Screenshot of mn.gov from June 8, 2010

On September 1, 2020, the State of Minnesota celebrated the 10th anniversary of its digital accessibility and usability standard with several virtual events hosted by the Office of Accessibility and the state’s digital accessibility coordinators. The kickoff event was an online, internal broadcast providing “a look back” at how the standard was created and implemented. It was moderated by Chris Taylor, the State of Minnesota’s Chief Inclusion Officer. He interviewed Betsy Hayes, the State of Minnesota’s Chief Procurement Officer, and Rena Rodgers, Cook County Management Information Systems Director. Both Rena and Betsy were instrumental in the development and early successes of the digital accessibility and usability standard.

When monumental shifts, like the development of Minnesota’s standard, occur, often only a few people are present to witness each piece. As Kim Wee, digital accessibility coordinator for Minnesota IT Services partnering with the Department of Education said, “The looking back event was more than I expected. There were so many goose bump moments! My favorite was from Rena, ‘This really wasn't a project at all. It was a program.’”

High value and scope

Betsy shared why the digital accessibility and usability law was important. "The purpose was to ensure that all Minnesotans, whether it be state employees or citizens that we serve, have access to the vital information and the systems that they needed. It's simply good business, and it is our obligation. It was our obligation and still remains so to this day to make sure all citizens have that level of access. And we wanted to tap and fully utilize the talent and capacity of all of our state employees."

Both Betsy and Rena spoke about how they and their colleagues came to understand the true scope of accessibility’s impact. Rena pointed out that there was a learning curve for many of them at the start. "Understanding the difference between accommodation and accessibility was really key. We were not designing anything for individuals. We were designing technology to a standard." Betsy added, "It was going to really be more efficient for the state because we were decreasing the number of times that we would have to apply single accommodations. This was a revelation that occurred as we progressed through the project."

Building the Standard

The group decided to use both Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 in the standard. Rena said that WCAG 2.0 "talked about how to do a lot of things in web development but also application development. It also talked about things like captioning. It had a lot of detail, things like not having blinking lights on your website because that could trigger a seizure. It gave us a lot of meat to work with."

Betsy noted that being part of a larger committee was critical. "We really needed a multitude of stakeholders involved. Subject matter experts from procurement being one of them. Not only did we recognize this initially but the legislature in their wisdom also saw that need and codified into the law the mandate that there be this advisory committee that was very diverse. The legislation specifically called out a ten-member panel that would be involved in this committee. Everything from advocates to many state agencies involved, IT expertise, procurement expertise. And with that broad array of diversity on the committee came a broad variety of interests which was not only instrumental to the project’s success but it was challenging in a way. I think it was that diversity that made the project successful in the end."

In 2010, the state's IT department, now Minnesota IT Services, had recently begun consolidation, instead of each agency having their own IT staff. Rena shared that the new organization was "getting going with technology architecture, IT architecture. And they had just put together a process for how you create a standard, how you get a standard approved. And actually, accessibility was the very first standard to come through that (process). The reason that was monumental (was because) no one else in the country had done that at all. When it's in that architecture, then it affects our purchasing, it affects procurement, and it affects development."

Both noted the importance of including a neutral facilitator to help the committee develop common goals. Betsy recalled, "The people who were more on the advocacy side were worried that the standards may not go far enough or that they would take too long to implement. People on the procurement side were perhaps more concerned about what the costs may be, or if it was too long a procurement process." She added, "We wanted to make sure that the exception process that we determined was not so broad, or other loopholes so wide, that it sort of minimized the goal of maximizing accessibility."

It’s a program!

Rena shared that the original thought of this as a project didn't fit. "This really wasn't a project at all. It was a program. It needed a vision. It needed a clear understanding of benefits, that there were multiple stakeholders.” She talked about how other related projects would begin, and some of those projects (like putting the standard in place) were going to be operationalized. She added, “Other projects were going to be added on throughout the life of the program. And really it still is a program that's ongoing, that continues to grow. But a program is not just a great big ole project! It really is something different that has vision, and benefits, and mixes up operations as well as projects. Once we kind of got out of the ‘project management tools don't fit this exactly,’ it really made a difference because we navigated through it much differently."

How it turned out (so far)

What are the biggest successes of the standard? Rena shared that recently work crossed her desk that she knew was not possible when they started. It was an accessible, interactive map. "I realized that the work is sustainable. The fact that we're sitting here talking about it ten years later, to me that is the measure of success. If you built something that can continue to be built on, that continues to live and grow and change as technology does. If you built that and it stands that test of time, that's project success in my opinion."

Betsy also shared, “During this process, how we got there was as important as our destination. To determine and find our common purpose took time. It took collaboration. It took patience with each other. It was that process of working with each other that was needed to help us realize that we did have common interests, and we were reaching for the same goal only with different needs along the way….Having people at the table like Rena, like Mary Hartnett (the Director of the Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans, now retired), and many, many other people with such amazing talent made the work so much easier and fulfilling. It was highly attributable to that level of dedication and passion of the people involved that helped make the project successful, but also made the project quite a joy and fulfilling endeavor to be a part of. So I really want to thank them publicly. And to let others know as well that this was a real game changer for the state. It was also really personally impactful to be a part of this special project.”

Rena added, “I think at the end of the day, every one of us that was at that table greatly admired the other ones and appreciated the work and the dedication. And became friends, really, truly became friends as a part of working on something so important together.”

Chris Taylor concluded the program, noting that “as the Chief Inclusion Officer who is responsible to (push) systemic change this is just an incredible example of work that's gone on before, and continues to have an impact in the system today. So I just want to really thank you for your time today, but also thank you for the work that you all did ten years ago that we still get to benefit from today.”

Reflecting on the session, David Andrews, Chief Technology Officer for State Services for the Blind shared “I very much enjoyed the looking back session to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our accessibility standard. It was great to hear the voices of Betsy Hayes and Rena Rogers again. We all worked long and hard back then – as we still are! We have come a long way, worked through many difficult problems, and established models that other states have followed.” Dave commented that there are now many more people working on accessibility. “This is good, as the program will grow and continue!”