This presentation explores different messages and different ways to make a case for accessibility within your organization. Spoiler: it depends on who you're presenting to and their rank in the organization.

1. Building
the business case for
accessibility
How to explain accessibility in a corporate environment
Claudio Luis Vera - Accessibility Professional, UX Designer, human
Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.

2. Hats that I’ve worn
Ranked by insight and
time spent in role Front-
end
themer UX Designer
Creative
Director
Aging
human
Management
Caregiver
CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, SIMPLE-THEORY
Certified
A11y
professional

3. Royal Caribbean
Cruises, LTD (RCL)
World’s largest cruise company,
headquartered in Miami
● 6 distinct companies
● 3 brands managed in-house
● 59 ships (+17 on order)
● 65,000 employees
● 10,000 shoreside

4. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
The scope of my work
1.
Public
websites for
three brands
2.
Hiring
portals
3.
Mobile /
native apps
4.
Augmented
reality (AR)
5.
Kiosks and
shipboard
gaming
stations
Platforms supported by digital accessibility

5. Who are we serving?

6. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
● Independent persons of different
physical abilities
● Customers and employees who
want to be able perform tasks on
their own
Who are we serving?

7. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
● A person with a physical limitation
is disabled only because they can't
use the same tools we do.
● Persons with disabilities live in a
world that's not designed for them
What’s holding them back?

8. “Oh crap, we never
got around to
including persons
with disabilities in
our product.”

9. “Oh crap, we never
got around to
including persons
with disabilities in
our product.”
= Discrimination.

10. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Meeting a minimum of ADA compliance
standards is hardly innovative.
If your organization values innovation,
then planning for accessibility is a better
course.
Accessibility is a distance race, not a
sprint.
Compliance is not innovation.

11. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Disability inclusion is a journey

12. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Stages on the disability inclusion journey
Not compliant
Some features are completely
inaccessible to persons with
certain disabilities
Lack of accessibility is a legal
liability.
Trouble spots lead to opaque
communications
Minimally compliant Competent Competitive

13. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Stages on the disability inclusion journey
Not compliant
User or employee experience
just meets legal standards.
Pain points bring down the
Net Promoter Score (NPS).
Accessibility is an afterthought.
Minimally compliant Competent Competitive

14. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Stages on the disability inclusion journey
Not compliant
User experience is acceptable
for persons with disabilities
Some accessibility standards
have been worked into design
and construction.
Minimally compliant Competent Competitive

15. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Stages on the disability inclusion journey
Not compliant
Accessibility is a competitive
advantage.
Persons with disabilities have
been given the same attention
as other users and employees
Accessibility is part of the
customer journey map, design
thinking, and personas
Minimally compliant Competent Competitive

16. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
How does timing impact cost?
Cost of remediation at each
stage of the development process
concept
wireframes
design
implementation
staging
time
$
$$
$$$

17. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
How does timing impact cost?
Most organizations fix
accessibility issues after release
concept
wireframes
design
implementation
staging
time
$
$$
$$$
$$$$
production

18. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
How does timing impact cost?
Most organizations fix
accessibility issues after release
concept
wireframes
design
implementation
staging
time
$
$$
$$$
$$$$
production
WASTE

19. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Shift left
Include accessibility at the beginning of
your design/build process

20. How do you discuss accessibility with
upper management?

21. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Go beyond.
● Ask for more than you need just for
compliance
● Be strategic
● Align your accessibility goals with
company values or brand pillars
● Don’t lead with dollar arguments
● Express value in terms of metrics
like NPS, customer satisfaction,
better workforce, etc.
● Be extremely well-prepared

22. What about
middle management?
● Remember: accessibility is
not their top priority
● Offer the least disruption to
timelines and assigned resources
● Be tactical
● Integrate into their issue tracking
systems (JIRA, e.g.)
● Don’t preach; learn to write
good issue reports
Don’t get in the way

23. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Dealing with pushback
● No budget for accessibility
● Not enough resources
● Can’t do it in the timeframe
● Corporate inertia
● People that don’t care
● Company values don’t include
accessibility and inclusion
● Learning to nag politely
● Making meetings happen with
unresponsive managers

24. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Organizing teams for accessibility
Steering Committee that
includes top management
and sets strategic goals and
direction
Working Groups of
product owners,
project managers and
other stakeholders
Task Forces to solve
individual accessibility
challenges or issues

25. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Legal can be your ally
● No one wants to go to trial as the
guinea pig defendant
● Settlements are less costly, but
they add up
● Exposure to lawsuits gets
expensive
● Continued lack of compliance
undermines your organization's
ability to defend itself in court
● A well-publicized lawsuit can
damage a brand's reputation

26. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Mendez v. Apple
First , establish legal standing:
• Find a blind plaintiff
• Claim that Title III of the ADA applies
(physical accommodations)
• Claim civil rights, NY State human
rights, or class action status
Prove unequal access
● can’t see offers
● can’t access a promotion
● can’t make a purchase
Use missing alt text and form field labels
as evidence

27. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Mendez v. Apple
Search-and-replace the plaintiff’s name
and address
List 17 possible accessibility issues
Check off the ones that apply
Run a scan or an audit as evidence
Ask for monetary damages for the
plaintiff
Ask for legal and expert fees
Penalty of $100-$500 per violation

28. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
What goes into a settlement?
A typical defendant will agree to:
1.
pay a
monetary
settlement
2.
fix
accessibility
issues within
a certain
timeframe
3.
hire
accessibility
experts
4.
train web
and mobile
staff
5.
publish an
accessibility
policy
$XX,XXX $XXX,XXX-
$X,XXX,XXX
$XXX,XXX $XX,XXX $XX,XXX

29. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
If you must give numbers…

30. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
…there’s a spreadsheet for that.

31. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Other numbers
Stats to wish for:
Percent of revenues from
persons with disabilities
Percentage of web traffic
from users with disabilities
Stats you can find easily:
Percentage of population with
disabilities
- 2014 Americans with Disabilities
report

32. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
The takeaway
Different appeals work
with different personality types
and levels of management
● Empathy
● Moral appeal
● Risk mitigation
● Efficiency
● Cost-benefit analysis
● Competitive advantage

33. CLAUDIO LUIS VERA, ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Resources
Shift Left article on Deque blog
Cost benefit model spreadsheet by
Peter Shikli of Access2 Online
Mendez v. Apple lawsuit
List of accessibility settlements on
Lainey Feingold’s website
“A11Y Wars: The Accessibility
Interpretation Problem” by Wilco Fiers
and Glenda Sims.

34. Thank you
Claudio Luis Vera - Accessibility Professional, UX Designer, human
Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.