Once the remediation is complete it is important to repeat the
audit for quality assurance purposes. It is during this quality assurance check that the site should be well tested with the assistive
technologies, to ensure they work properly with the code. Meeting
the guidelines alone doesn’t necessarily mean that the site can now
be accessed by those with disabilities; just as a site must be tested
in multiple browsers, it must be tested with assistive technologies.
This is an important step because most lawsuits are initiated by
individuals who are not able to properly access the site.
Integrate
Once the immediate concerns of the website are addressed, the
question becomes, how do you ensure compliance with the ADA?
Moreover, how do you reduce the effort and costs in the future?
The answer is simple. Accessibility must be integrated into your
organization. All members of the team from managers to developers must understand accessibility and its importance. It needs to
be a natural part of the policies and procedures that the bank’s
web development team follows when taking on new projects or
updating existing assets. Education becomes paramount for the
team, as the techniques around accessibility are vast and changing.
Policies will also play an important role in integrating accessibility into your bank’s practices. For example, how is the
acquisition of third-party tools for the website handled? Do you
require them to adhere to a standard of accessibility before the
bank will purchase them for use on the site? If so, to which standard
must they adhere––WCAG 2.0 Level A, or Level A and Level AA?
Not only will it be important to work through this with your
accessibility consultant, but your team will need to understand
the necessary policies and systems to ensure they are communi-
cated and followed.
Now that accessibility is part of every project, it is the developer’s
responsibility to ensure the correct coding of the final products.
The developers are responsible for the issues and challenges of
site content and tool presentation to comply with guidelines. This
can be very difficult to do in isolation, so it becomes important
that developers have access to accessibility support, such as the
availability of a Help Desk, or similar service. This gives developers direct access to experts who will help them through the
challenges and ensure they are not derailed with tedious research
or unnecessary bugs that effect critical timelines.
Education is also an important step in making sure you have
what is needed to truly maintain accessibility. Often, an organization will think of education for its developers. However, education
should be done from the top down. Consider the varying roles
at your bank that have a stake in the bank’s web presence. It is
critical that everyone understands accessibility and their roles in
its implementation. When upper management, project managers, user experience, developers, and quality assurance are all in
alignment, accessibility will more easily be maintained. It will
truly become an efficiently integrated part of the process and
not an inconvenient afterthought.
Regularly scheduled audits are also important. As the team
becomes educated and begins to deliver more accessible websites
and applications, you may consider using an outside company
with guidelines experience, to verify compliance with Section 508
and WCAG 2.0 AA, and to ensure management and legal that
you have an ADA-compliant website.
The need to maintain an accessible website in today’s business
climate is clear. The convenience of online and mobile banking has
profoundly changed the way banks and consumers interact. Not
only does complying with accessibility guidelines help mitigate
legal risk, it opens up your web offerings to a whole new client base.
User experience experts are paid well to make sure customers have
a positive experience on your website and are eager to use it to do
business with your bank. It only makes sense to ensure all users,
regardless of a disability, are able to use the site. And that being
said, feedback is also important as a gauge to monitor usability,
satisfaction, and even gain new ideas. Implementing a process
for users to report accessibility issues will allow the institution
to react to ensure compliance, satisfaction, and ease of use. ■
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MARK MILLER is the director of Accounts & Marketing for
Interactive Accessibility, a world-class accessibility consulting
firm recognized as experts in Section 508, WCAG 2.0 and ADA
compliance. He has over twenty years of experience in technology,
marketing and business development.
He won the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce’s
Volunteer of the Year award in 2011 for his work with eCoast, a
group dedicated to supporting technological development in the
New Hampshire Seacoast. He now continues these efforts as the
Chair of eCoast, and he is in his fifth year as host and producer of
the community-focused Seacoast Business Connections Radio Show on
WSCA 106.1 FM. Miller can be contacted at markm@ia11y.com. T H
IN
KS
TO
CK
