000 babies are born with cerebral palsy in the U.S. each year.

Cerebral palsy affects my mobility, dexterity, and posture. It causes spasms and tremors. It affects my visual-spatial processing.

About Cerebral Palsy

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In 2011, the U.S. Federal Government estimated that 19,937,600 citizens had a disability that affected their mobility or dexterity.

That’s almost 7% of the population.

I worked for a large government organization. We supported approximately 7,000 assistive technology users. Approximately 4,000 of us used Dragon. 1,500 used a screen magnifier. 900 used a screen reader.

This is all to say that there are a lot of us.

The Big Picture

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Nothing on the Web is

Inaccessible to Me.

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Stairs

Rows of tables that are packed tightly so I can’t easily work a room

Things on the top shelf in the grocery store

Most cars, taxicabs, and venues outside of public transit

“Ah yes, a fence. The cripple’s natural enemy.”

Things That Are Inaccessible to Me

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Present Your Users With Multiple Ways of Reaching an Endpoint. Public Park in St. Petersburg, Florida

Accessibility is About Options

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Robson Square, Vancouver. Built in 1973, the same year that the Rehab Act was signed in the

U.S.

Functional, Beautiful, Subtle.

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“Where food or drink is served at counters exceeding 34 in (865 mm) in height for consumption by customers seated on stools or standing at the counter, a portion of the main counter [designed to accommodate a wheelchair] shall be provided.”

ADA Accessibility Guidelines 5.2

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I can see.

I can point and click.

Even when it’s difficult to point and click, I have cheap and powerful assistive technology (AT).

If I couldn’t see OR point-and-click, conflicts between the AT commonly used by people with mobility impairments and that used by people with vision impairments are minimal.

I can access the Web because…

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium ($99)

Windows Speech Recognition (built into Windows)

KnowBrainer 2012 (free to people with disabilities, Voc Rehab centers, and AT professionals).

Kensington Expert Mouse ($70)

SmartNav ($500)

My Favorite AT

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(Eric really likes this part.)

Speech Recognition

Demo

+But Dragon isn’t AT!

Software controls and input boxes (coded to standard Windows conventions and exposed to accessibility APIs)

Alt Text

Explicit Labels

Text Input Areas

Text Links

Java

Flash

ARIA

Implicit Labels

<div> elements

Most of the “modern web”

What Dragon Can Access What Dragon Can’t Access

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All Dragon users and testers should learn the universal radio alphabet.

Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Papa, Tango, Victor and Zulu are sonically distinct from B, C, D, P, T, V and Z.

Knowing this alphabet makes it easy for end users to spell words and send keystroke commands.

A Dragon user can emulate keyboard commands by saying “press <key>” or “press <combination of keys>.”

A Keyboard Without a Keyboard

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Prove it! What’s the business case?

Dragon 11 introduced several requested features: Easy management of open applications Direct posting to Facebook and Twitter “Buchholz” and “Saltalamacchia” were added to the

vocabulary.

Dragon 12 added new features, too: Increased speed, accuracy and efficiency. This laptop has 3

GB RAM. Dictate remotely from iOS and Android devices Training is no longer needed (and not recommended for

most).

“Dragon Should Access ARIA!”

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This argument is counterproductive.

Nuance acknowledges Dragon’s capability as AT when it is convenient to them.

Peter Mahoney (@DragonDictator) is Nuance’s Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to that, he was General Manager for Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

His daughter uses a wheelchair. He wrote about inaccessible travel at Boston’s Logan Airport on TravelByWheelchair.com.

“Nuance Doesn’t Care!”

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Make your labels visible and pronounceable. Visible labels tell me what to say, and pronounceable labels let me say it. Bonus: Instructions will be more usable by users with visual and cognitive impairments.

Make your targets big. Bonus: Non-responsive sites will be more usable on mobile devices. Less pinching-and-zooming in order to tap what you meant to tap.

Make a visible focus indicator. Bonus: This will help keyboard-only users and low-vision users.

Make your Alt Text the same as your visible text. Bonus: Equivalency!

So, What Am I Asking?

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(Remember the bad visual processing? Eric’s slides have lots of words.)

More Demos!

+Ewaccess.Wordpress.comLinkedin.com/ewaccessewaccess@gmail.comWright_eric@bah.com

Contact:@ewaccess