RE: Updated again: "Web Accessibility is Smart Business" Presentation

Still, I believe it is absolutley a valid example 
because the designers explicitly chose to include 
accessibility as part of their redesign requirements.


At 06:06 PM 4/7/2011, Karl Groves wrote:
>Thanks for the reply, Sharron.  I'm glad to hear from you.
>
>
> > While there are admittedly other aspects of the
> > overall redesign, accessibility is definitely not
> > as trivial as the coat of paint you compare it
> > to.  The point is this:    As accessibility is
> > integrated into the development process, it has a
> > profound affect on how design decisions are made.
> > The improved results are so closely interrelated
> > that - well, you can not separate them, which is
> > what I think you said.  Would the outcomes have
> > been as great if the deliberate inclusion of
> > accessibility features NOT been made?  We don't
> > know.  Improved outcomes have been demonstrated
> > in other cases, but we have permission from Legal
> > and General which, I believe is why we rely on that one situation
> > so heavily.
>
>I kept the above paragraph because I didn't want 
>to seem to be taking things too out of context.  You say:
>" Would the outcomes have been as great if the 
>deliberate inclusion of accessibility features NOT been made?  We don't know."
>
>I think this sort of makes my point: we donā€™t 
>know whether L&G's amazing results were 
>specifically due to accessibility 
>improvements.  In a presentation aimed at making 
>that argument, any case studies included should 
>be *just* about accessibility.  I feel that a 
>more compelling business case would be one in 
>which a list of accessibility problems were 
>found, they were repaired, and they were shown 
>to have a specific and directly attributable benefit.
>
>Unfortunately finding such a business case will 
>be quite difficult. As you note, accessibility 
>often is not (and should not be) its own 
>separate effort. All teams involved in design & 
>development need to integrate accessibility into 
>the entire process in order to get a more 
>accessible end product and so when it is done 
>right it is more of a quality of work issue. 
>Nevertheless I still feel that such "business 
>case" would be as closely tied as possible to accessibility only.
>
>As you note in the remainder of your response, 
>getting a client to consent to using them as a 
>business case is a challenge.  I've been trying 
>to get some business case-type data from some 
>for a long time as well and it is difficult.
>
>
>Thanks.
>
>Karl L. Groves
>Director, Training
>Deque Systems, Inc.
>Phone:  443.517.9280
>E-mail:  karl.groves@deque.com
>
>Is a non-compliant website putting your 
>organization at risk? Visit www.deque.com
>
>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 7 April 2011 23:19:31 UTC