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Accessibility

VOICE is meant to be read, heard, and used in more than one way, so that disabled people, people reading in another language, and people without a device of their own can all use it.

Read this page in English Español

VOICE exists for people who face systemic barriers to technology. Many of those barriers come from how things are designed, such as a site that works only with a mouse, words that are hard to follow, or a service that needs a phone of your own. VOICE works to remove them, so each part works in more than one way and each person can choose the way that works for them. The people who use VOICE are asked to say where it still falls short.

Influences

Several bodies of thought shape how VOICE approaches accessibility. The writing each one comes from is listed, with links, under Sources and Further Reading at the end of this page.

  • Disability justice. Disability justice was first put into words in 2005 by disabled activists who were queer, trans, and people of color, among them Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, and Stacey Milbern, after the mainstream disability rights movement left them out. In 2015 Sins Invalid, the disability justice performance project that Berne co-founded, set out ten principles, among them leadership of those most impacted, interdependence, and collective access. Collective access means that a community arranges access together, as a shared responsibility, rather than leaving each person to arrange their own.
  • Nothing about us without us. Leaders of Disabled People South Africa were using this call by 1993, and James Charlton made it the title of his 1998 book on disability rights. It holds that decisions about people should be made with them. VOICE asks the people who use it to try new parts and to say what does not work.
  • Trauma-informed practice. Many people come to VOICE during a hard time. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) names six principles of a trauma-informed approach, set out in 2014 and expanded in 2023. They are safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment, voice, and choice; and attention to cultural, historical, and gender issues. Chayn, a nonprofit that supports survivors of abuse, applies the same ideas to websites and apps. VOICE asks for no more information than a task needs, says plainly what happens to what a person shares, offers choices rather than one required path, and never asks anyone to explain why they need access.
  • Universal design. The Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University set out its principles in 1997, describing design that as many people as possible can use, without a separate version made for a few. VOICE offers more than one way to do most things, such as leaving a message by phone or in writing.
  • Design justice. The Design Justice Network asks that the people most affected by a design have a central role in shaping it, as the About page describes.
  • Plain language. Everyday words and short, complete sentences help people reading in a second language, people who take in words in different ways, and anyone reading during a crisis or on a hard day.

Words We Use

Disabled people differ in how they want to be described. Many use identity-first words, such as "disabled people" or "Deaf people," and others prefer person-first words, such as "people with disabilities." VOICE uses both, never describes disability as a tragedy or a burden, and follows each person's own words when talking with them.

Standard

VOICE aims to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA, the current standard of the World Wide Web Consortium, first published in October 2023. Every control has a label, help and error messages are tied to their fields, the keyboard focus is always visible, and nothing is said by color alone. Each new version is checked with automated tools, with a keyboard alone, in High Contrast, and on screens as narrow as 320 pixels.

Kinds of Access

Vision

  • Text is large and plain, in a typeface made for people with low vision, and pages can be enlarged to twice their size without losing anything.
  • The site is built to work with screen readers and screen magnifiers, in dark mode, and in high-contrast modes.
  • Larger Text and High Contrast, at the top of every page, make the words bigger or show the page in black and white. Each site remembers the choice on that phone or computer.
  • Every alert says in words how urgent it is and whether it has ended or been canceled, so color is never the only signal.

Hearing and Speech

  • Alerts arrive as written notices, so they can be read rather than heard.
  • A message can be left in writing, with the Relay a Message form, rather than by phone.

Movement

  • Every part of the public pages can be used with a keyboard alone, with no need for a mouse or a touch screen.
  • Buttons and links are large enough to tap easily, and each one has a name that voice control can use.

Reading and Understanding

  • Pages use everyday words and short, complete sentences, and every page is laid out the same way, so each part is where you expect it.
  • Every page of the main site has Read Aloud, which reads it in the voice built into the phone or computer, and Print or Save as PDF.
  • Every alert has a Read Aloud button, which uses the voice built into your phone or computer.
  • Moving effects are turned off on any phone or computer set to reduce motion.

Language

  • Pages can be read in more than one language, chosen with Language at the top of every page.
  • Alerts can be read in more than one language, and the day's alerts can be printed as one list.

Devices and Connections

  • Alerts reach any phone or computer with an internet connection, including one on Wi-Fi alone, with no app from an app store, and signing up asks for no name or phone number.
  • Anyone can leave a message, by phone or in writing, for someone who does not have reliable access to a phone or email, and volunteers work to deliver it.
  • Beacon screens and printed sheets in shared spaces show current alerts and other news for people without a device of their own.

Known Limits

  • Translations made automatically can read awkwardly until a volunteer who speaks the language checks them, and each one that has not been checked is marked.
  • A page with no current translation into the reader's language is shown in English, with a note saying so.
  • VOICE's pages are not yet offered in American Sign Language.
  • Videos on some pages come from YouTube or Vimeo, and their captions depend on those sites.
  • Read Aloud can use only the voices installed on the phone or computer.
  • Maps and some links lead to other websites, which VOICE does not run.
  • People who use screen readers and other assistive technology every day have not yet tested VOICE.

Reporting a Problem

If any part of VOICE is hard to read, hear, or use, please say so, naming the page, the alert code, or the screen, and what happened. You do not need to give your name, and you never need to explain a disability or why something is hard for you. Write to info@voicestl.org, or tell a volunteer at an in-person session.

People who use VOICE are also welcome to help shape it, including this page, by trying new parts and saying what would help. Volunteering describes the ways to take part.

Sources and Further Reading

These are the works this page draws on, with a link to each. If a link stops working, the author and title are enough to find the work through a library or a search. The books behind VOICE's approach as a whole, such as Design Justice, are listed on Related Work.

  • Berne, P. (2015). Disability Justice: A Working Draft. Sins Invalid. Read it at sinsinvalid.org
  • Sins Invalid (2015). 10 Principles of Disability Justice. Read it at sinsinvalid.org
  • Sins Invalid (2019). Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement Is Our People, a Disability Justice Primer (2nd ed.). sinsinvalid.org
  • Charlton, J. I. (1998). Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment. University of California Press. ucpress.edu
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2014). SAMHSA's Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. store.samhsa.gov
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2023). Practical Guide for Implementing a Trauma-Informed Approach. Read it at store.samhsa.gov
  • Chayn (2023). Trauma-Informed Design Principles. chayn.notion.site
  • The Center for Universal Design (1997). The Principles of Universal Design, Version 2.0. North Carolina State University. design.ncsu.edu
  • Design Justice Network. Design Justice Network Principles. designjustice.org
  • National Center on Disability and Journalism (2021). Disability Language Style Guide. Arizona State University. ncdj.org
  • World Wide Web Consortium (2023). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. w3.org
  • World Wide Web Consortium, Web Accessibility Initiative. How People with Disabilities Use the Web. w3.org