The Rounded Rectangle - A single topic round-table type discussion featuring myself (Jonathan Norman) and two guests. This week from stevensblog.co, we have Steven Aquino, a freelance technology writer and iOS accessibility expert, and Austin Seraphin, from austinseraphin.com, who is an accessibility consultant. Our topic this week is Accessibility.
What leads to working in accessibility? How has Apple changed the game? Are developers on board? How far has accessibility come and what still needs work? Today we're tackling these questions and more.
Background
Your interest and desire to work in the area of accessibility is a personal one, could you explain that for those who don't know you?
Steven:
Accessibility is certainly a topic close to my heart. That's because I'm disabled myself, as I am considered legally blind and suffer from mild cerebral palsy. My disabilities are the result of premature birth (born at 24 weeks). I also have a slight congenital hearing loss, due to my parents being deaf.
Austin:
I became blind at birth. My parents got an Apple II/e, and I started using and programming it at a young age, around seven years old. I became very aware even then of the tremendous difference technology could make in the lives of the blind and disabled. Back then they wouldn’t let me bring a computer into class, or hand in assignments electronically. Now that has become more standard and certainly not as far out as it seemed back then. Consider that in each of my classrooms I had to have a whole shelf with volumes of braille books. Now that can fit on a chip the size of your fingernail. Pretty amazing! To say nothing of things like the iPhone or Apple Watch.
What are the misconceptions regarding these challenges and using technology?
Steven:
The biggest misconception I find is when I tell people I'm "legally blind." I should say instead that I'm low vision, because legal blindness is really only a legal definition. The bottom line is that I can see (and am grateful for the vision I do have) but my acuity is such that my eyesight is pretty bad. Bad enough that I can't drive and need assistive technology like large print.
In terms of tech, I find that even with my vision impairment that I do quite well under the circumstances. What I mean is that I'm able to see things; it's just that things are somewhat fuzzy and I prefer objects to be big and up close. Further, while I use some accessibility features on my iOS devices, my experiences aren't defined by them. I don't need every feature, and I think some people assume that people with disabilities live and die by a bunch of accessibility features. Many do, but many don't --- I use only what I need to suit my needs.
Austin:
A lot of people have the misconception that it will take a lot of work to make their product accessible. If they use a lot of custom elements this may prove so, but in general it does not take nearly as much work as they may think. Labeling buttons, images, and other controls fixes a lot of the problems. The sooner you think about accessibility the better. If you think about it in the beginning of your project it will make a better product for all users. I think we need to make that kind of shift, from thinking about accessibility as benefiting a few users, to thinking about it as making a better product for everyone. Some also think that you can’t have an accessible product that also looks good, not true. Again, if you think about it in the beginning, and if you use standard controls, then you’ll likely have something beautiful and usable.
What is your educational background? Did education play a role in you working in accessibility? What are your goals for working in this field?
Steven:
I don't have a college degree yet, but the majority of the credits I have are in early childhood development. There was a time in my life when I wanted to be an early childhood special education teacher, so I went to school for it for a while.
Prior to becoming a tech journalist, I actually worked 9 years as a paraeducator --- a classroom aide to preschoolers with special needs. So, my background is in special education. I worked with students with various conditions and needs, but was extensively trained in working with children with autism. I'm knowledgable in several teaching methodologies specifically designed for autistic children (e.g., PECS, ABA).
I believe that a lot of my experience and training in the classroom and in school has helped me in my writing career. Meaning, the how and why something does or doesn't work for a person with disabilities. This is all in combination with my own life experience as a disabled person, and I think I have a unique perspective from which to report on Apple and accessibility.
Austin:
I attended St. Lucy’s Day School for the blind from preschool to 2nd grade, then mainstreamed into the public school system when my parents moved. I think I got the best of both worlds in a sense, because I learned some basic skills, then learned how to deal with the sighted world. After high school I went to college for a few years, but dropped out. I’ve taught myself pretty much everything I’ve known about computers.
