All over the FOSS world, we see that out of thousands of issues and pull requests, very few of them tackle accessibility issues. And this is mostly due to a lack of knowledge on the subject, and a fear that it’s too hard to implement these changes. When we say “accessibility,” we immediately think of vision impairment, but being able to use a product with just your keyboard is also an accessibility feature.
It’s 2021 and we talk about providing equal opportunities everywhere in tech, but so often we disregard our own users or community. We have this idea that accessibility issues can be postponed and fixed later, as they don’t affect the vast majority of our users.
But is that true?
One billion people experience some sort of disability. At least 10% of the adult population has a vision impairment. And those are just numbers for people who have been tested and suffer from a long-term disability.
By creating accessible products you can... * Improve the experience for all your users * Increase your user or community base * Cater to clients whose businesses have a mandatory accessibility requirement for the software that they use * Potentially expose areas in UI or user flow that need improvement
In this talk, following a real-life example, you’ll learn how to check where your project stands today and what steps you can take to make it more accessible, even with the help of your community.
Speakers: Oana Mangiurea