I recently attended an event hosted by the Charity Security Forum (CSF), where one of the speakers spoke on the difficulties of people with disabilities using technology.
Maybe this is something that you have not thought of before, but for the delegates, the experiences of Robin Christopherson, head of digital inclusion at Ability Net, proved to be very interesting and at the same time, shone a difficult light on the reality of technologies.
In the talk, Robin showed how something as straight-forward as entering a CAPTCHA can be tricky for the visually impaired as the audio description is often so hard to understand, whilst the use of standard one-time password tokens proves equally difficult.
I got the chance to speak to Robin some time later, and he explained that Ability Net are experts on technology and disability, and the only organisation across both areas with a mission to help employees to access technology more effectively.
He said that most people who get in touch would not consider themselves disabled, but some suffer from ailments such as dyslexia or repetitive strain injures, and its intention is to try to make technology easier as well as inclusive.
I wanted to get more information on the situation with using technology, especially CAPTCHA. He said that there is a general awareness that everyone hates it, but it seems that there is little that can be done.
“We don’t want spam accounts as they make life difficult, so they are seen as a necessary evil,” he said. He acknowledged attempts to modify this with Google’s noCaptcha as an example, but I asked him where a better solution lays? He said that we are moving away from CAPTCHA and other mechanisms, but the general consensus is that as anything text-based relies on the “dumbness” of artificial intelligence, so it would be better if authentication technologies could be converted to speech or braille if it is clear, and not corrupted.
He said: “It relies on understanding the question and a better approach. Textcaptcha.com is a good idea and that would be the solution. Google’s noCaptcha is intriguing, but I don’t know what the public availability is or what is under the hood.”
“With passwords, there can be cognitive problems as on mobile it helps that can unlock with your thumb and password managers can auto-populate apps and word pages and browsers as well,” he said.
I asked Robin if he felt that the state of technology was very poor, or were there signs of improvement? He said that there is a legal requirement for accessibility, and for 90 per cent their hearts are in the right place, but 100 per cent are on a journey and others may be plodding along in a complex area. “If it were the size of a mountain, then the journey we are in is the hills at the start, it is complicated area,” he said.
He called on people to get users involved and help with assisted technology, as technical compliance is not enough, and he said that you wouldn’t launch a website without evaluating user experience.
He said: “90 per cent of websites do not even meet single-A compliance with the ‘Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG2.0) world standard, whilst the minimum legal requirement in the UK is AA.
“It is only when AA compliance is achieved that you stop hindering disabled people from using your website – whilst below single-A compliance means that many won’t even be able to get through the virtual front door.
“Even with AA compliance it is still vital to test your code with the technologies that disabled users need to use – preferably wielded by actual end users themselves.”
Robin said that it is rare that there are regulations which are enforced, and likened the enforcement of accessibility to road infringements, saying that there are an army of traffic wardens out there if you go a second over your time. With regard to the legal requirement of websites, it is quick to see if it is inaccessible as you can run code over a website to see if there are issues.
“That would help push the agenda forward and for people to take notice,” he said, as up until now it has been left to the RNIB to form a class action. He said that if there was an issue with an online service, then the Equality Act states that you have to make adjustments, and it doesn’t hold in legislation that you can give a “second class service”.
What about Government, are they onside? Robin said that they are, and public sector websites are generally better, and central Government is pretty good, “but it is the corporate and charities to a certain extent, and high street names – many could do better.”
I asked if there a case for biometric data to be used more? He agreed there was, especially as mobile applications are a good thing but because of the constraints of the small screen of a mobile website, there are problems for the visually impaired and too many companies are not focused on usability.
Robin described mobile apps as a “God send for disabled people” as they are easier to use, and combined with a login and authenticator with biometric functions, it makes life easier still. “Apps in general are much preferred to big bloated websites,” he said.
We concluded by talking about general usability, and Robin said that very seldom are the issues of disabled people front and centre in a process. In the case of a 2FA token or dongle, he said that they are difficult to use for people with dyslexia, and if you are visually impaired can you even see the screen?
“2FA is an extreme example of where security is on usability, some banks have a disabled version of the dongle and there is a card reader upon request, but it is a lack in afterthought and not every organisation considers it,” he said. “There is an inherent challenge and conflict between security and ease of access, and particularly ease of use for disabled people.”
He concluded by calling for websites to move away from their “love affair with Flash”, and while some fads come and go, security is here to stay. He said that disabled people need to be in people’s minds when you think about solutions, and make things usable for all.
Robin Christopherson, head of digital inclusion at Ability Net, was talking to Dan Raywood