Leaders from Microsoft, Unilever and advertising giant WPP share their tips on accessibility. Learnings include:

• The importance of Equality and Diversity
• How Unilever is promoting inclusive leadership
• How to drive an inclusive culture
• Visions of an inclusive future

 

Part of TechShare Pro 365: Insights for Accessibility Leaders

Realising the power of inclusivity

Accessibility is personal for Cindy Rose, President of Western Europe for Microsoft sharing how first-hand stories inspire her to prioritise accessibility. 

“Over the last few years, there's been a number of significant moments that have opened my eyes to the human impact of accessible design, disability and inclusion,” said Rose sharing one specific moment that made a big impact on her.

“In 2017 at our Future Decoded event in London at the Excel. We invited developer Tom Nabarro onto the main stage. Tom is a Microsoft superuser and has quadriplegia. He showed how he loves using Windows facial recognition, how he uses Cortana virtual voice agent. And then he started coding with eye gaze.”

“I've learned that you know when we empower people with disabilities using technology, we empower everybody,” she added. 

Unilever also believes in an accessible culture, starting with senior leaders, as its Senior HR Director Leena Nair told session chair Channel 4’s, Corie Brown. 

"Seventy per cent of the impact on culture is how leaders behave,” said Nair. “The examples they talk about, what kind of behaviours they role model,” she added.

Unilever’s Global Diversity Board is driven by its CEO, Alan Jope.

Unilever: driving change on the inside

Unilever also focuses on the “inner and outer game of leadership”.

“The inner game is all about a sense of purpose and service. It's about learning agility. It's about personal mastery. We're putting 150,000 people through purpose workshops. What is your purpose and mission in life? What difference can you make in Unilever with your individual purpose, passion, and mission? We are dialling up the inner game, and the sense of humanity increases in the company,” said Nair.

It is aiding an inclusive culture so that it is "easier for everybody to bring their best version to work…humanity. Everyone wants to do good in the world. Everyone has a force for good in themselves,” she said. 

"We want to be a beacon for equity, diversity, and inclusion across the world."

Read says change begins on the inside, with business culture.

"I take responsibility for making the company the type of company that I would want to work in," said Mark Read, WPP CEO. 

How to drive an inclusive culture

Rose agrees inclusivity needs to be embedded in the company's DNA. 

"It's about micro-behaviours and putting it a Diversity and Inclusion lens on every aspect of the employee experience from recruitment to onboarding, to learning promotion, and workplace design," she told conference attendees. "Change on the inside, in turn, leads to external change."

“For me, it's about the impact of our work,” said Mark Read, CEO of WPP. "As the world’s biggest advertising agency WPP is well-placed to make an impact through its creative messaging and to reflect diversity on a global scale. When people see people like themselves represented in commercial messages. I think we can change attitudes to disability."

One example is WPP's advertising campaign with Tommy Hilfiger, which highlights the adaptive clothing designed by Hilfiger for disabled people. 

The ad aired in 2018 and had received over 5.5 million views by 2019.

Similarly, Microsoft embraces inclusive design. "We don't build technology that works for disabled people; we build technology that works for everyone,” said Rose. 

Creating an inclusive future

Rose, Read and Nair are all hopeful for the future. “I’m very optimistic,” said Rose. “I’m blessed with a team of dedicated colleagues and a CEO that keeps accessibility at the top of our list of priorities.”

Nair said: “I hope when we speak three years, for now, Unilever is a beacon for inclusion for the world, and that there is no more need for the business case because people just get it.”

Read welcomed the comments from Unilever and Microsoft – both clients and said: “When the moral and the business imperative align, we are in the right place.”

 
Part of TechShare Pro 365: Insights for Accessibility Leaders

I was invited to be interviewed as part of a technology special in this week’s BBC Radio 4’s In Touch consumer affairs programme for people with sight loss.

 

Play the In Touch episode
 

What to do about inaccessible websites

Listeners had contacted the programme about the inaccessibility of notable websites - including Milk and More and the Charity Commission - and we discussed some of the common issues experienced by disabled users online, the legal and business imperatives for inclusive design, plus whether we can ever escape the dreaded ‘I am not a robot’ checkboxes that often revert to those obscure image selections or garbled audio challenges.

I also mentioned how, in the Prime Minister’s response to a cross-party group on disability letter seeking assurances about digital exclusion during the Covid crisis, inaccessibility was alive and well. Let’s all make sure we fully embrace accessibility good practice and not just pay lip-service to it – at all levels.

Access to books, radio stations and podcasts

Other topics covered in the technology special included a new skill for your Echo.

Called RealSAM, it provides a simple and intuitive audio interface for books, radio stations and podcasts - but beware, there is a fee and much of this material is already available free via other skills or built-in functionality.

