Had the privilege of attending a Humans in Accessibility event last night hosted by Aquent. There were some really great speakers, including Amanda Mace – W3C Australian Chapter manager. Got an incredible insight into W3C and WCAG.
I was also very surprised by a discussion that was had around adult literacy in Victoria. (and beyond).
I learnt that 46% of Victorians have a below average literacy level. Level 1-2; that means they could struggle to read a bus timetable or a menu.
This got me thinking: how does this measure up to complex digital information? How might we look to make our information more accessible.
There was also a really interesting discussion around the “Understandable” WCAG Principal. Most success criteria that sit under this are rated AAA. Which makes them a nice to have, for a lot of organisations.
A quote from Amanda that stood out in this discussion – “Don’t get cute with your headings, it’s not helpful. It’s not about dumbing down language, it’s that you just have to think about how you use it.”
OZeWAI Product Accessibility List
I was also made aware of a fantastic tool: OZeWAI Product Accessibility List. A quick and easy way to validate the accessibility of software products.
You can find the list of these rated products here.
As customer culture is driven from within the organisation, it’s important that accessible culture is as well. Ensuring the products we use in our everyday jobs are accessible can help broaden that mindset out to our customers.
