In this webinar, we’ll dive into the different ways you can increase support for accessibility so you can successfully run efforts, transform practices, and create a more accessible business.

1. How to Get Buy-In for
Accessibility at Your
Organization
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📱 www.3playmedia.com l @3playmedia l #a11y
Beth Crutchfield
VP Strategic
Consulting
Services
Level Access
Josh Miller
Co-CEO
3Play Media

2. On today’s agenda...
Research-backed reasons to invest in accessibility 🔬
Getting organization-wide support for digital accessibility 🏢
Organizing for success 👍
Incorporating accessibility into the budget 💰
General approaches for governance ☝️

3. Research-backed
reasons to invest in
accessibility

4. ACCESSIBILITY
A11y

5. COST
is the top barrier to creating
accessible content for the
following industries:
education and government
RESOURCE TIME
is the top barrier to creating
accessible content for the
following industries:
entertainment, media, web
content, and faith

6. The
Accessibility
Picture
360 million
People are deaf or hard of
hearing around the world
245 million
People have some kind of
vision loss around the world
190 million
People have some kind of
motor disability

7. 71% of people with disabilities
leave a website immediately if it’s not accessible.

8. $1,000,000,000,000 in annual disposable
income.

9. The Video
Picture
More video
Is uploaded to the web in 1
month than TV has created in
3 decades
84%
Of the world’s internet traffic
will be video by 2020
78%
Of people are watching
videos online every week

10. 47% of videos are incomprehensible
without sound or captions.

11. 50% of people agree captions are
important & usually watch videos with
sound off on mobile & desktop.

12. You’ll get more
website traffic
80%
Say they’re more likely to watch an
entire video with captions according
to Verizon.
135%
Greater organic traffic for videos
with captions according to
Facebook
85%
Of Facebook videos are watched with
the sound off

13. Captions improve brand recall, verbal
memory, and behavioral intent.

14. Video accessibility also benefits students
98.6%
Of students find
captions helpful
65%
Of students use
captions to
help them
focus
75%
Of students that
use captions said
they use them as
a learning aid

15. Students who used captions increased
test scores by 3%.

16. The Legal
Requirements
Rehabilitation Act of
1973
Section 504 & Section 508
Americans with
Disabilities Act
Title II & Title III
21st Century
Communications &
Video Accessibility Act

17. 2,285 web accessibility lawsuits were
filed in 2018.

18. Accessibility lawsuits to know
NAD v. Harvard & MIT
NAD argued that educational online videos should be constituted as a
public accomodation.
NAD v. Netflix
NAD argued that Netflix’s lack of closed captioning for streaming
videos was a violation of the ADA.

19. Getting
organization-wide
support for
accessibility

20. Getting started
Those who have been asked to head up their organization’s digital accessibility
initiatives commonly face many different internal obstacles, such as:
• Struggling to get proper executive support
• Getting push back from different teams or difficulty engaging them
• Inability to drive the necessary changes
• Confusion over how a program should be designed to ensure success
• Difficulty in finding realistic goals for the program
• Stubbornness or opposition from roles/teams which need process changes
How do you even get started, where do you begin?

21. Analyze the
current state
Key questions to ask yourself to help
assess the current state and go-forward
plan:
• Am I sufficiently educated on the topic of
Accessibility?
• What tools does the organization need to be
successful?
• Should we engage the services of a third
party?
• Do we have a budget?
• Do we have the necessary resources to
support this effort?
• Have we looked into Accessibility before? Do
we have previous experience?

