Profile Photos: Business Use and Accessibility
Profile photos can help improve your interactions with colleagues, including those with disabilities. There are a few key considerations, such as having an updated photo and consistent usage, that ensure your profile image is equally helpful to your colleagues.
There are many reasons why people do not have current profile photos, or a photo at all. Some people don’t have a profile photo because they never really thought about it, and don’t have a decent photo on their work computer. Others had once been told not to use them for a technical reason but had not gone back and checked if this had changed.
Times have changed! Especially with many people working remotely, it is important to update those photos.
This month we share:
- how having a profile photo may help your colleagues with disabilities that read captions, have memory challenges, or have anxiety when meeting new people;
- accessibility considerations specifically for profile photos; and
- Bonus! Jeremy DePew, Senior Designer and Communications Advisor for Minnesota IT Services shares tips for having a great profile photo.
Learn more about how accessible and consistent photos help us stay connected in Profile Photos: Business Use and Accessibility.
ADA, Digital Accessibility, and Improving Culture
July 2020 is the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). People in Minnesota are more aware of digital accessibility since the passing of the State of Minnesota Digital Accessibility Law 10 years ago. While the Office of Accessibility gets many questions about the differences between the ADA and Minnesota’s law, both reinforce the rights of people with disabilities and provide a pathway for inclusion.
The ADA Anniversary website – updated for our 2020 world with social media and other important digital accessibility reminders– states that the ADA "prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including:
- jobs,
- schools,
- transportation, and
- all public and private places that are open to the general public."
This month we spoke with Ken Rodgers, Disability Programs Coordinator/ADA Title I for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). Ken worked as a cardiac registered nurse before losing his sight to a rare retinal disease. We talked about his office’s work, and the link between the ADA and the need for digital accessibility.
Ken shares:
- how his team developed digital accessibility skills,
- how learning these skills impacted more than just document accessibility,
- why hiring people with disabilities helps people create more accessible documents, and
- tips to improve your team's digital accessibility culture.
Our full conversation with Ken is available in ADA, Digital Accessibility, and Improving Culture.
Miss the State of Minnesota’s GAAD Event?
The 8th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) was May 21st. Minnesota’s contribution to this year’s celebration was a virtual event, “Stories of Inclusion: State Government Accessibility.” The event featured interviews and speakers from across state government. Stories included interviews with:
- The Department of Employment and Economic Development’s State Services for the Blind, who recently launched a Radio Talking Book app.
- The Minnesota Department of Health, talking about their work providing critical and accessible information for decision makers and the public on COVID-19.
- The Department of Revenue’s Employee Development Services staff, talking about their accessibility standards for e-learning training, design, and development.
Links for individual interviews and the entire event are available on the Digital Accessibility Awareness Day page.
Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities
Interested in ways to make content usable for people with cognitive and learning disabilities? “Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities” is ready for wide review before it is published as a Working Group Note.
This document is for people who make web content, including web applications. It focuses on meeting the needs of people with cognitive and learning disabilities. It covers:
- design patterns (ways) to make content usable
- personas and user needs
- the importance of including users in research, design, and testing activities.
It is published by the Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force, the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group, and the Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group.
If you have comments about the document, please file an issue in the W3C coga GitHub repository or send an email to public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org by September 4th, 2020.
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