The episode closes with a conversation about how those with sight loss might take advantage of the emerging area of AR (augmented reality). Seen as predominantly visual, you’ll need to take a listen to the show to see how AR might be adopted by those, like me, who rely less on their eyes than they do their ears. No spoilers.

Further resources

• Blog: The Prime Minister: Back to school on digital inclusion
• Blog: Helping government push digital inclusion during COVID-19
• Blog: New free app uses Apple's ARKit to help the blind find the way
• Webinar playback: Learn how the BBC makes accessibility improvements
• Blog: My watch told me I have a leak

If you are disabled and need support in your job search, Evenbreak's Career Hive can help you.

It’s a new, free careers service for disabled candidates, designed and run by disabled people.

Understanding barriers disabled people can face

There are many places that offer careers support. But Evenbreak, an accessible job search site for disabled people, reports that its disabled candidates were telling them that often the careers support available wasn’t suitable or accessible for them.

"Either it wasn’t relevant to disabled candidates," says Evenbreak's Director, Jane Hatton, "and was perhaps delivered by careers coaches with little understanding of the disabling barriers they face, or the provision had restrictive eligibility criteria – dependent on their post code, or their age. Or they’d be ‘too disabled’ or ‘not disabled enough’ or have the ‘wrong’ impairment. Or the support was a prescriptive programme which assumes everyone needs the same kind of support," she says.

So, Evenbreak developed the Career Hive, which offers relevant and accessible careers support specifically for disabled people looking for work.

Delivered by those with lived experience

The service has been developed by and is delivered by disabled careers professionals with lived experience of the barriers disabled people can face. 

Career Hive offers users the following: 

• Receive one-to-one coaching sessions from our Career Coaches
• Find support organisations near you
• Access online resources
• Search for jobs on its specialist job board  
• Attend online workshops and webinars
• join in ‘Meet the Employer’ events

The service is free, and has no complicated eligibility criteria – if you are disabled and would like support in your job search, Career Hive is available to you.

Peer support and mentoring

"You may just want some advice on your CV, or some interview preparation, or you may want more long-term support on confidence-building or identifying transferable skills," Jane says. "You’ll receive bespoke support that meets your needs in ways accessible to you."

The service was co-produced by the Evenbreak team (all of whom are disabled) and a focus group of Evenbreak candidates. "We wanted to ensure that the service met the real needs of disabled candidates," says Jane. 

Other services planned for the future include offering peer support from successful candidates who can mentor and support other candidates.

Watch the captioned video to find out more about the Career Hive system:

How AbilityNet can Help

• AbilityNet factsheet: Disability and Employment
• Webinar recording: Tips and tools for supporting disabled people in training and work
• For support with devices, call our FREE Helpline on 0800 048 7642
• FREE factsheets
• For FREE webinars and to see recordings visit AbilityNet Live!
• Check out our online tool for making adaptations My Computer My Way

Guest blog: Colin Hughes

Colin is a former BBC producer who campaigns for greater access and affordability of technology for disabled people. Colin is a regular contributor to Aestumanda.

iOS 14.5 brings lots of new features to your iPhone that let you do things like stop apps from tracking you, and unlock your iPhone with Face ID while wearing a mask. However, one new feature received less attention than the headline grabbers, but is great news for disabled users.

iOS 14.5 now lets users answer calls using the company's virtual assistant Siri without having to press anything.

The option is part of the Announce Calls with Siri feature, which lets users hear the name of who is calling when using AirPods, the company’s popular headphones. However, in addition to telling you the name of the caller, Siri now understands the commands to answer the call. There’s no need to say, “Hey Siri,” you just need to say “answer” or “decline.”

How to activate the new setting

The new option can be found under Settings > Phone > Announce Calls.

As someone with a severe physical motor disability, who can't touch the iPhone screen, this is the company’s most life changing feature in a long time. The beauty of it is Apple doesn’t even categorise it as an accessibility feature, which makes it very inclusive.

When I first tried the new capability last week, I was crying tears of joy at its simplicity and effectiveness. It will change my life going forward as I can now easily and spontaneously answer the numerous phone calls, I receive each day hands-free with just my voice.

I’ve lobbied Apple to include this ability for the past four years. Almost since Siri launched, you could place a call with a voice command, but until now you couldn't answer a call in the same way. I always found this situation untenable and it is good to see the company has finally acted.

Unfortunately, Apple’s accessibility speech recognition app Voice Control can’t answer and hang up calls. In any case, Voice Control relies on your iPhone being out and on display and unlocked with Face ID, but this is not my preferred setup when out and about.

