The Internet's Accessibility Problem — and How To Fix It | Clive Loseby | TED

Hi, everyone. I'm Clive Loseby

and I am passionate about changing the world,

one website at a time.

As Dale said I was in a bad car crash a long time ago.

It left us all with life-changing injuries.

And that's why accessibility and website accessibility

has become my passion.

The accident also left me with a very bad memory,

so please forgive me if I keep looking at my notes.

OK. Does everybody know what a cookie banner is?

Those annoying banners that pop up on a website

asking for consent to put cookies into your browser?

It may say something like, "This website uses cookies

to give you the best online experience.

Follow this link to confirm that you consent to this.”

Does everyone know what I'm talking about?

(Audience: Yes!)

Good. Right, now I want you to imagine

a different kind of browser.

This one says the following:

"This website is designed for white people only.

Follow this link to confirm that you are white."

Or, "This website is for men only.

Follow this link to confirm that you are a man."

Or, "This website is for straight people only.

Follow this link to confirm that you are straight."

Or even, "This website is for people who have hair.

Follow this link to confirm you have hair."

OK.

These don't happen in the real world,

but what I do need to tell you about is another banner that does exist

on over 97% of the world's websites.

"This website is for people who are not disabled.

Follow this link to confirm that you are not disabled."

This may not be as apparent as the cookie banner.

Believe me, this banner exists.

Ninety-seven point four percent of 1 million website home pages

tested last year

had detectable accessibility failures.

So how many disabled people are there in the world?

In 2010, the World Health Organization

estimated that 1 billion people on the planet

live with some form of disability,

with over 110 million having highly significant difficulties in functioning.

We are talking about a lot of people.

They also would like to use the web as much as you or I do.

They also want to become your customers and spend money with you,

if you make it possible for them to do so.

The title of this talk is a direct quote from somebody I met last year.

She works in health, safety, employee well-being

and has done for 20 years,

so she has a real understanding of inclusivity.

Lovely, caring person,

but she just could not understand how blind people could use the internet

because they couldn't see the screen.

I explained to her what a screen reader was

and she got it.

A screen reader, by the way,

is a piece of software that reads out the content of a website

using a computerized voice.

If you're blind, you can't use a mouse because you can't see where to put it.

So you will use your keyboard instead in conjunction with the screen reader.

It's not that easy to do

but cookie banners make life so much worse.

And in some cases, they actually prevent blind people

from accessing the website beyond it.

We are in the year 2022.

The first set of guidelines for websites

to help ensure that they met the needs of disabled people

were released quite recently, actually, in 1999.

A mere 23 years ago.

Yep. I'm not joking.

All the information has been available to everyone since then.

It is also a legal requirement in most countries,

but above everything else,

it helps every business and every organization

become more inclusive.

And yet, 97% of websites

contained detectable accessibility failures last year.

Think of a website as a building,

it becomes even more obvious.

After all, websites are physical buildings.

They're your window on the world, aren't they?

Legislation for access to physical buildings

has always made allowances for very old buildings

where it's simply not possible to make them fully accessible

for people with disabilities.

We all understand that.

So actually, I think it's perfectly fair

that you shouldn't expect a website over 23 years old

to cater for disabled people either.

I'm actually not sure the last time I went on a website

that was over 23 years old.

But what about five years old or about three years old?

What about last year? This year?

Typically, websites get replaced every three to five years

as a new one is built to cater for the latest trends.

Is it really OK that websites that are recently built

are still inaccessible for disabled people?

If not now, when?

OK, so what does accessible web design actually mean?

Please take a look at these doors.

They both go into the same building.

Both sets of doors have level access.

The door on the left slides open automatically as you approach it.

The doors on the right have to be pulled open.

I would like to ask you all a question,

and if you are able,

I would like you to either raise your left hand

or your right hand in answer.

Imagine you're in a wheelchair and you want to enter this building.

Which of the doors do you think you would be most likely to use?

The automatic doors on the left or the heavy doors on the right?

Could you please raise your left or your right hand accordingly?

Well, I think it's fair to say the consensus is on the left. Interesting.

OK. Now instead of being in a wheelchair, you're using a walking frame,

so you can walk,

but you need to have both of your hands on the frame.

Which set of doors do you think you would be likely to use now?

Could you raise your hands if you're able to?

I'm really surprised. Everyone's going left.

OK. Right.

Now you're pushing a child in a pushchair so you can walk quite normally,

but you've got a pushchair and both of your hands on it.

Which set of doors now?

Left or right?

I'm staggered.

OK. Final example.

Let's assume that you've actually gone in through the doors on the right.

You're coming out, you want to come out the building,

but you've actually got boxes of files under both arms.

Which of the doors would you go then?

Yeah. Hmm.

I'm really staggered.

In pretty much every example

pretty much everybody raised your left hand.

Why was this?

After all, you’re free to choose which door to use at each time.

Why would so many people go for an automatic door?

