These slides are from a CSUN15 session that discusses and demonstrates simple proven techniques that assist in the understanding of barriers that persons with disabilities often face in the digital world.

1. #CSUN15 @patrickdunphy
Photo: David Garcia Project
Gain Support With
Empathy & Awareness Exercises

2. Who Am I?

3. I work for CBC

4. From the Rock

5. I live here

6. I co-lead #a11yTO

7. Roll Call

8. The real
Beginning
The
Beginning
My AccessibilityJourney
The
Present

9. Empathy (Merriam-Webster)
the action of understanding, being aware of, being
sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the
feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of
either the past or present without having the
feelings, thoughts, and experience fully
communicated in an objectively explicit manner;
also : the capacity for this

11. Empathy (Merriam-Webster)
the action of understanding, being aware of, being
sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the
feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of
either the past or present without having the
feelings, thoughts, and experience fully
communicated in an objectively explicit manner;
also : the capacity for this

12. Empathy
Accessibility is about understanding people and the
barriers that they face
Getting your own experience of accessibility helps
you to put yourself in the shoes of others and keep
accessibility in mind when building and testing your
sites and applications
Credit: @dotjay

13. Empathy Workshop
in a nutshell
Perform predefined tasks on own site using
specific techniques as a means to provide
insight to the difficulties users face and the
frustration they feel as a result.

14. Preparation is Key
• Know your content
• Pre-screen your selections
• Select difficult or impossible tasks
• Don’t let participants cheat

15. Perform Common Tasks
• Find out tomorrow’s temperature
• Score of last nights Blue Jays game
• Set photo gallery in full screen mode
• Access the member registration form
• Replay last nights newscast

16. Workshop Guide
1. Assign participants numbers
2. Assign simulations numbers
3. Perform corresponding tasks (2)
4. Reassign numbers in step 2
5. Perform additional tasks
6. Repeat until all have tried at least 1
task using each technique

17. Simulations
1. Keyboard only access
2. Fine Motor Control
3. Gross Motor Control
4. Low vision

18. Other Possibilities
• Chrome Zoom Plugin
• Colourblindness
• NVDA / VoiceOver
• Invert mouse w/non-dominant hand
• Straw Test
• Suggestions?

19. $10 DIY Empathy Kit
4. Low
Vision
3. Gross
Motor
Control
2. Fine
Motor
Control
1. Keyboard
(not pictured)

20. Encourage Discussion
“After all my years in project management, I
finally understand what accessibility means.”
“This is so frustrating.”
“I thought this was going to be an easy task.”
“This is a problem. How do we fix this?”

21. Workshop Goals
1. Want participants to experience
frustration
2. Change how participants think
about accessibility

22. Questions / Comments?

23. Thank You.
#CSUN15 @patrickdunphy