22. Charting your course
We recommend first covering some key areas:
• Understanding the legal and risk landscape
• Locating the people and resources available to you internally (i.e., staff
that can support)
• Determining if there are any allocated funds or if the initiative will be
additive to overall existing costs
• Understanding what tools, training and consulting services exist in the
marketplace to support your organization’s needs

23. Once you understand your organization’s
current state, the focus should then be on
securing internal buy-in and support

24. It’s a digital accessibility journey
Short-Term Goal
“We need to be compliant now”
Long-Term Plan
“Make our organization compliant long-term”
Awareness
“We face legal, brand,
and market risk”
“We want the best UX
for all our users”
Resolve
“How bad is my
problem and how
do I fix it?”
Maintain
“I want to continue to
ensure the best UX”
“I want to sustain
compliance and
minimize risk”
Prevention
“I will establish governance
over all assets”
“We are Accessibility
Champions”

25. Accessibility matters for customer experience
Nearly 27% of American adults have a disability
that inhibits their daily function
• The definition of “disability” is broader than most people think
• Accessible websites are easier to use for people who are sub-
literate, English language learners, or have ADHD
• Baby boomers are currently between 52-70 years old, and will need
accessible technology as some begin to lose vision, hearing, or
mobility as they age

26. A Graying Globe
• The number of people worldwide aged 80 and over will
quadruple to 400 million
• For the first time in history, there will be more people over the
age of 65 than under the age of 14

27. 42%
of adults ages 65
and older owning
smartphones is up from
just 18% in 2013.”
67%
of seniors use the
internet – a 55-
percentage-point
increase in just under
two decades.”
45%
of seniors under the age
of 75 say they … use
social networking sites,
compared with 20% of
those ages 75 and older.”
People are getting older… and actively use technology!

28. Securing executive support and
buy-in
• You can’t do it alone: the success of any program lies in how
well the initiative is supported at the highest levels of an
organization
• Some of the most successful programs have been driven as
grassroots efforts by just one (or a few) passionate people
• Legal actions often drive awareness but in the wrong way;
proactiveness is key
• Building empathy is a key first step in garnering the support
you’ll need to be successful

29. Approaches to gain support
• Observation of User Testing w/Assistive
Technology users (we recommend in-person)
• Videos of AT users navigating experiences
• Hands-on/practical application exercises
• For data-driven executives, share statistics
and data on:
• population impacted,
• litigation risks,
• settlements,
• brand impact studies, etc.

30. Support will not always be easy
• Setting realistic goals is important when engaging senior
leaders for their support
• Not everyone will be supportive
• Not everyone will participate
• You will experience push back
• Patience and persistence are key in securing the necessary buy in
and support – ‘stick’ versus ‘hammer’ is always preferred
• When all else fails, call Legal, Compliance, or Risk partners for
added help!

31. Organizing for
success

32. Keys to a successful start
• After educating yourself on tools and vendors in the accessibility
marketplace, be prepared to make recommendations to
leadership as you organize your program; best to have experts
help
• A good third party vendor will offer a suite of tools and services to
meet your organization’s growing needs
✔ Auditing, Testing and Remediation Tools and Expert Consulting
✔ Training
✔ Experts to guide you on program builds, lawsuit management,
risk avoidance strategies
✔ Industry Expertise

33. Goal setting
• Keep in mind that
Accessibility is a journey so
setting goals with executives
that are realistic given time,
budget and resources is key
• Build a strategic roadmap
and timeline that seems
reasonable give these
factors

34. Program organization
• Solicit and secure an appropriate senior stakeholder to be
the Digital Accessibility Champion
• Establish organizational goals for your initiative
• Develop a desired organizational governance model (can
be a proposal at this stage)
• Map out your organization as best you can and identify all of
the core stakeholder groups that are impacted
• Organize a kick-off meeting to ensure full alignment to a
common set of goals

35. Program organization (cont.)
• Build a Program Strategy and Roadmap in conjunction with the
stakeholders and senior executives
• Build budget and staffing needs collaboratively with this group
• Rollout organization-wide communications about commitment to
accessibility, program goals, governance model, etc.
• Get to work!!

36. Incorporating
accessibility into
the budget

37. Budgeting for accessibility
Apply for grants
Check the Federal Register; The Educational Technology, Media, and Materials
for Individuals with Disabilities Program; Distance Education Captioning and
Transcription
Find funds through other budgets
Create an accessibility grant at your institution
Prioritize videos

38. Make the most
of your budget
Quality matters
Find a solution that is scalable
and cost-effective
Plan ahead
You can save a lot of money
by planning for the future.
Use a hybrid
approach
Caption shorter videos in-
house.

39. Start a pilot
project
Pilot projects are a great
way to see how
accessibility can fit in your
organization.
1. Set a small captioning
budget
2. Determine a beginning &
end for the project
3. Define how you will
measure the impact of
captioning.
4. Determine which videos
you will caption.

40. General
approaches for
governance

41. Example accessibility programs
• Central Accessibility Program Office (APO)
with manager, and technical staff to support
Lines of Business (LOB)
• Central tools, training, help desk / customer
support, etc.
• APO manages external relations, reports
• LOBs meet accessibility requirements in
design, development, QA (leverage support of
APO as needed through SDLC)
• Central APO monitors LOB properties and
centrally reports to Steering Committee
(or other governing org)
APO
LOB
LOB
LOBLOB
LOB

42. Example accessibility programs (cont.)
• Smaller APO with manager
• Committee made up of accessibility
leads from LOBs
• APO provides some training, guidance,
docs
• More autonomous LOBs to provide their
own support for their units
• LOBs meet accessibility requirements in
design, development, QA
• LOBs manage own external relations,
keep records
APO
LOB
LOB
LOBLOB
LOB

43. Pros and Cons of APO Models
PROS CONS
Centralized APO • Central
governance/control
• Consistent application of
standards
• Central budget and
reporting
• Capacity is hard to
forecast
• Siloed knowledge
pockets may exist
Decentralized
APO
• Accessibility Champions/
Experts exist across the
organization
• Inconsistent application
of standards

44. Company A: Central APO
Model
○ 50,000 staff
○ 10 people on central team
○ Multiple lines of business (>5)
Company B: Hybrid APO
Model
○ 200,000+ employees
○ Some global standards exist
○ Overall accessibility vision
driven by executives
Organizational details

45. Long term
success
1. Build a wide array of Accessibility
Champions that are
knowledgeable and passionate
about accessibility (can be formal
and informal)
2. Ensure you have executive
support and buy-in as people
move in or out of the organization;
Digital Accessibility Champions
are key!
3. Ensure a training plan is built both
for new hires; Ensure refresher
training is in place as well

46. Why you should care : our internal “support kit”
A selection of helpful resources that can be used to inspire individuals across your org
Introductory Content
○ Accessibility 101
○ Equal Access as a Civil Right
○ Presentation: How Accessibility Improves The User
Experience
○ The Business Case for Digital Accessibility
○ Accessibility Laws and Standards
○ Infographic: North American Accessibility Laws and Digital
Content Standards
Additional specialized content
○ Five Reasons Why Your B2B Organization Should Care
About Digital Accessibility
○ Lean A11y: Building Accessibility Into Your Agile Lifecycle
○ The Power Of Accessibility: Expanding Your Market Reach
With Inclusive Design
○ Level Access Blog to Monitor Lawsuit Trends
○ Why Marketers Need to Plan for Digital Accessibility
Industry-Specific Resources
○ Retail
₋ Online Retailers – Here Are 10 Things People With
Disabilities Want You to Know
₋ Tap Into More Business: Accessible Mobile Apps For Retail
& Restaurants
○ Federal Government
○ State & Local Government
○ Financial
○ Education
○ Software
○ Hardware
○ Travel & Hospitality
levelaccess.com | (800) 899-9659 |
info@levelaccess.com

47. Questions?
Comments?
✋ Type questions in the Q&A window
⏺⏺This webinar will be available for replay
Beth Crutchfield
VP Strategic
Consulting
Services
Level Access
Josh Miller
Co-CEO
3Play Media