I help developers make their apps and web sites accessible, and do a lot of public speaking to boost awareness. When people see me speak it really gives it a personal feel, and many have promised me that they will think about accessibility from now on. I want accessibility to become a standard part of the design process. More companies and especially indy developers have become more receptive to fixing issues, but these issues should never reach the user in the first place. As I said above, we should think of accessibility not as making something for the blind or some other group of disabled people, but as making a better product for everyone. For example, wheelchair ramps help many other people than wheelchair users, such as movers and people with strollers. Accessibility helps everyone!
More and more people will have disabilities. I can’t help but wonder what will happen when one of these CEOs with such a dismissive attitude towards accessibility suddenly goes blind or ends up in a wheelchair. Things would change very quickly. This will happen. Why not think about it now?
Jonathan:
I'm always a little tongue-tied when speaking to people who have persevered through challenges I have not had to deal with. It's simply inspiring to me. While I have friends who have disabilities, not one of them has ever come off as considering themselves "disabled" in terms of opportunities. I've never inquired as to why, but just going off what you two have said, I think it has to do with the availability that accessibility, in all areas, not just technology, has given them. I think it's people like you, who are pushing the envelope by speaking, writing, and helping others see the importance of accessibility that makes all the difference.
Moving The Needle
Until recently many people who didn’t need accessibility features simply didn’t think about it. Today it seems to be a pretty hot topic, what do you think brought this on?
Steven:
I can't pinpoint what brought it on, but the fact that accessibility is increasingly becoming part of the conversation in tech is fantastic. Given the near ubiquity of smartphones, it makes sense (not to mention being the right thing to do) to consider their impact on persons with disabilities. This is especially true when you consider the ways in which modern technology empower people with disabilities.
Austin:
Part of it has to do with laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which just turned 25. Technology has also become more mainstream. For a while, into the late nineties, someone wanting computer speech needed to buy a separate card and a screen reader made for that card. Eventually sound cards became standard, and now pretty much everyone uses software speech. Windows has some costly screen readers, but a free one as well named NVDA. Linux has speakup built into the kernel for the console, and Orca for Gnome. And of course the Mac has VoiceOver, as well as other features.
Specifically speaking about Apple, how have they moved the needle on accessibility?
Steven:
I think they've moved the needle simply by caring. I firmly believe that their support for the accessibility community makes their ethos to "make products that change people's lives" a truism. You can see this just by looking at the Accessibility pane on an iOS device. The breadth and depth of these features is impressive, and made even more so by Apple's commitment to making them better year over year.
Austin:
Apple making its products accessible has unquestionably advanced the cause, and served as an example of not just a corporation, but the largest corporation, building accessibility into all of its products. Other companies should follow this example. The changes started when Steve Jobs returned. He ensured that accessibility would happen from the top down. Apple has an accessibility department which they involve in all of their products. Accessibility must come from the top down. Contrast Apple with Android.
In my opinion, we entered a dark age of accessibility in the late nineties, when Windows became dominant. This lasted until 2010, when the iPhone 3GS came out with VoiceOver. Developers could not dismiss this like they could a special device for the blind. Lots of people have iPhones and Macs.
Do you think other companies are taking notice? What makes you think this?
Steven:
I don't know if other companies notice, but I do know that organizations like the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) certainly notice. Apple has garnered numerous awards for their assistive technologies, this year getting the Helen Keller Achievement Award for VoiceOver.
Austin:
Hmmmmmmm I don’t know. I’d like to think so, but the evidence doesn’t seem fully convincing to me. A lot of companies still give the standard excuses - don’t have the time or budget. More have started slowly catching on. I remain optimistic in the long term.
Jonathan:
If they're NOT taking notice they will be soon. The number of people with a need for accessibly isn't going to dwindle, it will only increase. As Austin has said, just wait until a CEO or someone in their immediate family simply can not use their products due to its lack of accessibility features.
Comparing the Mac to iOS devices and Apple Watch, how would you rank these in terms of accessibility features? Is one a better choice for those looking for these and why?
Steven:
Of Apple's three software platforms, I follow iOS the closest by far. watchOS is new, and particularly interesting to me given Apple Watch and its close ties to iOS. As for the Mac, while I know my way around OS X fairly well, I'm not as well-versed in its Accessibility features. This is something that I hope to rectify later this year.
