Introduction
This is the all•Access podcast Access & Allies. My name is Rowan; I’m the co-Founder of All Access and a web accessibility auditor for the government of British Columbia’s Digital Government team.
The goal of Access & Allies is to attempt to break down any digital accessibility topic under the sun to answer any and all of your questions around making digital tools more accessible. Thanks for tuning in, and if you prefer to read along, make sure to find this episode’s transcript in the notes — along with any resources I mention.
Now, let’s get started with today’s topic: Web accessibility for autistic users.
Topic Intro
This episode is the second of a three-part series that discusses findings on how to make your web content more accessible for people with Autism.
In the first episode, we covered how the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines skew heavily towards making your content accessible for people who use assistive technology, as well as people with reading and processing disorders. But there’s so much more to explore when it comes to digital accessibility, and I decided to do a deep dive into the topic of web accessibility, and Autism.
We also introduced a report released by the organization Hassell Inclusion, in partnership with the National Autistic Society in 2019. (That was in the UK). And the information in episode 14 through 16 is based on that report, and it is linked in the notes section for you to check out in more detail.
There is a lot more background information, as well as great suggestions for accessibility through the first five topics in the previous episode, episode 14. So if you haven’t listened to that one yet, it is a good one to start with.
Without further ado, let’s continue our journey into understanding web accessibility best practices for autistic web users.
6. Non-textual formats
The sixth topic in this series is non-textual formats. And to be honest, all three suggestions for non-textual formats were listed as low priority items. The report defines low priority items as responses to practices or cosmetic issues that are technically wrong, but that won’t affect users too much. These issues tend to amount to personal aesthetic preferences. Though while personal, they were common enough to list them as suggestions.
I’ll take a moment to note that although the report identifies each suggestion as high, medium, or low priority, these do not equate to the WCAG success criteria levels of A, AA, or AAA. These are very different classifications, where the lowest level is an absolute must-have, and AAA is good but potentially impossible to implement. So if you’re reading the report and comparing it to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, just keep that difference in mind.
Despite their low priority, I will mention the suggestions for non-textual formats. They are to consider providing information in video format. This is great if you content is text-heavy or there’s a lot of content to absorb. Providing alternative formats for information is a great way to be more accessible because it allows people to choose the best method for them.
Next is to use visuals with the text to facilitate understanding, which is very similar to the first suggestion but a little more broad. This might mean providing an infographic or illustrations as well as text. Just make sure not to only rely on visual information sharing to keep in mind our assistive technology users.
And finally, iconography can help users locate information faster. I think this applies generally and most people tend to appreciate iconography. For people with vision, icons and imagery do wonders for guiding the eye and providing context when implemented effectively.
7. Images
Next up is images, which is a sub-topic of non-textual formats. We first want to make sure that we are using simple images that can be easily understood. This can’t always be the case, especially in scientific articles, for example. But when images are complimentary it’s great to use imagery where the focus is clear and the message can be perceived at a glance.
Another suggestion is to only use images that add to the content and are related to the content. Irrelevant imagery does nothing for autistic users and can be very distracting and time-wasting for people who look for that added context.
Also, limit the use of background images and decorative graphics. In episode 14 we talked about spacing content out, organizing content well, and the use of white space. Putting that in practice means less is more, and that’s the general idea here as well.
8. Video and audio
Another sub-topic under non-textual content is video and audio. There are several success criteria in WCAG for these that refer to the use of captions and alternate media formats for people who use assistive technology. But there is a lot more we can do with video and audio for autistic users as well as people with cognitive disabilities.
The first thing is to disable auto-play. Do not put videos or audio content on your web pages that automatically play when the screen is loaded! I heartily agree with this one — auto-playing content is invasive and distracting. Give people the choice to play the content, because you won’t win any points with people by forcing them through sensory experiences they don’t want.
One user said, “The video auto-play is making me nervous as I didn’t ask it to play.” Another user quote was, “Playing it at me (…) I didn’t choose any of it. I don’t know what to pay attention to. I do watch video but I want the choice to watch (…) if turning off auto-play was available on everything, I’d do that.”
The next suggestion is to provide captions for video and transcriptions for all video and audio content. This one does directly align with several WCAG success criteria under 1.2 Time-based Media. Those include all success criteria 1.2.1 through 1.2.5, as well as 1.2.7 through 1.2.9.
One thing to think about here is while captions and transcriptions are designed for people who are blind, low vision, and deaf or hard of hearing, there are many other users who appreciate captions and transcriptions as well, including autistic people and people with cognitive disabilities.
In contrast to that, the next suggestion is to make captions optional. So keeping in mind that people need options in how they interact with your content and there is no one way to experience the digital media.
The next one on this list is to provide text-based introductory information for videos on pages. What is it about and how long is it? A lot of people find having to explore content with no context as to what to expect can be challenging to hold attention on something without knowing just how long they will need to sit there.
9. Movement
If you check out the report you’ll notice a few more items on most of these topics that are low priority; I’m not going over most of those so we get through the content. But I will just pause here to say, check out the report because there are a lot of extra good tips even if they are listed as lower priority items.
Next on the list is movement. We’ve talked about movement throughout this episode and the previous one, but it was designated it’s own heading here to emphasize it’s importance.
So, the first suggestion is to disable auto-playing movement on pages. This goes beyond carousels, video, and audio. This is also for gifs, animations, and any other continuous movement. It’s best to avoid defaulting motion that starts on it’s own, so people can choose when to play it. But at the very least, provide a clear way to pause, stop, or hide the motion as per the WCAG success criterion 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide.
That said, using small animated movement can be useful — and this is the next suggestion — to draw users’ attention to information or to invite them to take action if all other methods of visual emphasis have failed. Those other methods might be using size, colour, or font style, as examples.
You don’t need to go overboard with these animations for them to be effective, and they still should be brief and finite movements.
10. Help pages
We are at topic number 10 of this report and the final suggestion of this episode, and it is “help pages”. There is only one suggestion here and it is of high priority, and that is to provide a range of contact methods for your organization.
This is a good rule for autistic individuals as well as so many others. People need options! Provide a phone number, email, and chat function so that no matter what barriers someone might face, there is an option available to them for quick and convenient support.
Some people need to speak with someone to fully understand the answer to their question, whereas others find phone conversations impossible for any number of reasons.
A survey respondent said they really appreciate FAQ pages because there might already be an answer to their question so they don’t have to interact with people. Whereas another said they prefer to call someone to ask for help and get annoyed if there is no personal support.
Conclusion
Thank you for listening to this episode of Access & Allies on making your web products accessible for autistic users. This has been the second episode in a three episode series about making your web content accessible for Autistic individuals. The user experience of someone who is Autistic will be different from the next, but these are some suggestions based on heavily researched data on what tends to make for a better product.
The topics we covered today in order were non-textual formats, images, video content, movement, and help pages. In episode 16 we will go over forms, the use of language, customisation, sharing content, re-learnability, and user research, so keep an eye out for that.
I hope this has provided you with some new information, or at least confirmed some old knowledge. Just remember: meaningful accessibility takes time, expertise, and context!
Make sure to check out the resources provided in the notes section. And if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out at info@allaccess.dev or through LinkedIn.
Want your site assessed for accessibility, or looking for consultation on your site plan? Make sure to reach out about that as well — we want to know how we can support you.
It’s been fun talking at you and until next time on Access & Allies.
