Accessibility at Advanced
Tags: a11y, web, design, ux
Published: 2022-02-11 09:56:14

**Our commitment to accessibility at Advanced**



Throughout Advanced we are working to ensure that all products are at least [WCAG AA 2.1](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/quickref/) compliant. In some areas this may not be currently possible. However, where we do not currently have compliance, a plan to become compliant will be place.



We are always working on improving how accessible our products are, but sometimes we are limited by what technologies are available to us. For example, in one of our eLearning products, we came across an issue with accessibility for screen readers - when a question asked the student to study a graph and decide which bar had the highest result, it was very difficult to design alt text for the graph without explicitly telling the student the answer to the question. Situations like this are highlighted within any accessibility policies.



At the time of many of our products' creation, Accessibility wasn’t as well understood or appreciated as much as it is now, and it’s time for that to change.



**What we’re doing to improve how accessible our products are**



We are aiming to get all our products to have at least an accessibility statement and a plan to be ready to at least hit WCAG AA 2.1 standards, where technology allows us, as soon as possible. Below is an explanation of the work we are doing and how we’re planning on getting as many of our products WCAG AA 2.1 compliant.



**Accessibility-first Design**



Our component library and design system (Mosaic) both meet WCAG AA 2.1 standards straight out of the box. So, any product that adopts them into their products will also pass on these benefits of a fully accessible site to their users.



Throughout our guidelines for this system, accessibility advice will come baked in - as well as standardisation of page layout, component names and key binding, plus more.



We are also working to make sure that it doesn’t stop at the component library: implementation, workflows and product specific components should also have the same standard of accessibility that current and future versions of Mosaic does. The bar for accessibility is already very low, so where we can raise the bar, we will.



**An accessibility community**



At Advanced, we are working to create a community of practise for accessibility that works continuously with our disability network so that we can ensure a culture of good and best accessibility practise across the whole of Advanced, and within all our products.





**User testing**



We plan to ensure that both our design system and component library are fully compliant to WCAG AA 2.1 standards. To ensure we are fully compliant we are:


- Accessibility testing with users as part of our disability network

- Accessibility testing with automated tools ([WAVE](https://wave.webaim.org/) is our current recommended tool)

- Accessibility testing with customers who identify as disabled or identify as having learning difficulties


![A person using a braille keyboard to type.](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/t92ph07szff9wk3zgaa0.jpg)

**Learnings**



Speaking to people who have had their usage of software impacted by a lack of accessibility has enabled us to fully understand and be made aware of all the varieties of disabilities (both visible and invisible) that can impact product use. Education and advocacy are a huge part of ensuring that we make all products accessible.



People are all unique, and when designing products, we should be mindful of these differences as well as ensuring we don’t stifle people’s strengths through ‘standard’ and careless approaches to accessibility and product development.



**The Future**



We are aware of the new WCAG 2.2 guidelines that are due to be released soon. We are working to understand these changes and ensure that all our products are aware and work towards exceeding these guidelines too.



**Contact information**



If you have any questions about accessibility at Advanced or wish to volunteer to be part of our user testing groups, then please contact accessibility@oneadvanced.com