uxpa 2012 intersection between accessibility & plain language
DESCRIPTION
Using plain language rules to improve accessibility.TRANSCRIPT
THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN ACCESSIBILITY AND PLAIN LANGUAGE
SUZI SHAPIRO, PHDINDIANA UNIVERSITY EAST
2012 UXPA
JUNE 4-8 2012
Accessibility Plain Language
WHAT I DO
I USED TO WRITE FOR MYSELF!
•What I would want to know•The way I was taught•To demonstrate my skills
• organized• thoughtful• grammatically correct • no spelling errors.
MY STUDENTS OFTENFAILED TO UNDERSTAND (OR REMEMBER) WHAT I HAD WRITTEN
I BECAME MORE AWARE THAT
People do not READ the way we think that they do.
They scan documents:
Jump around
Look for important or relevant words
They QUIT if bored or confused
They often ignore a large percentage of the information later in the document
IF THEY READ IT AT ALL!
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
Can’t I just tell them it is
required?
BEHIND EVERY BEHAVIOR
IS A REASON
PEOPLE DON’T READ BECAUSE THEY …
Have “better” things to do
Have different perspectives
Are confused by complex structure
Are unfamiliar with jargon ridden language.
Are affected by limited :
• vision • mobility • ability to pay attention
U.S. REHABILITATION ACT OF 1973
Prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.
SECTION 504
"No otherwise qualified [sic] individual with a disability in the United States shall, solely by reason of his/her [sic] disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."
NOT A BIG DEAL….
How many people are therewho have a disability that would limit their ability to read a document?
A “NOT QUITE REPRESENTIVE” SAMPLE
NATIONAL STATISTICS (1999)
Number of postsecondary undergraduate students in the United States who report having a disability
6% of the student body
SURVEY DATA
Six reporting schools,
Approximately 2.5% of students
5,976 of the 240,122 students
WHAT KINDS OF DISABILITIES DO STUDENTS REPORT?
DISABILITIES REPORTED BY STUDENT
Type of Disability %
Learning disabilities 45.7%
Mobility or orthopedic impairments 13.9%
Health impairments 11.6%
Mental illness or emotional disturbance 7.8%
Hearing impairments 5.6%
Blindness and visual impairments 4.4%
Speech or language impairments 0.9%
Other impairments 9.1%
DISABILITIES NOT REPORTED BY STUDENTS?
Common disabilities:
Too tired
Too busy
Too stressed
To think clearly & attend to tasks.
HOW CAN I BE SURE….
I am communicating effectively?
I am giving all students an equal opportunity to learn?
I am not unintentionally creating barriers?
THE SOLUTION
Research on creating information that is accessible and understandable for the widest possible variety of people.
UNIVERSAL DESIGN
HOW DO WE CREATE DOCUMENTS THAT COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY?
Simple is good!
Plain Language
PLAIN LANGUAGE GOALS
Help people to:
• Find what they need
• Understand what they find
• Use what they find to meet their needs.
HOW TO GET THERE!
• Logical organization with the reader in mind
• "You" and other pronouns
• Active voice
• Short sentences
• Common, everyday words
• Easy-to-read design features
MY RECOMMENDATIONFOR A PROCESS
STEP 1Determine your objectives
or outcomes
STEP 2Ask yourself
•“What are the questions someone should ask?”
Then, at each point
•“What is needed to continue?”
STEP 3Put information in an orderthat will
• Answer frequently asked questions FIRST
• Build information
SAMPLE: ASSIGNMENT ORDER
What is the name of the assignment?
When is the assignment due?
What am I supposed to learnfrom the assignment?
What resources do I need to complete the assignment?
What should I do first? Second? . . .
How do I know that the assignment is complete?
STEP 4Continue editing the document to eliminate
Cross out contentthat is not needed.essential for completion of the task.
STEP 5IF APPROPRIATE…
Number the partsin the order that they should be completed.
STEP 6Format for
• Accessibility
• Scanning
WHY ?Facilitates online reading and use of screen reading software
Helps people to find information quickly
Organization assists people with attention problems
HOW?• Expectancy
• Structure
• Redundancy
• Visibility
EXPECTANCY:
What information does the readerexpect to find in the document?
– don’t guess, ASK!
• Where do they expect to find it?
• What do they expect it to be called?
STRUCTURE:
Use headings and subheadings
Use Document STYLES
Heading levels
(Not format changes)
STRUCTURE:
Replace paragraphs with bulleted lists
Numbered lists for items
• that must all be completed or • that must be done in sequence.
REDUNDANCY:
Put important information
in several places
REDUNDANCY:
Use multiple types of coding
– style, color, etc.
MULTIPLE CODING
WITHOUT HATCHING WITH HATCHING
MULTIPLE CODING
REDUNDANCY:
Use images
when applicable
VISIBILITY:
CONTRAST
Font
Color
Position
LARGE FONT SIZE
12 Point minimum for print and online viewing
14 point minimum for low vision, children, or older people (Over 40)
SIMPLE FONT STYLE
San Serif
Ariel
Verdana
Serif
Times New Roman
Century Schoolbook
AVOID SPECIAL EFFECTS
AVOID
Combinations of
RED and GREEN
Or
BLUE and YELLOW
COLOR BLINDNESS
Watch out ! for combinations that are hard to discriminate for people with color blindnessOr anyone else….
THE GOAL?
Documents that can and will be read and understood by more people.
Accessibility Plain Language