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A Joint ITU/G3ict Toolkit for Policy Makers Implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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Basic accessibility principles

Introduction to e-accessibility basics
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Accessibility and the purposes of
ICTs
Edited by Dr. Mark Magennis, Director, Centre for Inclusive Technology (CFIT), NCBI, Dublin, Ireland

Basic accessibility principles Accessibility principles

How can ICT products be made accessible?
Standards and guidelines Improving the overall design through accessibility enhancements

Section Summary
There are three aspects to accessibility: a user must be able to perceive, understand, and operate every control,
instruction or output. This section discusses how the accessibility of ICT products can be enhanced, using simple
means like maximising the accessibility of the basic components, allowing for a range of interaction methods,
giving different kinds of output, and ensuring compatibility with different assistive technologies. Increasing
accessibility leads to a greater usability towards all users, and so is a standard to be worked towards.

Accessibility principles
For full accessibility, all users must be able to do three things for every control, instruction or output:
• Perceive it
• Understand it
• Operate it

Perceiving a control, instruction or output means both being aware of its existence and being able to access its
information.

For example, a deaf person may be unaware of the existence of an audible alarm signal whereas a blind person
will be unaware of a visual signal. A person with low vision may be aware of the text on an ATM display but have
such difficulty reading it that they cannot access the information it provides.

Understanding means knowing what it means and how to use it.

A person with a learning disability may be unable to follow complicated or poorly written instructions on an ATM.
They may find it difficult to learn where to find things on an inconsistent website.

Operating means being able to reach it and physically interact with it in the required way, which might mean
pressing, moving, twisting or pulling.

A wheelchair user may be unable to reach the card slot on an ATM. Someone with a hand tremor may find it
difficult to accurately press small buttons on an alarm keypad in order to enter their code.

How can ICT products be made accessible?

An ICT product is accessible to a person with a disability if they can use it either as it is, with minor adjustment or
configuration, or in conjunction with some assistive technology.

It may be difficult or even impossible to design a specific product in a way that all people can use it fully as it is,
without requiring any adjustment or add-ons. However, most products can be made accessible to most users by
maximising the basic accessibility, allowing user configuration, allowing a range of interaction methods, providing
outputs in multiple forms and ensuring compatibility with assistive technologies.

Maximizing the accessibility of basic components

The basic accessibility of a product can be maximized by simple design choices such as using large well-spaced
buttons instead of small crowded ones, giving clear instructions instead of long-winded jargon and using good
contrasts for text and graphics. There is nothing special about this. It is just good design practice.

Allowing users to configure the product to suit them

Giving users the ability to configure a product to suit them is often a good way of providing for a range of different
needs. For example, ATMs, websites, mobile phones and PC applications can provide a choice of different text
sizes and colour schemes to suit people with different visual abilities. In an alarm system it may be possible for
slow users to increase the amount of time they are allowed to key in their code. Some remote controls have been
made with two sides, giving a choice between the full function version or a simpler version with fewer, larger
buttons covering only the most essential functions.

Allowing a range of interaction methods

A PC application can be made to accept interaction via the keyboard as well as a mouse, catering for people
unable to use a pointing device. Allowing voice commands in addition can open up the product further to include
people who have difficulty using any physical interaction method.

(Image above is taken from orangeacid's photostream on Flickr. CC BY 2.0)

For communicating inputs and making choices, a product could also allow a range of different methods. For
example, when a list of options is presented in an on-screen menu, users can be allowed to make choices by
using the arrow keys and a Select button or alternatively by pressing a digit corresponding to the desired option.
The first method may work better for people with some cognitive impairments. The second may be easier for
people with some physical disabilities because it requires fewer key presses. Allowing both methods caters for
both types of users.

It is never a good idea to rely on only one interaction method because there will always be someone who cannot
interact in that way.

Providing outputs in multiple forms

Because some people cannot perceive some forms of output, providing multiple forms caters for more people.
For example, using both an audible ‘beep’ and a visible light would make the house alarm accessible to both blind
and deaf people. Similarly, a keypad can be made to provide key press feedback as an audible ‘click’, a tactile
click and a visual flash.

Many ICTs display textual or graphical information on a screen. This can also be presented as speech for people
who cannot see or read written text. For example, an ATM can speak out the instructions, menu choices and
responses. A headphone socket can be provided which switches the machine to this non-visual interaction mode
when a set of headphones is plugged in. Some touchscreen-based mobile phones and PDAs include software to
allow a blind person to locate screen objects such as icons and buttons by tracing their finger around the screen
and listening as each object they ‘touch’ is announced in a synthetic voice. Together with text-to-speech
functionality, it is possible to make almost all of the device’s functions usable in this way. For people with learning
disabilities, it is often useful to augment textual instructions with pictures. For audiovisual content, adding captions
(subtitles) and audio description can make all the information available to people who are deaf, hard of hearing or
blind.

Ensuring compatibility with assistive technologies

Many people with disabilities interact with other technologies through personal ‘assistive technologies’. These
range from simple devices like hearing aids to the complex text-to-speech ‘screen reader’ software used by blind
people to operate a PC, use software applications, access websites, etc. For a person with a disability, assistive
technology provides a standard intermediary interface with interaction methods and output formats suited to their
needs. For a product designer, interfacing with assistive technology removes the need to add those interface
capabilities into the product itself. For example, a software application or a website does not need to provide
spoken output of text if it can interface with assistive technologies like screen readers which provide text-to-
speech capability. As far as possible then, products should be made compatible with these assistive technologies.

Improving overall design through accessibility enhancements

Making something accessible doesn’t mean making it worse for ‘normal’ use. In fact, increased accessibility often
results in improved usability for all users. The methods of improving accessibility described above can usually be
done without reducing functionality, over-simplifying the product or otherwise making it less suitable for non-
disabled users. These approaches to accessibility are all additions – added flexibility, additional modes, more
choice. The aim is always to allow access to the equivalent functionality, but in an alternative way. This is the true
meaning of accessibility.

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