If you too could do nothing about someone wrenching your phone from its holder as bold as brass and strolling off with it, you too would prefer to have it stowed away and rely on Siri through your AirPods as your main interface to all your iPhone's functions.

Accessibility feature or inclusive design approach?

Curiously, Apple hasn't explicitly highlighted this new 'answer calls with Siri' ability as an accessibility feature. I hope this is because the company has taken an inclusive design approach, which sees accessibility features incorporated into the core product, rather than siloed off as part of the operating system where they can be ignored.

However, I do have a slight worry that some disabled users may miss out, should Apple fail to properly market it. I think the tech giant should be more proactive in their marketing and product information, in terms of reaching out to disabled users and saying: "Hey, we have this great new feature, it's for everyone and does X, Y, and Z and we think it will be really helpful for people with physical motor disabilities". So far, the company has said nothing.

Expanding on this inclusive approach, the next AirPods advert, rather than showing a fit young person dancing down the street, it would be great if Apple could show how AirPods and Siri can help a disabled user answer phone calls and keep in touch with friends and family more easily.

Room for improvement

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) kicks off in a few weeks on 7th June. The annual keynote is where the company unveils details of the next major releases of its operating systems, such as iOS 15, watch0S 8 and macOS.

Despite the welcome introduction of the answer calls feature there is still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to accessibility in the company's forthcoming 2021 software updates. There is a tonne of stuff you can't do hands-free with your voice on Apple gear, which is very limiting.

Siri, why do you keep me hanging on the telephone?

A glaring flaw with iOS, and a major part of my advocacy over the past four years, is users can't hang up a call with Siri: "hey Siri end call" or "hey Siri hang up" or dropping the need for "hey Siri". Incredibly, users still can't do this hands-free on an iPhone or Apple Watch cellular.

It isn't too much of a problem if the other person on the line can hang up and end the call for you. However, this does mean that if you call a number and go to voicemail, you have to wait until the mailbox times out before the call ends – which is very frustrating for both parties. I feel a real sense of powerlessness when this happens to me.

There may also be occasions when I don't want to speak to someone and want to end the call and I simply can't hang up, if a persistent tele marketer calls me, for example. This unsatisfactory situation can't be allowed to persist and I hope something can be done about it in iOS 15.

Auto answer option

Thankfully, perhaps in no small part to The Register highlighting my experience, auto-answer was introduced as an accessibility option in iOS 11 in 2017.

However, the implementation has shortcomings because you have to touch the screen to turn it on and off. I can't do that and there is no Siri command option such as, "turn on auto answer". You might not want to answer every call. Auto-answer is a crude catch-all, and there is no way to whitelist certain contacts.

There is no watch iOS support for auto answer either, despite cellular versions effectively being wrist-worn phones.

Despite the introduction of answer calls with Siri auto-answer remains important for severely physically disabled people because the less you have to project your voice the better. It can help save vital bits of energy so automation remains important.

Third party messaging apps

Many popular third-party messaging apps don’t work with Announce Messages with Siri, which allows you to dictate and reply to messages hands-free when wearing AirPods. I am in the UK where WhatsApp is more popular than Apple’s iMessage, and all my friends and family use WhatsApp but there is no Announce Messages with Siri integration with WhatsApp.

It is my understanding that Apple provides access to the feature for third party developers through an API and it is up to them if they want to take advantage. Suffice to say if WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger integrated with the Announce Messages with Siri feature it would be of huge benefit to people with limited mobility.

It would be great to both hear and respond to WhatsApp and Facebook messages through your Airpods as they come in, in the same way you can with iMessages at the moment.

Security versus accessibility

Another problematic area is that dreaded announcement you receive via Siri on your iPhone when you ask the virtual assistant to read your messages "you need to unlock your iPhone first".

I want to keep my iPhone locked with a pass code and Face ID, but I am unable to unlock my iPhone with my hands so in this scenario Siri is unable to read out my new messages. If I turn off Face ID and keep my phone unlocked this won't happen, but I don't want to do that. I don't want to show a preview of my messages on the lock screen either.

This expected behaviour is about security but surely there could be an override, with sufficient warnings, for accessibility purposes. I just want to be able to access and listen to all my messages, iMessages, emails, WhatsApp messages, FB Messenger messages from a locked iPhone through my Airpods when I ask Siri to read them to me, or as they come in, whichever I set as a preference.

I constantly have to weigh up accessibility versus security, but for me independence and accessibility are important, and I would like to be able to make the choice, rather than Apple saying: "no you can't do that".

Apple Watch

Obviously, it goes without saying, that as an Apple Watch cellular owner, which is also a phone, I would like it to have the same Siri and Airpods functionality I have mentioned above. Siri to end a phone call, Siri to turn auto answer on and off, and Siri to answer and decline phone calls.

Voice Control bugs

Apple’s dedicated accessibility speech recognition app has disappointed since its launch to much fanfare at WWDC 2019. The company appears to have invested little in Voice Control and there are no exciting new features of note.

Dictation accuracy needs improving, as does its editing capabilities, particularly for long form dictation. Sophistication has to go beyond dictating short messages like: "happy birthday" with a cute emoji. Disabled people need more from speech recognition applications, both for education and employment purposes, and keeping in touch with friends and family in the online world we all rely on so much these days.

There are still bugs in Voice Control dictation. If you pause, even for a split second in your dictation, Voice Control applies a capital letter to a word with no reason for the word to have a capital letter. This happens quite frequently in a paragraph of dictation and always has done. When you correct a word the list of alternative words that comes up rarely includes the word you are looking for. I don't think much clever machine learning is being used.

Voice Control dictation doesn't learn from your mistakes, or its failure to recognise the words that you dictate, so the same mistakes keep happening over and over again making it not very productive to use.

How accurate is Voice Control?

Accuracy and performance of Voice Control dictation varies depending on which text box you are using. For example, I have found Voice Control dictation to be most accurate in the iMessage text box, both on iPhone and Mac. Much less accurate in the Mail application, particularly on the Mac, and in text boxes such as Google and WhatsApp in Safari the accuracy can sometimes be very poor.

Accuracy should be the same across all text boxes in the Apple eco system of devices and operating systems. Finally, you should be able to train words, so they are always recognised the way you pronounce them after training.

Speech recognition in Voice Control doesn't come close to what Nuance offers Windows users with its Dragon products, which is somewhat ironic as Nuance had to drop its Apple voice dictation product in 2018 because of the way Apple controls API access to its platforms, it was alleged at the time.

Try writing a long email to a loved one, running a business, writing a book, campaigning or journalism, if you can't use a keyboard and rely 100 per cent on Voice Control recognising your voice and dictating your words accurately onto the screen. It simply isn't up to the job at the moment and hasn't been for the past two years. Soon after it was unveiled, I feared Voice Control would become a bit of a ghetto, a specialist accessibility application that receives next no investment, and is not updated very often.

Mainstream speech recognition app

I think Apple would serve all its customers better if it made Voice Control a mainstream inclusive speech recognition app powered by the improving Siri speech engine. I am sure lots of general users would be interested in it. There is an appetite and need for high quality speech recognition for all sorts of reasons, RSI, dyslexia, physical motor disability, and, who knows, perhaps Long Covid too.

All these accessibility improvements and making it easier for everyone to control their Apple devices with just your voice, will, I believe, prove to be popular with a lot of people generally meaning any improvements the company decides to make will be inclusive. This is exactly how it should be nowadays. Apple devices should be for everyone.

This article was written by Colin Hughes. Colin is a former BBC producer who campaigns for greater access and affordability of technology for disabled people. Colin is a regular contributor to Aestumanda.

Additional related content

• Learn all about how to use Siri
• Watch our webinar with Sarah Herrlinger from Apple and find out how Apple prioritises inclusion
• Listen to our TechShare Procast - AbilityNet's podcast
• Find out more about Siri in our blog articles

Thursday 20 May 2021 marks the tenth Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). 

The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than one billion people with disabilities/impairments.

Here are some of the ways you can get involved:

1. Watch the webinar with GAAD co-founders

Find out the GAAD co-founders' accessibility tips for the future - we recently spoke to GAAD co-founders, Jennison Asuncion and Joe Devon, as part of our Accessibility Insights webinar series.

Watch the webinar recording where GAAD's co-founders discuss hybrid events and the #GAADPledge, and more:

(Download the transcript).

2. Attend our free Dementia-friendly design webinar 

Access the webinar recording of our Dementia-friendly design webinar from Tuesday 18 May. Get expert tips from AbilityNet Accessibility and Usability Consultant, Daniel Mclaughlan about designing websites for dementia. His suggestions will help you build websites with inclusive design best practices that are better for everyone.
 

Access the webinar recording 

3.  Come to our training course - Creating accessible graphics and social content

On our popular training course this week, taking place on GAAD, you'll learn how to create accessible graphics and images, and leverage accessibility functionality on social media platforms. 
 

Attend our training course

GAAD special offer: For 20 May only we are pleased to offer a 10% discount on our accessibility training courses. Visit our Training section and use code GAAD10 for 10% off any of our upcoming courses. Offer begins 12.01am on Thursday 20 May 2021 and ends at 11:59pm BST.


4. Attend Texthelp's Festival of Accessibility

We're delighted to be part of this event, with AbilityNet's Head of Digital Inclusion, Robin Christopherson, speaking about the future of accessibility, on two sessions - individually and as part of a panel session. The sessions will air from 10.15am to 10.45am and at 3.35pm to 4.30pm BST. 

Zenab Khan, Accessibility and Usability Consultant at AbilityNet, will also be sharing how to check for the most common web accessibility errors. Zenab will be speaking on the session: Accessibility law and how to check your website for the top 5 WCAG errors, from 1.15pm to 2.10pm.
 

Sign up for the sessions

5. Attend the Charity Digital #BeMoreDigital Marketing Day

This event, also taking place on 20 May, is set to be full of inspiring sessions from charity and tech experts. We're excited to contribute to a session at 1.30pm - 3pm, on accessibility best practices for digital marketing professionals.

The session will be hosted by two of our Accessibility and Usability Consultants, Jess Cahill and Arnaud Ramgoolam.
 

Attend the marketing session

Registration closes Tuesday 18 May.

6.  Choose from 100+ GAAD events and activities

Visit the GAAD website for a comprehensive list of all the GAAD events and activities taking place this year, around the world.


Further Resources

• Watch our previous Accessibility Insights webinars
• Learn about our free resources
• Watch the interview with GAAD co-founder Jennison Asuncion at TechShare Pro 2019
• Sign up to our newsletter to find out about our upcoming webinars and events

Guest blog by Alistair McNaught of McNaught Consultancy*

This is the final blog in a four-part series (see part 1,  part 2 and part 3) exploring accessibility maturity in educational settings. We suggest you read the first three blogs to fully benefit from this post.

Lenses 3, 4 and 5 – Model of disability, Focus of effort, Skills and expertise

In the previous post we explored the issue of responsibility and the irony that the responsibility for institution-wide accessibility is usually delegated down to people who have neither the authority nor the budget to make the changes necessary. In this post we explore 3 lenses together.

There are three reasons for exploring them together:

1. They are interdependent - beliefs influence our behaviours but our practices also depend on us having the right skill sets.
2. When piloting the accessibility maturity model, these 3 were the lowest scoring lenses for all participants. They are therefore the areas where biggest improvements are possible.
3. February got busier than I expected so writing them up together saves time.

Unpacking the lenses – model of disability

When we explore accessibility maturity with organisations, they are often rightly proud of their disability support colleagues and their commitment to students. They are surprised to find that excellent disability support does not give a high score for accessibility maturity. This isn’t a reflection on the team or their value.

It simply reflects the fact that supporting students to get over the barriers they encounter does nothing to change the barriers or the institutional practices that create them. Look at the disability support pages of your organisation and ask some questions about the model of disability.

In the maturity model we unpick an organisation’s approach to disability using questions that probe whether disabled students and the technologies that support them exist in a “medicalised” bubble or whether they blend and blur into generic advice and guidance that would benefit everyone.

Questions like:

• Does guidance for disabled students references a range of digital skills?
• Is there join up between study skills, library and disability support / AT information?
• Are mainstream technology tools such as lecture capture, VLE, library platforms et cetera available and signposted for their accessibility benefits?

In many organisations you only get to know about assistive technologies if you declare a disability. That is a medicalised model and doesn’t rank highly on the maturity scale. For many students, having accessible systems and resources - and knowing how to exploit them - might mean they were no longer disabled.

Focus of effort

If your focus of effort is to build upon the social model to reduce the barriers in the teaching and learning environment, you are on the road to accessibility maturity.

However, many organisations are still focused on compliance as a “task and finish” project rather than culture change and quality improvement. The kind of questions that elicit a mature focus of effort are those that show commitment to long-term improvements. These include:

• Is there evidence that accessibility informs choice and/or purchase of digital tools and services?
• Is there evidence of comparable achievement for disabled and non-disabled students?
• Has there been any mapping of “learning journey accessibility” for disabled staff and students?
• Is accessibility part of job descriptions for roles involving digital communication with students?

The “Focus of effort” can be considered mature when it’s based around understanding institution-wide barriers and tackling them at source. But this requires a commitment to raising awareness and upskilling staff.

Skills and expertise

This is where the next lens becomes important. What is the focus of training? Who gets it? How important is it considered?

In this lens, the questions revolve around the following themes:

• Is guidance available? In what form? Who knows about it and how easy is it to access?
• Is it generic or specific to the different needs and influences of different roles? The latter is more mature than the former.
• Is training an optional extra for the enthusiasts or a mandatory requirement to ensure staff are equipped to change their digital practices?
• Is “go to” expertise available in-house to troubleshoot issues – or do trickier problems simply get ignored?
• Do the learners themselves have clarity about the accessibility levels they should be able to expect? If they do, they not only benefit personally but can also play their role as informal quality assurance support.

