Close your eyes and imagine what it would be like to read the rest of this blog post without being able to see it. Wow, you actually closed your eyes? I wonder how long you sat there before you opened them again and continued reading? Anyway, if you didn’t have the ability to see the words on this screen how would you be able to read this blog post? For the first 15 years of my career as a professional visual designer it is something that I can’t remember ever thinking about. My day-to-day routine, like yours, was to problem solve, create, and hit deadlines. Beyond blindness, what about people with other types of disabilities? How could someone without the use of the muscles in their arms be able to enjoy that cool interactive website? How would someone without the ability to hear be able to follow the instructions I spoke on a how-to video? It wasn’t until I began working for a government contractor that I was made aware of the fact that millions of disabled people use the internet every day and unless I put a deeper level of compassionate thought into my work, none of those users will be able to enjoy anything I create.

Assistive technology is, “Any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities” (What is AT?, 2019). I have an astigmatism and without the assistive technology of my glasses I must hold my face about twelve inches away form my monitor to read these letters I’m typing (and yes, I just checked). Almost all of us have or have known a person in at one time in our lives that needed to use a piece of assistive technology to be mobile. For me it was my great-grandfather who had a stroke somewhere around the time I was born. I never knew him to be able to get around his small home without a walker. Someone with no, low or otherwise compromised vision can still use a computer to browse all the same internet that every other sighted person does, they just need to utilized a piece of assistive technology to do it. A screen reader likes the highly sophisticated JAWS allows a non-visual user to access everything on their computer and the internet by audibly “reading” everything on the screen.

The United Stated Government has been working to level the playing field between able-bodied and disabled people for decades reaching all the way back to the Communications Act of 1934. Later the Rehabilitation Act was signed in 1973. George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. Then a final rule of the Rehabilitation Act was published in 2017. Buried within all these laws is some instructions saying all electronic files posted online for public use by the government must be accessible to all people, regardless of their physical or mental ability to function. When a file with this level of accessibility is created it is known as being Section 508 Compliant. A file like this is accessible to people with blindness, deafness, muscular or cognitive dysfunction, brain injuries and more.

About 5 years ago I was hired as a Graphic Designer for a U.S. Government contractor which creates educational materials for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. When I started the job and first learned of 508 compliance, I went out to the Medicare Learning Network, where the majority of the files we deliver are posted, and did an unscientific review of the files posted there. Originally I was looking for completed work to try and understand what I needed to do with my files. I looked at well over 50 different PDFs from different contractors on different topics and not a single one was appropriately complaint. I put some thought to it and did some research. According to the National Federation of the Blind (Blindness Statistics, 2019), in America alone there are just under 7.9 million people with visual disabilities and the U.S is just 4.4% of the total global population. If we don’t do our jobs right the number of users with absolutely no ability to learn from or enjoy our work as designers is astronomical.

At this point you’re probably asking, “But Eric, I don’t even know what it means for a file to be 508 compliant.” Its a relatively long list but simply put, a 508 complaint file checks the following boxes (Fields, 2019):

• Audio and video file should have closed captioning text included.
• Text-based files should be built with the ability to be accessed with a screen reader. 
• Users should be able to navigate the files using only the keyboard. You can’t click and drag if you don’t have the ability to move a mouse or click on a specific spot on the screen.
• Links should allow keyboard-only users to skip repetitive content like the mega navigation and move directly to the main content on a desired section of the page.
• All images and video that convey meaning within a file need to have descriptive alternative image text attached to them. 
• Color contrast between background images/color and text need to must have high enough contrast that someone with visual impairments can still read the words.

Seeing so many of these files out there which legally are required to be 508 compliant that were not truly fired me up to begin working toward educating myself and improving the files my department delivers. These days I am the manager of a team of graphic artists and editors. I have made it my mission that each and every file we deliver be 100% accessible. Beyond the fact that we are legally obligated to and we spend weeks, if not months, producing these 508 compliant files, its my deep belief that it’s simply the right thing to do. I have a passion for making sure people who are already dealing with serious physical and cognitive issues in their lives at the very least can access the information in the files my team delivers.

I challenge each and every visual designer who reads this blog post to take a step back from their work and ask themselves, “Who am I excluding from my designs by making these choices?” Take some time to learn more about what assistive technology is. Find out what simple steps you can take in your designs to make them more usable by people with disabilities? By creating more accessible files you will not only be letting people learn from and enjoy the work you produce, you will also be helping to encourage your peers and people who are learning form you to do the same. With any luck, before long, the entire internet will be accessible to everyone.

References

Blindness Statistics. (2019) Retrieved from https://nfb.org/resources/blindness-statistics
Fields, H. (2019, August 12). 508 Compliance: Making Your Website More Accessible.
Retrieved from https://www.webdevelopmentgroup.com/2017/09/508-compliance-making-websites-accessible-for-people-with-disabilities
HHS Office, & Digital Communications Division. (2019, May 6). Section 508. Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/web/section-508/index.html
Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act. Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov
What is AT?. (2019) Retrieved from https://www.atia.org/at-resources/what-is-at
Yanchulis, D. (2019). Home. Retrieved from https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule