The Centre is to be established at a cost of ₹2.5 crore based on a detailed proposal sent by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Chennai

Chennai district collector has declared holiday for schools on November 12 owing to rain

The pond at Runway Nagar, Kottapattu, which was deepened a few months ago, is now filled with water after recent rain. Residents are worried that it may overflow and the stagnant water might become a haven for snakes and insects.

The Madras High Court also permits him to withdraw ₹1 lakh deposited in April this year to prove his bona fide intention

On Nov. 12, RMC, Chennai, upgraded its weather warning to orange alert, indicating a possibility of rainfall of very heavy intensity for 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Nov. 13 in Chennai, Tiruvallur, and Chengalpattu districts

BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan says that it is not necessary that only parties with similar ideologies should form an alliance

Justices M. Sundar and K. Rajasekar take the decision in light of the orders passed by the Supreme Court

In his letter, Mr. Stalin sought immediate diplomatic efforts to prevent such arrests

Alan Dalton uses this, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, to look back at where we’ve come from, to evaluate where we are, and to look forward to what’s coming next in the future of accessibility guidelines.

Happy United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities! The United Nations have chosen “Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda” for this year’s observance. Let’s see how the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines of accessibility past, present, and yet-to-come can help us to follow that goal, and make sure that the websites—and everything else!—that we create can include as many potential users as possible.

Guidelines of Accessibility Past

The W3C published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 on 5th May 1999, when most of us were playing Snake on our Nokia 3210s’ 1.5” monochrome screens…a very long time ago in technology terms. From the start, those guidelines proved enlightening for designers and developers who wanted to avoid excluding users from their websites. For example, we learned how to provide alternatives to audio and images, how to structure information, and how to help users to find the information they needed. However, those guidelines were specific to the web technologies of the time, resulting in limitations such as requiring developers to “use W3C technologies when they are available […]”. Also, those guidelines became outdated; I doubt that you, gentle reader, consult their technical documentation about “directly accessible applets” or “Writing for browsers that do not support FRAME” in your day-to-day work.

Guidelines of Accessibility Present

The W3C published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 on 11th December 2008, when most of us were admiring the iPhone 3G’s innovative “iPhone OS 2.0” software…a long time ago in technology terms. Unlike WCAG 1, these guidelines also applied to non-W3C technologies, such as PDF and Flash. These guidelines used legalese and future-proofed language, with terms such as “time-based media” and “programmatically determined”, and testable success criteria. This made these guidelines more difficult for designers and developers to grasp, but also enabled the guidelines to make their way into international standards (see EN 301 549 — Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe and ISO/IEC 40500:2012 Information technology — W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0) and even international law (see EU Directive 2016/2102 … on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies).

More importantly, these guidelines enabled designers and developers to create inclusive websites, at scale. For example, in the past 18 months:

• Intercom made their web Messenger accessible, achieving Level-AA conformance;
• Vimeo made accessibility updates to their video player to achieve Level-AA conformance;
• Stripe designed a new accessible colour system to conform with success criterion 1.4.3 (“Contrast (Minimum)”).

The updated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 arrived on 5th June last year—almost a 10-year wait for a “.1” update!—and added 17 new success criteria to help bring the guidelines up to date. Those new criteria focused on people using mobile devices and touchscreens, people with low vision, and people with cognitive and learning disabilities.

(If you need to get up to speed with these guidelines, take 36 minutes to read “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines—for People Who Haven’t Read Them” and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1—for People Who Haven’t Read the Update.)

Guidelines of Accessibility Yet to Come

So, what’s next? Well, the W3C hope to release another minor update (WCAG 2.2) in November 2020. However, they also have a Task Force working on produce major new guidelines with wider scope (more people, more technologies) and fewer limitations (easier to understand, easier to use) in November 2022. These next guidelines will have a different name, because they will cover more than “Web” and “Content”. Andrew Kirkpatrick (Adobe’s Head of Accessibility) named the Task Force “Silver” (because the initials of “Accessibility Guidelines” form the symbol of the silver element).

The Silver Task Force want the next major accessibility guidelines to:

• take account of more disabilities;
• apply to more technologies than just the web, including virtual reality, augmented reality, voice assistants, and more;
• consider all the technologies that people use, including authoring tools, browsers, media players, assistive technologies (including screen readers and screen magnifiers), application software, and operating systems.

That’s quite a challenge, and so the more people who can help, the better. The Silver Task Force wanted an alternative to W3C’s Working Groups, which are made up of employees of organisations who are members of the W3C, and invited experts. So, they created a Silver Community Group to allow everyone to contribute towards this crucial work. If you want to join right now, for free, just create a W3C account.