In our pilot group, these 3 lenses were uniformly low – none scoring above Bronze. Much of the issue is still to do with mindset. A mindset that sees accessibility as a niche concern, supporting a “minority of learners with a deficit in their abilities” is never going to be mature. Maturity is when you realise that:

• The deficit is not the in the learner but in the organisation’s ability to exploit digital technologies in ways that increase their value for everyone.
• The problem isn’t solved by teaching everyone about 50 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

The problem is solved when everyone whose role involves creating digital content or communications knows how to do it properly and why it matters. The skills needed will be specific to the tasks they do and the technologies they use. 

Deliver training to frontline staff

In total, these three lenses - Model of disability, Focus of effort, Skills and expertise – cover 30 different statements, using evidence from different parts of the organisation to tease out the digital maturity of the organisation.

With thousands of staff in a large institution, the need for skills and training is a challenge but an excellent starting point is with the front line delivery staff who teach students. Creating learning experiences and teaching resources is an excellent place to begin. It’s worth noting that a course level maturity model has also been developed for this group of staff – a model based on the principles of universal design for learning and mapped across to existing elearning frameworks.

In May and June I’ll be working with colleagues at AbilityNet to run a couple of training sessions:

• How to grow your accessibility maturity - for HE and FE professionals
• How to deliver and sustain accessible digital learning - for HE and FE professionals

The courses focus on giving consistent student experiences at course and module level. They offer a good way to consider accessible practice in a focused, relevant way that makes sense to front line delivery.

About this blog series

* This is an edited version of Alistair's blog that can be found in full on LinkedIn. This is the final blog in a four-part series. See part 1 part 2 and part 3.

Want to learn more?

• Consider how our findings might help your organisation to become more “accessibility mature”. How would you respond to those sample statements? Who is championing cross-institution digital accessibility? Do they have the clout to make changes?
• Download the Accessibility Maturity Model overview - try the free interactive tool provided
• Get your colleagues together to attend our next guided training sessions 
• Email Amy.low@abilitynet.org.uk for more information

Further resources

• Webinar playback: Watch the recording of AbilityNet's webinar about the Accessibility Maturity Model for Higher and Further Education.
• Sign up to the AbilityNet newsletter 

AbilityNet provides a range of free services to help disabled people and older people. If you can afford it, please donate to help us support older and disabled people through technology

"The idea with the GAAD pledge is to really focus on the frameworks that people build technology in," said Joe Devon, co-founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on last week's Accessibility Insights webinar. 

He continued: "...because if the frameworks are accessible, they include accessible documentation, they include accessible examples, and the developers that take up the project will do a better job with accessibility which can affect millions of users downstream."

Facebook takes the #GAADPledge

Joe was discussing the #GAADPledge on the webinar alongside his GAAD co-founding partner Jennison Asuncion, Head of Accessibility Engineering Evangelism at LinkedIn. The pledge is a commitment made by organisations and developers to make accessibility a core value of their digital products.

Facebook became one of the first organisations to take the #GAADPledge.

Coming up on 20th May and now in its tenth year, GAAD aims to encourage thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than one billion people with disabilities/impairments.

GAAD's influence on accessibility 

You can watch the webinar playback below (download the transcript):

On the webinar, Jennison shared his thoughts about GAAD's significance as a day for promoting accessibility.

"What is neat about this, is that people use the GAAD platform as a reason or an excuse to raise accessibility for the first time in companies or to launch a product or to start a campaign, or to end something, or to make an announcement," Jennison said. "We are fine with all of that, as long as it involves digital access or inclusion."

Keeping mobile apps accessible

Jennison also noted his thoughts about how GAAD can develop further: "We have to do more on the mobile side of things to ensure that the mobile app developers are doing exactly what the web folks have been doing for the last ten years."  

Webinar attendees posed their questions to Jennison and Joe during the session. One attendee asked: "Do you have suggestions for getting companies to keep their apps accessible as they update so often? Many apps are broken with updates."

Joe Devon responded: "It all comes down to the organisation having accessibility as a core value of the company. If they do, everyone doing updates will pay attention to accessibility and most importantly, have accessibility testing as part of their quality assurance process before going live with an update."

You can find the remaining Q&As on the webinar page.

Meet Larry Goldberg of Verizon Media

Each session in the Accessibility Insights series is hosted by AbilityNet's Head of Digital Inclusion, Robin Christopherson. He asks the guest to pose a question to the next guest in the series, so each session follows on from the previous episode.

Our guest for June's session is Larry Goldberg (pictured, below), Senior Director and Head of Accessibility of Verizon Media.

"I want to shower the praise on to Larry for all he has done in accessibility and for being such an approachable leader… he has so much energy... he is doing so many great things over at Verizon and I wanted to take the opportunity to acknowledge and to thank him for his keen enthusiasm," said Jennison.

Joe and Jennison's question for next month's webinar: "What are your thoughts on auto captioning technology and in particular, the habit of sensoring out content like swear words?"

Find out Larry's answer by attending the webinar on 8 June. Registration now open:
 

Register for the next webinar

Further resources

• Read Robin's article on Smashing website about the Accessibility Insights series guests.
• Blog: Accessibility in a Digital-First World
• Video: Interview with Jennison Asuncion. TechShare Pro 2019 
• Keep up to date with our Accessibility Insights sessions and accessibility news on the AbilityNet newsletter 
• Unsure where to start with digital accessibility? Speak to our experts for help.
• AbilityNet's online accessibility training courses

AbilityNet provides a range of free services to help disabled people and older people. If you can afford it, please donate to help us support older and disabled people through technology

This week (May 10th to 16th 2021) is Mental Health Awareness Week. The theme for 2021 is ‘Nature’.

The two aims of the campaign are the encourage people to connect with nature in new ways and to convince decision-makers that access to and quality of nature is a mental health and social justice issue, as well as an environmental one.

The theme is a fitting one given many of us have found solace in nature during lockdowns.

The Mental Health Foundation's Chief Executive, Mark Rowland, talks about the reason for the theme including hearing a story of an elderly person who had lost all in-person contact following a fall.

Research from the foundation found that 45% reported being in a green space was vital for our mental health. Visits to websites hosting webcams with footage of wildlife increased by over 2000%.

The Foundation is asking people to take time this week to share their experiences of nature; take a photo, a video, or record an audio clip and share these with others using the hashtags; #ConnectWithNature #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek.

Making technology accessible to all

When sharing these experiences online, it's vital to ensure they're accessible to everyone. There are some simple things you can do to ensure that your shared experiences are accessible.

1. Use Alt Text for images

When sharing photographs use Alt Text to describe the image. These are captions that describe the image you've uploaded. Screen readers will read out this Alt Text to people with visual impairments.

2. Accessible social media

Social media is a great platform for sharing experiences including those from the natural world. Find out more about How to do accessible social media in our FREE webinar recording. The web page includes Q&As from the session.

3. Use Captions for video content

For anyone sharing video, captions will help to make these accessible for people with hearing impairments. Auto captions are now included in Chrome and within the Zoom video-conferencing platform. 

Individuals can find out how to enable auto-captions on an Android device in My Computer My Way.

Providing support during Covid-19

During Covid-19, AbilityNet has helped people stay connected to friends and family through support from our 300+ volunteers.

We have helped deploy tablets and technology into the community including supporting disadvantaged children from the BAME community, and have helped deliver mental health support remotely.

We've supported more people than ever in 2020, and as our impact report shows technology has helped reduce social isolation, improve confidence and more.

As well as technology helping to support you with your mental health, it can help you to connect connecting with nature.

Connections to nature through technology

Google Lens (Android Only)

This FREE app from Google uses your camera to help identify what you're looking at. The app uses artificial intelligence to identify text and objects from your camera's phone.

While not specifically designed for identifying plants and animals it can do just that and so is a great way to get to know the natural world better. It’ll work with the live view as well as with any pictures you've taken.

Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab

This app will help you visually identify your Goldcrest from your Firecrest, your House Sparrow from your Tree Sparrow.

BirdNET 

This app looks complicated when you open it, but it's great fun. Essentially, if you hear a bird and wonder what it is, you hit record, then select the section of the recording you want to be analysed and the app will attempt to analyse it (it'll also tell you how confident it is with its answer). As you use the app, you’ll see how the birdsong appears as a pattern, so picking the bit to analyse becomes easier.

Tree ID  

Curious about your conifers? Then this free app from the Woodland Trust is the one for you.

iRecord

This app won’t help with identification, but if you already know your stuff, it enables you to get involved with the logging of species across the UK. It's a great way to share your knowledge with others.

Creepie crawlies...

There are some apps for identifying insects, but unfortunately, most are subscription apps or have hefty in-app purchases. Picture Insect is one (£20 per year), but unless you’re a budding entomologist Google lens is a better (free) starting point.

What3Words

Oh, and as lockdowns lift and you explore further, don’t get lost!

Where you are in the world, doesn’t always have an address and telling someone “I’m in the middle of a wood!” isn’t helpful. Winner of the AbilityNet Tech4Good BT Ingenious Award 2015, what3words is a simple, ingenius, idea for locating where you are.

It divides the planet into 3m squares and assigns 3 words to each of those squares so whether you’re standing in the middle of Trafalgar Square (verge.mutual.firmly) or at the top of Scafell Pike (attends.untrained.booklet) you’ll be able to let someone know exactly where you are! 

