Disability inclusion
Overview
Inclusion means considering the needs of the wide range of people who must be participating during all phases of your project. If you think about people during preplanning, planning, and designing, you are more likely to end up with an inclusive product that is above the minimum accessibility requirements.
Accessibility is a civil right and is federal law
The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on disability. These laws are enforced by both the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Department of Education (DOE), and they apply to Indiana University. This means that if something at IU isn't accessible, we should remediate it.
According to the Offices for Civil Rights (OCR) for both the DOJ and the DOE:
"Accessible" means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use. The person with a disability must be able to obtain the information as fully, equally and independently as a person without a disability.
From recent OCR resolution agreements, including University of Cincinnati Resolution Agreement OCR Compliance Review #15-13-6001, December 2014: 2.
In simple terms, this means for something to be considered accessible, all the following must exist:
- Equally integrated (provided at the same time and not separate)
- Equally effective (provides equal opportunity or outcome)
- Substantially equivalent ease of use (should not be more difficult)
However, remediating for accessibility isn't enough, and legal consequences on their own shouldn't be our motivation.
Inclusion is the goal
Something can't be inclusive if it isn't accessible. Accessibility is about remediating something that already exists to meet minimum required policy. But inclusion is more than including everyone. It means everyone feels they belong. Everyone is valued and respected.
Products, services, and environments must be accessible to be available for people with disabilities. Things that are technically accessible but provide poor user experience leave people with disabilities feeling left out and thus do not meet inclusivity standards.
For example, a web page may use tables for layout purposes. While technically accessible, this creates a poor user experience for screen reader users. Or consider text that may meet minimum accessible color contrast requirements but is not readable because the characters are very thin.
In the physical world, a building may have an accessible entrance, located in the back, through an alley, while most people can enter through a beautiful lobby in the front.