The 2024 Paralympic Games of a few months ago – where New Zealand won one gold, four silver and four bronze medals – were a testament to the epic-ness that occurs when barriers don’t exist for people to experience the achievement and camaraderie that comes from participating in sport.
At Two Sparrows, we believe this same inclusivity should be extended to digital experiences, particularly in how we develop and design websites. That’s why two of our four business values are being diversity and user-led in all we do. They both neatly tie-in together, so we’re going to talk about them both as being “user-led”.
We want to stress, there’s still a lot we need to learn about this topic. We’re always keen to receive feedback from people with lived experience – this blog is what we’ve learned so far in this space.
How many people live with disabilities in New Zealand?
A quarter of New Zealand’s population (one in four), identify as having a physical, sensory, learning, mental health or other disability. That’s a lot of people who may be using a website differently.
Disabilities can be genetic, but also can be from a serious injury or accident. Accessible web design makes sure no one’s left out.
How we view disability matters
Two Sparrows views disability through a hope-based (not deficit) lens inspired by quotes like this from the Independent Living Charitable Trust blog on Enabling Good Lives:
“The new definition of disability focuses not on the impairment itself, but rather how the impairment affects the person, or overcoming barriers a person faces. It challenges us to consider how society disables or excludes someone or has designed something that assumes everyone is the same, thus disadvantaging those with a disability… the challenge now is how to adapt the system to ensure people with disabilities can live as productively as others and access services easily.”
As more and more of our lives are organised online – from finding a job to booking a service provider, paying bills to requesting prescriptions, and being educated or entertained – if websites are not built with inclusivity in mind, we’re shutting out millions of people from engaging in vital, everyday activities. Going online should be easy, welcoming and safe.
We need to do our bit.
But how do we do this?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a comprehensive set of standards for designers and developers to achieve different levels of accessibility, from A to AAA. It details a range of factors including text alternatives, audio descriptions, sensory characteristics, animations, colour contrasts, and much more. These guidelines are full of tips and strategies we can start learning and adopting now.
In Europe, the European Accessibility Act is enforced with hefty fines for failure to comply. At the moment, businesses turning over less than €2 million are exempt from these standards… but for how long?
As well as supporting disabled people, the European Accessibility Act is expected to benefit businesses too, as it opens new opportunities for them to create accessible products and removes barriers and inconsistencies between member states. Approved by the European Parliament on 13 March 2019, it is the EU’s first legislation in this area. By the end of June 2022, all European member states were required to adopt and publish all necessary laws, regulations and processes to be compliant with the Act.
In Aotearoa, the NZ Government Web Accessibility Standard applies to every Public Service department and Non-Public Service department in the State Services. How long until New Zealand starts to enforce these requirements across the private sector?
But rather than wait until it’s enshrined in law, we believe we have a responsibility to act now. Why wait? We care about those who have difficulties using New Zealand websites right now.
Again, it’s a constant learning process for us. We can’t say we are experts yet, but we are curious and committed to being as inclusive as possible. We’re driven to learn about how we can ensure the websites we build meet minimum, and then higher standards for accessibility.
We’re checking our bias
We’re designing and building websites for people with different physical, mental and intellectual abilities and needs – so removing assumptions that others will think, act and respond the same way as us is a good place to start. We’re interested in learning about digital experiences from people with disabilities to see what’s the most frustrating and prohibitive about their time online – and in turn, what’s the most helpful.
We treat you like a person, not just a lead, prospect or subscriber
We’re not a fan of business language that dehumanises others, reducing you to an email address or a field on prospect software. Being diversity-led and user-led is not just about accessibility. It’s about being conscious of you as a person. A person who deserves respect when you visit a website we’ve built. This goes into every aspect of the website from copywriting that’s not pushy, to what data is collected and what is done with it, to design that’s not overstimulating.
How do we represent diverse communities visually?
We are careful to choose imagery and language that carefully, sensitively and respectfully represents communities. We always ask for photos of your people first – as they’re infinitely more powerful and authentic than stock images. If we do need to use stock imagery, we’re careful to ensure it reflects different ethnicities, cultures, ages and body sizes. We’re also interested in normalising and representing the use of various aids, such as hearing aids, sensory products, and wheelchairs and service animals.
What about the language we use?
We’re committed to becoming as sensitive, culturally appropriate, psychologically safe, and inclusive as possible with our clients’ written content. This ranges from using genderless language to rejecting ableist terms and never using mental or physical health language unless it’s specifically about a mental or physical health experience.
We’re also big on plain language principles, so making sure text is easy to understand and doesn’t use jargon or acronyms (or if it must, there’s a glossary).
As avid readers, we’re sensitive to tone and the way words can have a positive and uplifting impact. This also means we don’t like focusing on pain points or making a person feel “less-than” or shame because they don’t use – or can’t afford – the product or service advertised on the website.
When we get it wrong, we’re not defensive. We do our best to take onboard feedback of where we could do better.
What do we do to respect our clients’ and website users’ privacy?
Another thing we take very seriously is your privacy including how we collect, store and use your data. We’re transitioning from Google Analytics to Matomo Analytics for this reason. Matomo is a web analytics platform that gives you full ownership of your data. If you have international clients this is great, as you’ll also be GDPR and CCPA compliant.
Do you have a story to tell?
We would love to hear your real-world stories of what has made your use of a website hard, or impossible. Please tell us – we want to do better.
- What did it stop you from achieving?
- Who have you seen that does it well?
- What would your ideal website experience look like?
We’re not waiting for New Zealand’s accessibility laws to catch up. We’re motivated to make a difference now, so we’re doing the learning so we can build better websites for all users. Watch this space as we take this journey. And we hope we’ve inspired you to join us!
Want to learn more? Here’s some extra reading.
https://www.whaikaha.govt.nz/assets/About-us/Corporate-Publications/Annual-Reports/2020-12-07-Annual-Report-2020-accessible.pdf
https://ilsnz.org/blogs/news/enabling-good-lives-principles-to-provide-equity-for-those-living-with-disabilities
https://thediversitymovement.com/say-this-not-that-a-guide-for-inclusive-language/
https://www.inclusion-europe.eu/european-accessibility-act/#easy-to-read