Support for Mental Health Issues

If you feel you are struggling, you can talk to your GP or contact the NHS for help (999 or go to A&E in an emergency, 111 for less urgent help) there are also a number of charities where you can talk to someone:

C.A.L.M. – Campaign Against Living Miserably – for men

0800 58 58 58

www.thecalmzone.net or webchat

Samaritans

116 123

jo@samaritans.org 

www.samaritans.org

Papyrus – for people under 35

0800 068 41 41 

Text 07786 209697

pat@papyrus-uk.org

https://www.papyrus-uk.org/help-advice/about-hopelineuk

Childline – for children and young people under 19

0800 1111 – free and the number will not show up on your phone bill

"We're living in a digital-first world in so many aspects of our lives. People with disabilities or impairments often rely on them more than most. Key activities such as shopping and banking need to be inclusive or people will not only be left behind but potentially even left without food or money to buy it," - AbilityNet's Head of Digital Accessibility Robin Christopherson highlights one of the key considerations for accessibility in a digital age, in advance of his upcoming talk as part of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD).

Celebrating 10 years of GAAD

GAAD was founded to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital accessibility and inclusion for people with different health conditions and impairments. Ten years on from the first GAAD, Robin will be presenting at Texthelp's free Festival of Accessibility on 20th May.

In his session, titled, 'Accessibility, Usability, and Inclusion - what’s the difference?' Robin will delve into digital accessibility further and explore topics including:

• What an online experience that’s ‘Accessible, usable and inclusive’ looks like
• How organisations can build all three into their digital platforms
• Advice on overcoming common barriers to inclusion

Robin will also be part of a panel session where he will discuss the future of accessibility. The sessions will air from 10.15am to 10.45am and at 3.35pm to 4.30pm BST.

Another expert from AbilityNet, Accessibility and Usability Consultant Zenab Khan, will be speaking on the TextHelp session: Accessibility law and how to check your website for the top 5 WCAG errors, from 1.15pm to 2.10pm.

GAAD co-founders share their experiences

Robin recently spoke with the co-founders of GAAD, Jennison Asuncion and Joe Devon in AbilityNet's Accessibility Insights webinar, where they had an insightful discussion around the rise of hybrid events. Watch the webinar playback to find out more about GAAD directly from its co-founders. 

Need help with making your products and services accessible? AbilityNet can help. We offer a variety of products and services including expert consultancy, accessibility auditing, diverse user testing, bespoke training and off-the-shelf tools and resources.

Further Resources

• Watch our previous Accessibility Insights webinars
• Learn about our free resources
• Watch the interview with GAAD co-founder Jennison Asuncion at TechShare Pro 2019
• Sign up to our newsletter to find out about our upcoming webinars and events

National Volunteers' Week is 1 - 7 June 2021. We'd like to take the opportunity to say a huge "thank you" to the volunteers without who we couldn't provide support to thousands of older and disabled people every year.

Here, Sarah Brain who manages our volunteers shares a letter thanking them. 

These 300+ volunteers make a difference to all of us at AbilityNet and, more importantly, impact the lives of thousands of individuals each year. 

See below for details of how we help individuals.

Dear AbilityNet Volunteers,

I am writing this letter to you to celebrate Volunteer's Week 2021, to say a heartfelt “thank you” to every single person who volunteers for AbilityNet. 

We have over 300 volunteers who provide support with technology to older and disabled people to help them use technology.

This service is FREE as part of our charitable or public benefit work and without you, we couldn’t do it.

During a time of Covid-19, you helped 3,541 individuals, delivering over 11,700 hours of free technology support.

This included people with mobility, hearing and speech, vision and colour, learning and memory impairments. It also included people with neurodiverse needs.

I know what you do is not only about technology. It empowers people to live better lives or as a volunteer said recently “I help people keep being ‘me’”. 

Your help means that the people we support feel more confident using technology, and to manage their daily lives better. Just one example is a client who said:

“Dave my local volunteer was an invaluable help. [I am] feeling a lot more confident now knowing that AbilityNet can lend support. Thank you so much.”

Our clients also feel less stressed and less isolated, more independent and better able to participate in new activities. 

These statistics capture some of the story but not the passion that you all bring every day. It’s a pleasure to work alongside all of you.

Thank you for doing all that you do.

Sarah Brain, Free Services Manager for AbilityNet

How AbilityNet can help

• Call the AbilityNet Helpline on 0800 048 7642
• Help for you, or a friend or relative
• Download FREE factsheets 
• Information on FREE webinars, and to watch recordings
• My Computer My Way: make your computer, phone or tablet easier to use
• Find out how volunteers have helped people during Covid-19