Like all good designers, the Silver Task Force and Silver Community Group began by researching. They examined the problems that people have had when using, conforming to, and maintaining the existing accessibility guidelines, and then summarised that research. From there, the Silver Community Group drafted ambitious design principles and requirements. You can read about what the Silver Community Group are currently working on, and decide whether you would like to get involved now, or at a later stage.

Emphasise expertise over empathy

Remember that today’s theme is “Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda”. (The United Nations’ 2030 Development Agenda is outside the scope of this article, but if you’re looking to be inspired, read Alessia Aquaro’s article on Public Digital’s blog about how digital government can contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.) In line with this theme, if you don’t have a disability and you want to contribute to the Silver Community Group, resist the temptation to try to empathise with people with disabilities. Instead, take 21 minutes during this festive season to enjoy the brilliant Liz Jackson explaining how empathy reifies disability stigmas, and follow her advice.

Choose the right route

I think we can expect the next Accessibility Guidelines to make their way into international standards and international law, just like their predecessors. We can also expect successful companies to apply them at scale. If you contribute to developing those guidelines, you can help to make sure that as many people as possible will be able to access digital information and services, in an era when that access will be crucial to every aspect of people’s lives. As Cennydd Bowles explained in “Building Better Worlds”, “There is no such thing as the future. There are instead a near-infinity of potential futures. The road as-yet-untravelled stretches before us in abundant directions. We get to choose the route. There is no fate but what we make.”

About the author

Alan Dalton worked for Ireland’s National Disability Authority for 9½ years, mostly as Accessibility Development Advisor. That involved working closely with public sector bodies to make websites, services, and information more accessible to all users, including users with disabilities. Before that, he was a consultant and trainer for Software Paths Ltd. in Dublin. In his spare time, he maintains StrongPasswordGenerator.com to help people stay safe online, tweets, and takes photos.

More articles by Alan

Don’t let the grey skies dampen your style. Add a dose of colour to your outfits, slip into those jelly shoes, open that kitschy umbrella and you’re good to go, writes RANJANI RAJENDRA

Designer Sonal Verma tells us how leather craftsmanship is giving her a push into the world of fashion

“It is a Festival of Fantasy; Beauty and majesty shining magically. Dreams that grow wondrous; Dazzling brilliantly”

The Registry of Sarees offers a window into old motifs and techniques that characterise kanjeevaram saris

Testing time it was for models from India and abroad during auditions of the Amazon India Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2017.

The sari now turns into a canvas, as artists paint their masterpieces on these elegant drapes. NAVEENA VIJAYAN has the details

The Italian luxury brand makes a stop as it takes its ultra-thin Octo Finissimo watches to key Indian cities

Started by Karthick Gunabalan, Pikbig.com showcases a collection of ethnic and Indo-western clothes for women

The new line of belts and bags are made from a plant-based, plastic-free material called Mirum

A massive, multi-disciplinary cultural space is now open in Mumbai, with a global outlook and a vision to foster and promote Indian arts

Pastels, bling, or bold colours, whatever be your taste, K-kix, a sneaker customisation platform from Chennai can do it for you

Brimming with cut outs, panels, thread piping and embroidery, Biskit’s new collection explores the human mind

Ruslaan Mumtaz tells us what all he does to have lean and fit body

Well past their prime, three athletes from Madurai, P. Senthan, V. Thirunavukkarasu and P. Thiruselvam, qualify for the World Masters Athletics Championship in Perth, Australia.

A bicycle café, active clubs and more than 100 super randonneurs. The author explores Chennai’s vibrant cycling culture

Running can be injury free and effortless if one is conscious of his/her running form (body mechanics)

Healthy meal delivery services now have trainers and nutritionists on board to give clients the best of pre and post-workout food, writes SUSANNA MYRTLE LAZARUS

Catching diabetes in its early stages could mean lesser complications later

Hyderabad-based Abhishek Duttagupta on how he scaled Mt Kun, Mt Kang Yatse and completed the Ladakh ultra marathon back-to-back

The Railways must attract higher freight volumes, even as it positions itself as a high end passenger travel option

While the IMD has strived to improve its predictive models, global warming is the wild card factor

These punts result in flight of capital too, as the counter-parties are often global algo-trading and high frequency shops

The changes promise a better user experience, with faster load times for web pages and smoother live streams

The Centre should not relax its clinical trials norms unless the situation is exceptional or dire

Clarity on regulatory, policy environment needed

SEBI has calculated net primary and secondary market investment in equity and debt based on actual data at its disposal

PLFS data show worrying trends in job quality