From the User Experience Design team at DHS

Lolly Lijewski sits in her third floor cubicle in the Elmer L. Andersen Human Services Building typing Word documents, sending emails and reading tables off a PDF. The assistive technology she uses helps her do her job like everyone else. Lolly, blind since birth, uses screen readers to read, navigate and interact with digital content on her cell phone, laptop, and desktop computer.

Screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver convert text to speech, reading text aloud and describing titles, headings, pictures, tables, and other structural elements of web pages and documents.

“Through the years, I’ve developed a repertoire of skills,” she says, praising advances in digital accessibility that have enabled her to perform her job quickly and successfully.

What is Accessibility?

"Digital Accessibility" means that everyone, whether or not they have a disability, can perceive, understand, and navigate information contained in electronic media. An accessible document can be read using a variety of assistive technologies, such as screen readers, magnification software, or speech recognition programs. Accessible content typically features a clean, professional design that’s easy for everyone to use. Accessible video features closed captioning, audio descriptions, and transcripts. Using the term “digital accessibility” distinguishes these features from physical accessibility features such as aisles that are large enough for wheel chairs to maneuver, among other things.

It’s the Law

Digital accessibility is also a state standard. Minnesota state agencies are committed to providing all individuals, with or without disabilities access to the information they need. The state standard requires agencies to develop programs, websites, and documents that anyone can read, including people who use common assistive technologies. The State of Minnesota's Accessibility Standard is based on Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, (as recently amended), and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, Level AA.

The State of Minnesota takes accessibility seriously. Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) is home to the Office of Accessibility and there are accessibility trainers, testers, and coders throughout all state agencies. MNIT is also partnering with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to create a new User Experience Design team (UED). The team will support DHS strategic initiatives designed to improve user experience and engagement. This means optimizing the usability of software applications and working across the enterprise to increase compliance with accessibility standards.

“Accessible design is inclusive design,” states UED member Lea Dooley. “Everyone benefits from content that’s more readable, scannable and has good structure.”

You Too May Need Accessible Design

“At any given time, 15-20 percent of our population has some degree of disability — whether permanent or temporary”, Dooley says. That means any one of us may need accommodation at some point during our lives.

Although we typically attribute accessibility challenges to cognitive, neurologic, or sensory impairments (i.e. hearing or vision loss, mobility challenges, physical limitations, or traumatic brain injury), software and device manufacturers are increasingly realizing that all individuals benefit from accessibility features. Technologies include:

• Screen magnification. People using mobile phones, smart watches, smart TVs and other devices with small screens see content differently and need the ability to zoom in on content.
• Custom controls. We’ve become accustomed to adjusting volume, color contrast and font size to suit our unique preferences. These capabilities become even more important when we’ve misplaced our eyeglasses, are working in difficult environments such as bright sunlight, or are simply adjusting to changes that come with age and health.
• Alternatives to the mouse. Individuals with temporary or long-term disabilities that affect fine motor skills benefit from keyboard navigation alternatives such as keyboard shortcuts and voice-commands. These tools are especially valuable when tasks are highly repetitive.
• Closed captioning. People with situational limitations, such as noisy rooms or low audio, as may occur at a gym while using the treadmill, rely on closed captioning to enjoy their favorite programs.
• Alternative text. You may not see this if you don’t use a screen reader, but your browser does. Providing alternative (“alt”) text options for images not only describes images to screen reader users, but also improves search engine rankings. People with a slow internet connection or who have limited or expensive bandwidth also appreciate alt text, which they can read rather than take the time to download images.

Design Principles Everyone Can Use

The MNIT UED team has crafted five simple principles to help teams build more accessible products:

1. Understand the problem before crafting solutions. Build accessibility into the front end of your projects. Don’t consider it an after-thought or wait for testing.
2. Simplify. Do everything you can to make things simple and intuitive.
3. Think all ages. Produce designs that are accessible and usable for people of every age, with or without disabilities.
4. Align with system modernization and person-centered principles.
5. Aim for efficient designs that provide context and avoid jargon.

Educational Opportunities

There are many opportunities to learn about accessibility. The Office of Accessibility and DHS provide information for the public and state employees via these sites

• MNIT: Office of Accessibility
• DHS: Accessibility

State employees can seek additional training within their agency’s learning management system. Other resources available at your local library via programs such as Lynda.com or researching screen readers, assistive technology, or empathy in design through YouTube or webinars. A good start is this fact sheet on inclusive design principles.