[Sigia-l] Accessibility Groups in the Agency Environment?

[Jonathan Baker-Bates]

> So how do you go about doing this? Are all practitioners are 
> experts in accessibility? Does it permeate your process? Do 
> you have an oversight group? Do they check compliance at the 
> end before launch?

You asked specifically about agencies. As somebody working for the
largest in Europe, I suppose I'd better respond.

Basically, if something is left inaccessible to (say) screen readers,
there will be a documented reason for this. Otherwise it doesn't go out
of the door.

To expand on this a little: there's a pragmatic decision to be made at
the start of the project about the "level" of accessibility that the
client will get for their budget. This of course also depends on things
like audience and other contextual factors. Typically, it boils down to
WAI AA (usually subject to a little tweaking along the way), or not. If
not, then the level is defined in some other way.

This "level" is, however, a base line. Everyone working on the project
is expected to know everything there is to know about accessibility, and
to work with that knowledge. If they feel they don't know about a
specific issue, they ask somebody that does. There is no separate
accessibility oversight (other than UAT testing, which includes testing
against the stated "level") - it's just part of the process. 

Notice I didn't mentioned legality. That, in my opinion, is irrelevant.
While you can in theory be prosecuted for an inaccessible site, part of
our goal is to deliver the most accessible and the most usable site
within the constraints of the aforesaid factors, regardless of legal
issues.

Jonathan


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