Title
Creating digital accessibility training for young adults. Users’ views and lessons learned
Conference name
9th International conference Media for all
City
Country
Spain
Modalities
Date
27/01/2021-29/01/2021
Abstract
Digital accessibility is gaining ground internationally, with digital technology now an indispensable part of many people’s lives, and many millions of citizens globally who stand to benefit from a more accessible digital world. However, much remains to be done in this area, as highlighted recently by the Domino’s Pizza case (Mills, 2019).
In terms of education and training in digital accessibility tools and skills, while there is now a growing number of training courses and materials aimed at producers of digital technologies and content, freely available and accessible training for users with varying abilities and disabilities is lacking. Moreover, little is currently known about young people’s use of digital accessibility tools, or about their experiences and views of any training in digital accessibility tools and skills they may have received.
Against this background, the research presented in this paper investigates the experiences and views of young adults with varying physical, sensory and cognitive abilities as users of digital accessibility tools and training, via a questionnaire and interviews. Respondents have been asked about their use of digital devices and accessibility tools – such as screen readers, speech-to-text tools, screen magnifiers, digital braille, audio description and subtitles. Moreover, they were asked about any training they have received in digital accessibility tools and skills, and to rate aspects of training they may be interested in, such as web accessibility legislation and rights, or digital accessibility training for employability. The interviews and focus groups aimed to gain a more robust, in-depth understanding of users’ attitudes and experiences with digital accessibility tools and training.
This presentation shows how the survey and interview findings were used to inform the design of a pilot digital accessibility training course held at the University of East Anglia in February 2020, with a group of young adults aged 18-35. As users with sensory, cognitive and/or physical disabilities such as sight loss, hearing loss, autism, Asperger syndrome, dyslexia, and dysgraphia; the participants shared their experiences using digital accessibility tools for their studies and other aspects of their lives. They also learned about their rights in terms of digital and web accessibility and used tools and apps on different devices and platforms (iOS, Android, and Windows) to create their own accessible digital content. Moreover, participants completed post-training questionnaires to evaluate the course, and the findings were used as a springboard for the reflections presented in this paper on lessons learned.
This research and training has been conducted as part of the EU funded project Digital Accessibility for You (DA4You), which seeks to respond to the current lack of integrated, learner-focused training on digital accessibility. Another broader aim of this work is to inform educators, researchers, users and producers of digital accessibility tools and training.
This research is part of the European project Digital Accessibility for You (DA4You), ref: KA205-2018-022, and is financially supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU.
In terms of education and training in digital accessibility tools and skills, while there is now a growing number of training courses and materials aimed at producers of digital technologies and content, freely available and accessible training for users with varying abilities and disabilities is lacking. Moreover, little is currently known about young people’s use of digital accessibility tools, or about their experiences and views of any training in digital accessibility tools and skills they may have received.
Against this background, the research presented in this paper investigates the experiences and views of young adults with varying physical, sensory and cognitive abilities as users of digital accessibility tools and training, via a questionnaire and interviews. Respondents have been asked about their use of digital devices and accessibility tools – such as screen readers, speech-to-text tools, screen magnifiers, digital braille, audio description and subtitles. Moreover, they were asked about any training they have received in digital accessibility tools and skills, and to rate aspects of training they may be interested in, such as web accessibility legislation and rights, or digital accessibility training for employability. The interviews and focus groups aimed to gain a more robust, in-depth understanding of users’ attitudes and experiences with digital accessibility tools and training.
This presentation shows how the survey and interview findings were used to inform the design of a pilot digital accessibility training course held at the University of East Anglia in February 2020, with a group of young adults aged 18-35. As users with sensory, cognitive and/or physical disabilities such as sight loss, hearing loss, autism, Asperger syndrome, dyslexia, and dysgraphia; the participants shared their experiences using digital accessibility tools for their studies and other aspects of their lives. They also learned about their rights in terms of digital and web accessibility and used tools and apps on different devices and platforms (iOS, Android, and Windows) to create their own accessible digital content. Moreover, participants completed post-training questionnaires to evaluate the course, and the findings were used as a springboard for the reflections presented in this paper on lessons learned.
This research and training has been conducted as part of the EU funded project Digital Accessibility for You (DA4You), which seeks to respond to the current lack of integrated, learner-focused training on digital accessibility. Another broader aim of this work is to inform educators, researchers, users and producers of digital accessibility tools and training.
This research is part of the European project Digital Accessibility for You (DA4You), ref: KA205-2018-022, and is financially supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU.