Brennan says “people who create and teach and have disabilities actually use this stuff. We’re out in the world creating things while using the products that you’re making. It can’t just be the first layer of the system that you’re making meet bare level of accessibility.”
Thanks to Fable for sponsoring the transcript for this episode.
Transcript
Nic
Hi, I’m Nic Steenhout. And you’re listening to the accessibility rules soundbite, a series of short podcasts where disabled people explain their impairments, and what barrier they encounter on the web. Just a reminder, that transcript for this episode and all other episodes are available on the website at the time of publication. You can find them at https://a11yrules.com. I want to thank fable for sponsoring this episode. Without Fable the show would not be possible. Fable is a leading accessibility platform powered by disabled people. Fable moves organizations from worrying about compliance to building incredible accessible user experiences through product testing, and custom courses. You can learn more about how Fable can work for your team at https://makeitfable.com/nic. Today I’m talking with Brennan Roy. Hey, Brennan, how are you?
Brennan
Alright, how are you?
Nic
I’m good. I’m good. I’m glad that we are finally connecting. We’ve been juggling our sheduled for a little bit. And it’s been fun. So here we are. Let me ask you the very first question I ask just about everybody else is what’s your disability or your impairment?
Brennan
I have a number of them. I’m.. I have disabilities that impact my mobility, my vision, my cognition, a number of things I think the most impactful are vision and mobility and yeah… Cognition. I have like a current concussion I have a damage to my optic nerve from intracranial hypertension. I have Chiari that impacts my brain pressure kind of all the time. And Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which impacts my joints and pain levels. Yeah, those are the big ones.
Nic
So you you really one of the trifecta of disabilities right there. What… What conditions of these one or two are the ones that impact your web use the most?
Brennan
I think they all do in different ways.
Nic
Okay
Brennan
As I’m looking at my computer setup, right now I have like an adapted… Well, I have an external keyboard with a trackpad in front of it. Because a typical keyboard is hard to use. I have bigger monitors with a number of software adaptations on them and resolution changes so that I can see them. So it’s both vision and mobility, I would say that are the biggest ones. My CCTV beside me here that allows me to read printed text.
Nic
Cool. We don’t see those very often in individuals’ places. It’s typically at the library for reading microfilms, isn’t it?
Brennan
Yeah, I was really lucky. In Ontario, there’s a program through the University of Waterloo, where you can get used from individuals who have had them funded through the assistive devices program. So when they finished with them, if you want one that’s been used, you can buy it from the University of Waterloo who have refurbished them for $250.
Nic
Wow, that’s, that’s a good, good scheme. So we’re looking at mobility and visions are probably where you’re having the most problem on the web. Tell us a little bit about maybe your biggest two barriers or pet peeves that you encounter related to your disability when you use the web.
Brennan
I think like, for me, one of the some of the biggest things are like that things are difficult to navigate physically like it requires a lot of like mouse navigation. And it’s not like obvious where you need to go. So that’s one and so I find that I’m doing a lot with my hands to get to where I need to be. And if I try and tab through it doesn’t sensically follow.
Nic
Yes.
Brennan
And another one is that If I try and do something in dark mode, most of my computer’s in dark mode, pop ups, the text is invisible, like the text won’t follow the dark mode. Like if I have to pick a pet peeve, that’s probably one of the biggest ones. Or if I’ll switch of like a program using one of my dark mode overlays, the whole text just disappears, especially with Google Docs. That’s a really bad one for it.
Nic
That’s, that’s interesting. It’s not, it’s not an experience I’ve had. I’m not a dark mode user. So I hadn’t heard that as being something to consider. But that’s really, yeah, that’s good. So what message would you like designers or developers to remember about accessibility?
Brennan
I think like that, people who create and teach and have disabilities actually use this stuff. And we’re out in the world creating things while using the products that they’re making. So it can’t just be like the first layer of the system that they’re making. Meet the, the, like, their level of accessibility. Like, I work with programs like Audacity and iMovie, and things like that to create videos. And, like, I’ll get three or four layers into more complicated action, and suddenly, the access thing doesn’t work. Or like, I’ll have my screen zoomed in, and I can’t see half the program because it won’t resize to my screen. And I’m like, why can’t I resize this window? So I’m just really frustrated at the things that they don’t expect disabled people to be doing with their programming. Yeah. Or like an Audacity? How, like, half of the hover text will work for their symbols, but the other half won’t. It’s just really annoying.
Nic
Yeah, I, I used to use Audacity all the time. And I had some blind friends that use Audacity and they said, it’s the most accessible free audio editing software out there. I have since switched to Adobe Audition. So I don’t know where audacity is gone now. But I do find it frustrating as well, when you start getting comfortable with an application and it feels like hey, this is actually comfortable and accessible. And then suddenly, when you start digging in, it’s like, oh, what’s just happened there?
Brennan
like, okay, so I have half of it. I guess I will squint. get really, really close to my screen. Yes, that’s okay. Kind of,
Nic
Kind of. Yep. I actually think that this conclusion for for the show. It’s okay. Kind of is fantastic. So, Brennan, thank you for being a guest on the show, and I’ll see you on Slack or on the web somewhere. Thanks for being a guest.
Brennan
Thanks for having me.