Austin:
All of Apple’s products have a version of VoiceOver built in. The phone and watch have simpler interfaces in general, some have a simpler version of VoiceOver. I’d recommend an iDevice to anyone who wants something simpler, such as the elderly or non-computer literate.
The Mac has a more complex interface. VoiceOver on the Mac has the concept of interaction - for example a toolbar with buttons first reads as “Tool bar.” Then interacting shows the buttons of the toolbar. Different screen readers handle the problem of clutter in different ways, and interacting helps minimize the clutter. Some will find it hard to get used to. I tell people coming from the PC to forget everything they know about JAWS or whatever they used, and start fresh with VoiceOver.
Looking at applications and developers, are the majority working to incorporate accessibility into their apps, or is it still a crapshoot? Do you find certain developers are much more dedicated to this or is it still a guessing game for those in need of these features?
Steven:
If my TestFlight list and the emails I get are any indication, I'd say developer interest in accessibility is strong.
I wouldn't say that any certain developer is more invested in accessibility than another. I think the key is that there are more developers who genuinely want to make their apps more inclusive and accessible, and want to learn more about how best to achieve that goal.
Austin:
Still a crapshoot. I find independent developers more receptive. Often I will meet them face to face at conferences and other events, and they get it right away. Large companies have a whole bureaucracy to go through. It saddens me. As I noted in my TEDx talk companies that provide basic amenities such as banks, food, and travel have an obligation to make their products accessible. They too often think of it as an afterthought, if they do at all. This must change, it has to. As I said, just wait until one of these CEOs can’t use one of their own products.
Jonathan:
I find this both exciting and upsetting. I would have thought with all the push Apple has been doing in this area, even highlighting apps due to Accessibility, that developers would jump on board. It appears to be happening, which is great, just slower than I would have anticipated. At the same time, it's also disturbing that the developers creating apps with the most limited budgets are more apt to jump on board than those with much deeper pockets.
When consulting or looking over an app or piece of hardware, what is the first thing you look for in the area of accessibility? In other words, if someone were designing a 1.0 product, and couldn’t afford to or didn't have the background or knowledge to implement everything they wanted to in this area at the start, what would be the one thing they should focus on?
Steven:
Text size. If I can't adjust it and squint to see, yuck. (I'm looking at you, Facebook.)
For me, readability is #1. As a person with low vision, how comfortably I can see an app goes a long way in determining whether I use it. In fact, I recently wrote about designing for optimal visual accessibility for The App Factor.
Austin:
Label buttons and other controls properly. For desktop web sites and apps, try navigating it with the keyboard. This shows basic keyboard accessibility. Tools like WAVE can also help with that. And for any RubyMotion iOS developers I’d recommend my own motion-accessibility which has automated testing.
Jonathan:
I love the advice for trying to navigate with the keyboard as a step anyone could test and check. I gave my own site a shot and while it took some getting used to, it showed me just how accessible the site is. I would suggest everyone do the same. Great tip.
Also, I'm shocked, Steven. Completely shocked that Facebook hasn't made such an improvement. They're usually so on top of things. /sarcasm.
Do you think that there is a divide between what people think is needed and what true accessibility means?
Steven:
I don't know if there's a "divide," but do think there is somewhat of a misconception about what accessibility is and who it's for. Accessibility is about access --- allowing people greater access to the things he or she needs. It isn't only about people with disabilities; anyone, regardless of ability, can benefit from accessibility. E.g., bigger text size, captioning, transcription.
Austin:
Hm, not sure. A difference exists between accessibility and usability, if you mean that. Accessibility technically refers to the ability of an assistive technology to interact with an element in a meaningful way. Usability has more to do with design - does this make sense to a human? A computer can test for accessibility, but only a human can test for usability.
Jonathan:
I like the idea that it's not a hard line between what people think about accessibility and who it's for. I know many people who most wouldn't think would need to use accessibility settings, but do because they simply like the experience more. I also never really thought of there being a difference between accessibility and usability, but Austin makes a great point in his distinction.
Tim Cook has said, “When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” He also stated recently, "Accessibility rights are human rights." - What do these statements mean to you? What does having someone like Tim Cook speak up regarding accessibility mean?