Maybe because it's easier.

Nobody's forcing you to use it.

It's there as an alternative to the other doors.

Accessible web design is exactly the same,

offering people with different needs

alternative ways of using a website to get the same information.

Most countries around the world have anti-discrimination laws,

and websites fall under these laws.

However, for me, it's not about complying with the law.

It is about becoming more inclusive, more welcoming to everyone,

regardless of their ability or their disability.

Disabled people have money to spend on your goods and services

and if they can't spend it with you,

they're going to spend it with somebody else.

So what should you do with regard to your own website?

Well, you need to have two things.

You need to have an audit of your website,

and then you need to put

an accessibility statement on your website.

I'll explain what I mean in this photograph.

This hotel, it's a beautiful building.

There’s downstairs seating. There’s upstairs seating.

There's beautiful staircases everywhere, but unfortunately, there isn't a lift.

The restaurant itself is run by an outside catering company.

It's not their fault there's no lift.

It's not their building, they're just renting the space.

However, if you're in a wheelchair, you can't use the upstairs seating.

But if there was a sign near the entrance saying something like,

"Patrons in wheelchairs, please note that although we've got upstairs seating,

we do not have a lift.

However, we do have some reserved seating for you

with extra turning space and raised tables."

Think about raised tables.

If you're in a wheelchair and you try to go into a restaurant anywhere,

you can't quite get under the table.

Easily fixed, just put them on some small wooden blocks.

Anyway, if you just put up that sign,

somebody in a wheelchair who reads that sign,

are they going to feel more or less included?

The cost of doing this is almost nothing, but the effect is huge.

It's not the catering companies fault there's no lift.

They've just gone out of their way to offer an alternative

despite the limitations of the hotel.

In other words, the catering company themselves

have become more welcoming, inclusive and accessible.

So the first part of this story

where I explained the restaurant has upstairs seating, but no lift.

That could be seen as an audit.

"We realize there's no lift to the upstairs seating

so disabled people in wheelchairs cannot use it."

But the sign at the entrance telling everyone

that there is accessible seating downstairs as an alternative

is like their accessibility statement.

"We've discovered that wheelchair users cannot use the upstairs seating.

This is what we've done instead."

So how does all this apply to a website?

Well, as far as the audit goes,

you can either pay somebody or you can do it yourself.

And the same goes for an accessibility statement.

Sadly, I don’t have time to go into the details

but I do want to say one thing.

Make your accessibility statement real.

What do I mean by this? Simple.

I see website after website with an accessibility statement

that begins with a slightly pompous tone, and it says something like,

"We fully care about people with disabilities.

We want to ensure that everyone is able to fully utilize our website.

It meets the following standards, blah, blah, blah."

I don't actually really care what you say.

If somebody can't use your website, they can't use your website.

I've got an idea.

Why not instead use this as a wonderful opportunity

to reach out to disabled people?

The first line of your accessibility statement

could be something like,

“We’re aware that there’s some problems with our website

that might make the experience

more difficult for visitors with disabilities.

But if there’s anything that we can do to help you, give us a call.”

There's the phone number right there.

“Follow this link to send an email.” There’s the link right there.

“Or fill in the contact form.”

Right there you're reaching out to them.

Just by doing that, you're being inclusive.

You're going the extra mile

and it speaks volumes about your ethos as a company.

By the way, if you do have accessibility issues with your website,

you should give a time frame in which you're going to get them fixed

or at least explain that it’s not possible on grounds of cost.

It isn't about being perfect. It's about being honest.

OK, I'd like to finish by telling you all about a very simple test

that you can do on any website

to find out if it has a basic level of accessibility.

Anyone can do it.

And I call it the Tab Test.

If you're on a website, there will usually be

a row of page navigation buttons along the top.

As you move your mouse over them,

they will light up in turn

and any subpages will appear as a kind of drop-down.

And they may also light up as you move the mouse over.

In other words, just by moving your mouse,

you can go to pretty much any page on the website with a single click.

Do we all understand that?

Brilliant.

If you're blind, as I've said, you can't use a mouse.

Instead, you use a screen reader and a keyboard.

If a website has a basic level of accessibility,

you should be able to select every page and subpage

by repeatedly pressing the Tab key.

Not only that, each one should light up in turn,

just as if you were using a mouse.

Not everyone who is visually impaired is completely blind.

In fact, most of them have some form of limited vision instead.

So having page navigation light up as you move,

as you Tab through them,

helps them know where they are.

So next time anybody here is on a website, just start pressing the Tab key.

If you do not see all the pages and all the subpages light up in turn,

it's failed the test.

Please drop them an email informing them that because their website

does not meet that basic level of accessibility,

it's failed this test and they really need to do something about it.

They want to know more, they can do a quick internet search

and actually it's fairly easy to fix.

If you guys joined with me in doing this one simple thing,

we all will truly be changing the world, one website at a time.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)