So here we are, after a few days of exploring WordPress, and uploading content to a site created with it.
I must have got the hang of it because there is more content here now, within three days, than ever was on my efforts on previous platforms. Pluses are – everything does what it did the previous time you used it, fonts flow sensibly when even enlarged in the browser by 500% – and often overlooked accessibility accommodation that’s essential to me – and content is easy to insert into user designed reusable blocks. And my husband, who is voiceover screen reader user, can access everything I’ve added so far without tying himself in knots. Champion. So cautiously I am counting WordPress a pretty accessible platform so far.
So, my little home on the web seems useful and usable and looks nice.
Earlier today I was doing some accessibility testing of a government portal that has been updated due to new regulations in the fields it concerns. Although I didn’t understand the subject matter (as I’m not a specialist in that field) my job there is to test accessibility of the system. And as is so often the case the conversation with the researcher got around to them asking “What would you do if this didn’t work for you ?”
I’m always somewhat bemused by this question as my answer is almost always “I couldn’t access it if it didn’t work. so … I’d … not be able to use it, so I’d be discriminated against ?”
I think sometimes the answer they’re looking for is “I’d get someone else to do it for me”, aka a slight air of “Do we really have to make this totally accessible ?”
And of course the answer is, yes, when it comes to information that is relied upon, expected to reach people, or requires a response from people, then, yes you do. Always. And if you don’t know how to, find out. If there is a problem, and someone tells you about it – acknowledge it, fix it, change it, rewrite it.
Some years ago I recall being told by a person who managed a service that they didn’t need to make their service accessible because “blind people don’t use it. They’re not the sort of people who come here.”
This person could not seem to grasp the fact that perhaps blind people are every sort of person, including the sort of person who might go there, but the reason they didn’t is because … it wasn’t accessible to them ?
Kinda like saying ” I feed all the birds in the garden, but they have to fit through this certain sized hole to get to the food. But we never get any big birds eating the food so, big birds obviously don’t come here, so I don’t need to make the hole the size that big birds can get through.”
This big bird needs the food. So make the hole big bird sized too. Thank you. 🙂
Soft of Sight Photography 