Steven:
As I said before, statements like these from Cook are reflective of their mission to make great products that improve lives. Specific to Tim Cook, his comments are, I think, reflective of his stewardship of Apple. Advocating for diversity --- through accessibility or LGBT rights, for instance --- is Tim Cook putting his mark on the company. To me, it is truly admirable to see the world's biggest company fight so hard for human rights.
Austin:
A lot! He continues to set the bar. I wish more CEOs would get it like he does. It started with Steve Jobs and continues with Tim Cook. Yes, I directly equate accessibility with freedom. If your program grants a certain freedom, and if you do not make that program accessible, then you have denied me that freedom. The internet freedom crowd needs to understand this as well.
Jonathan:
It truly IS admirable. It may come off weird, but it makes me proud. It makes me feel great about owning and promoting Apple products to people I know.
Features and The Future
What are the accessibility features you find the most useful to you personally? Could you explain what makes these so important to your daily usage of your devices? Many people don't understand what makes accessibility important to someone, can you explain this for anyone questioning it's purpose?
Steven:
The two Accessibility features I use most (iOS) are Large Dynamic Type and Darken Colors.
Large Dynamic Type and Darken Colors are very complementary features, I think. Dynamic Type is great in that it sets text size system-wide for all apps that support it; it's so much easier to set this globally instead of individually. Darken Colors does exactly what it says: it darken the colors of UI labels and buttons, which make them easier to see. Put together, both features give me access to big text with high contrast that make using my iPhone and iPad that much better.
Austin:
Accessibility allows someone with a disability (blindness in my case) to use a product. The blind use a program called a screen reader to read the screen usually with synthesized speech, and also through braille displays. All of Apple’s products have a screen reader called VoiceOver built in. It works differently on different platforms, but a lot of the concepts carry over. Without VoiceOver I could not use my iPhone, Apple Watch, or Mac. Having it built right into the device means a lot also. The most popular screen reader for the PC costs $1200 minimum. When I first picked up an iPhone in the store, turned on VoiceOver and started using it, I knew I had encountered something magical. Since everyone uses the same device, it gives a sense of equality. If a blind person takes out a special device made for the blind, sighted people may feel uncomfortable, since they don’t know what it can do. Everyone knows what an iPhone can do though.
As for the most useful feature, if you mean VoiceOver on the iPhone I’d have to say the way it combines a 2-d and 1-d paradigm. A screen has two dimensions (rows and columns) but speech just has a one dimensional line. You can tap anywhere on the screen to hear the item under your finger. This gives spacial relations - tap the button in the top right corner means something. You can also swipe right and left with one finger to go to the next or previous item. This gives a more familiar next/previous motion. It also has a rotar for browsing by finer units, such as characters, words, or headings. You can also perform other features. It amazes me how much Apple has packed in to a flat screen interface.
What is the biggest issue unaddressed in accessibility in your opinion? Is there something that is simply too far behind almost across the board?
Steven:
I think a problem that needs (and should) be solved is making podcasts accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. It's a shame that the many great shows on, say, Relay FM are inaccessible to this group because they can't hear.
Transcription is costly and time-consuming, but it would be so awesome for the deaf and hard of hearing. In the same way that TDDs and now FaceTime enabled "phone calls" for those with little or no hearing, so too could transcription for podcasts. The "closed captioning" of audio, if you will.
Austin:
In general I’d say appliances. Take a walk through your kitchen with your eyes closed and imagine how you’d use any of those products. If you mean Apple technology, I’d say developer and employee accessibility. The accessibility of the developer portal, and especially iTunes Connect, lags behind the user end of things. Once I couldn’t do anything for three weeks, because I couldn’t check the “I Agree” box to agree to the new iOS developer terms of service. They fixed the problem to their credit, but it wasted a lot of time. I’ve had blind Apple Store employees tell me they have trouble accessing various things as well, though I forget what. I also think we just have to keep making more developers aware of accessibility, and its relative ease on Apple platforms.
Growing up I don't recall accessibility being part of anything in school. Today, working in a school, I see so much being done to make sure students of all types have the tools needed to succeed. Could you talk a little bit about your thoughts or feelings about this particular change in education and how technology and Apple have played a part in that?
Steven:
From a legal perspective, people with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate education under the IDEA clause of the Americans with Disabilities Act. There is a lot of education industry jargon like least restrictive environment, but the point is that schools must do their best to provide a positive experience, regardless of his or her ability level.
Regarding technology, much of accessibility in a classroom setting, conceptually, comes from tools that help students with expressive language, for example. Most of it is analog, low-tech stuff that is augmented by gadgets like an iPad. So, for example, speech & language pathologists can use a picture-based communication method using an iPad app called Proloquo2go. As with so many other things, the iPad offers a new approach to teaching and learning old school ideas.
Austin:
Things have totally changed in school. As I said, when growing up I had a bookshelf in each of my classrooms with 30 or so volumes of braille. This didn’t even make up the whole book, just what I needed. And too bad if they hadn’t transcribed the next part yet. I would often have to go weeks without a textbook. We also had books on tape for audio books. Now everything has gone digital. A lot of blind students have iPads, especially if they have basic computing needs and don’t need a laptop. Apple has always had a focus on education, I remember lovely Apple II/e’s in computer rooms growing up. In high school I had to buy a card and software to put into one PC which I could access in the computer lab. Now if a library or classroom has a Mac, any blind person can go up to it and use it without any special software or hardware. Incredible!
Jonathan:
I think this is one of those things many who dismiss the iPad so quickly simply don't think about. Sure, many of the apps that run on iPad also run on the iPhone, but for many it's not just enough to run the apps, but it's the screen size that enables them to interact accordingly.
Final Thoughts
I'd like to give you the chance to say anything about accessibility in the Apple world that I may have missed. I certainly am no expert and surely missed some important points along the way. The text is yours!
Steven:
The only thing I have to say in closing is that this interview has been a lot of fun. I'm very passionate about this stuff, so it's fun for me to nerd out over it, especially bringing in my education background. In the end, what I do is about raising awareness and informing the masses of my world.
Austin:
We haven’t talked about any specifics from the developer’s view. I’d recommend watching the accessibility videos from WWDC. This year had several. Apple also has programming guides which explain all of this in detail, including best design practices and code examples. Basically, every object has accessibility attributes you can set. The most important five:
•accessibilityLabel: What VoiceOver reads. The most important. If you have a button which just reads as “Button” or as an image name, just set the accessibility label. Very easy.
•accessibilityHint: A longer hint if you need it, which you usually don’t.
•accessibilityTraits: Tells VoiceOver how to interact with an element, for example static text, button, link, image.
•accessibilityValue: A value associated with an element, for example with a slider.
•isAccessibilityElement: Tells VoiceOver whether or not to regard the element. If set to false VoiceOver ignores it entirely. For example, if you wanted to make an image accessibility, you’d have to set its accessibilityLabel to tell VoiceOver what to read, then set isAccessibilityElement to true to make VoiceOver aware of it.
Those five will get you off the ground. Very easy.
I also wanted to plug RubyMotion. They’ve cared about accessibility from day one, and I’ve spoken at two of their developer conferences. I could never have gotten into app development without it. Doing everything at the terminal boosts my productivity. I’ve never liked IDEs anyway. I also prefer Ruby to Objective C or Swift. It makes me laugh when Apple says they want people to use Swift for the next twenty years. Ruby turned twenty last year!
Thanks for this opportunity. I feel like I’ve covered a lot of good things.
Jonathan:
Steven, nerding out is what we do in these interviews and discussion posts. I can never get to all the things I want to, and much comes to me after posting, overall I thoroughly enjoy learning from other users and providing an additional outlet and medium.
Austin, you're spot on that we didn't get too much into the developer side of accessibility, and if we had more time I'd have loved to do so. The resources you have provided are a great start it feels like, thanks for providing them!
That's a wrap. Thanks to Steven (@steven_aquino) and Austin (@austinseraphin) for taking time to do this. I've already learned so much from both of you prior to doing this, and in the brief time we've gone back and forth I feel like I understand the area of accessibility even better.
Finally, thanks to you for reading. If you'd like to check out other The Rounded Rectangle pieces visit the gallery here.
