OUR TAKE: When we rolled out TravelAbilityInsider, the companion to our upcoming Summit in November, we did a deep dive into what we didn’t know and found outstanding experts to help. Many have joined our diverse advisory board and made commitments to be at the TravelAbility Summit. Their subject expertise ranges from making a website accessible to creating an itinerary for all abilities. Find exclusive interviews here and get ready for more learning and fun on November 12-13 in San Francisco.
Expert Q&A
The Designer Behind Brand USA’s Talking Website (That Promoted Outdoor America)…Talks to Us
You can tell there’s something different about Chris Lona’s website designs from the moment you open the site. They are simple, well-organized and engaging. One huge point of difference in his design is that he creates websites that can talk to you—but just saying that would be underselling his work. TravelAbility Insider got the chance to talk with him about the web design he has done for companies including Brand USA and the University of Massachusetts, creating cross-platform designs that everyone can use, including people with visual, hearing, mobility and cognitive challenges. “When Brand USA launched its Great Outdoors initiatives in 2016, the organization wanted to ensure it would be able to extend its invitation to the world to visit the USA with an inclusive and welcoming message. To accomplish that Brand USA worked with CL Design to design an accessible Outdoor USA subsection on its consumer website. This included “talking” (audio) instructions that would literally speak to people who have disabilities that might affect their ability to navigate information online,” said Anne Madison, former chief strategy & communications officer for Brand USA.
Many businesses have initiated re-designs because of changes made last December According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, the agency that governs ADA laws announced it was withdrawing its rulemaking process as the Trump administration was calling for a rollback of federal regulations. The consequences of the deregulation: a maelstrom of lawsuits on behalf of people with disabilities, many of whom are frustrated by businesses’ lack of compliance with ADA law. But how are businesses responding? Who is responsible for the 30% growth of the lawsuits in a single year? And how exactly does a business ensure its website is ADA compliant? Answering those questions can be time-consuming and costly. Here’s what Chris Lona had to say:
DB: How did you get interested in accessible web design?
CL: When I was a student, I started having double vision and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Treatment was successful but left me with an autoimmune condition and long-term vision problems. I was in the last year of a five-year architectural degree program and while my colleagues were gearing up to intern, I was undergoing spinal taps and radiation treatment. Instead of returning to architecture, I became interested in web design. I think of web design and accessibility as very similar to architecture—I find structural solutions and create beautiful products using universal design which is another way of saying design created with truly everyone in mind. Plus, having recently been through the whole tumor issue, I think, gave me a new perspective on accessibility. CL Design, my business based in Bellevue, Washington, focuses on inclusive web accessibility and strategic branding design.
DB: What does inclusivity mean to you? Is it different than accessibility? Maybe you are hoping to achieve both.
CL: Inclusivity incorporates accessibility. And yes achieving both is one of many objectives. I call my designs the “curb cuts of the web” because one of the main objectives is to create a sort of invisible accessibility where people just use it because it works. Curb cuts were designed for people who use wheelchairs but are enjoyed by people on bikes, pushing strollers, using a hand truck, using crutches and so on. So, extrapolating that model to the web, I prefer to design and include better, accessible web experiences for everyone from the ground up instead of fixing the problem of compliance with web accessibility regulations and guidelines such as the ADA, Section 508, and WCAG as an afterthought to development. The websites I create accommodate people with visual, hearing, mobility and cognitive challenges. But of course, anyone can benefit from the choice of human audio narration, captions/text, one keypress (or touch) navigation and more effective communication that comes with the combination of audio, text, and images.
DB: Many businesses revising their websites to be ADA compliant are doing so begrudgingly, honestly, because it can be a costly time consuming and disruptive process. Travel destinations and suppliers have sites with hundreds of pages others are small businesses such as boutique hotels. How do you simplify the process?
CL: My work is based around a simple philosophy—treat people like people and offer them the best experience possible. Ultimately, web design is about customer service. A website may be the first time that consumers (one in 5 of whom have a disability of some kind) come in contact with your business. It’s my belief that becoming as accessible as possible can align with ROI. That said, even making small changes can be much more than compliance. No one says an organization has to make their entire site accessible at one time; in fact, we often suggest pilot projects for a specific area that may be of a higher priority. Usually, I suggest the features of a destination itself. It is an investment in future travelers who do much of their buying and travel research online.
DB: How do you incorporate accessible designs into clients’ websites?
CL: Happy to explain it. Incorporating inclusive web accessibility (IWA) into clients’ websites is designed to be virtually effortless. A simple graphic or icon is provided to the client. It may say something like “Experience Our Talking Website”. Their IT department or consultant can then show them how to place it into their existing site and link it to the web address we provide at sitellites.com—our special domain for inclusive web accessibility presentations. When a visitor clicks (or touches) the graphic/icon on the existing site, they are directed to our presentation.
If a client wishes to deploy our accessible site under their domain, we can provide all of the files required for them to do so. Simple updates like a change of address are often done as a courtesy. Since most DMOs and CVBs are not specialists in accessible web design, we are happy to make more extensive updates within their budget which frees them up to do what they do best. Training in how to make updates themselves is also possible. The results of adding IWA to an existing site removes barriers for the organization and for their customers. For organizations, the extra time and web infrastructure tacked on as an afterthought to their existing site for less-than-optimal accessibility is removed. And since no assistive technology is required for their customers to use IWA presentations, the barriers of acquiring, learning and using it is removed. It is an accessible experience for all.
DB: Without getting too technical, can you explain what Lona Design includes and how programmers use it?
CL: Sure, here’s how I explain it to potential clients: Inclusive web accessibility isn’t intended to replace your existing design tools, but to augment it. Current design tools are extremely powerful when it comes to creating and iterating on new ideas. However, after new ideas have been designed, they need to be stress-tested on different screen sizes and with real data. They then need to be translated into
DB: Where can people see examples of web accessibility. This may help businesses just beginning on this journey.
CL: To learn more about inclusive web accessibility visit cldesign.co/
To see examples of my work, visit CL Design (cldesign.co).
See a recent project designed for the Blue Badge Access Awards at sitellites.com/bbaa. (The augmented site is bluebadgeaccessawards.com.)
A project related to our work with Brand USA is at www.accesstheusa.online. It features inclusive web accessibility presentations for all 50 states.
Chris Lona will be speaking at TravelAbility Summit and is available earlier if an attendee would like to reach out with suggestions, comments or questions. For more coverage of liability and ADA compliance, see our archived posts, which describes how the public has come to depend on websites to do everything from book a hotel room to update their flight plans and the effect of the rollback of federal regulations.
Handicap Accessible vs. Wheelchair Accessible: Do You Know the Difference?
All accessibility is not equal, although there is some crossover, according to an informative post on thrivingwithparalysis.com. The author clarifies the differences according to her personal experience as a caregiver. This piece covers all the details from ‘the dreaded aisle seat, the perfect table for a wheelchair user and more.
OUR TAKE: There’s no better expert than a traveler with a disability or their caregiver. This blog, with all of its details, couldn’t possibly be written with such detailed and trustworthy advice had in not been done by a caregiver whose got a lot of real-life knowledge to share. Destinations, attractions, and hotels would be wise to take caregiver through a tour of a place and do some on the spot usability testing. It’s the little things that can make a huge difference in a traveler’s experience.
EXPERT Q&A: The Secret to Creating a 5-Star Accessible Hotel Website on a 2-Star Budget
Our expert sources tell us that compliance lawsuits are not only on the rise, but they are also becoming increasingly complex. Could most of us in the travel industry create completely accessible websites on our own? Probably not. That’s why we asked expert Nate Lane, senior director of digital platforms at Travel Tripper (left)to share advice on the future of ADA compliance, building websites for hotels and being proactive about all things accessibility.
We asked:
Q: How did the idea of being more proactive about ADA compliance come about?
A: More and more of our clients started to receive ADA demand letters and lawsuits related to both technical and content related compliance. We were already helping our hotel clients by building their websites to be compliant from the start— and doing our best to maintain compliance over time. But because the websites were being edited by multiple parties it was impossible to know when an area of the site had fallen out of compliance because of a modification. We decided we needed more—a proactive compliance solution with real-time violation alerts that would fit into a hotel’s allowable budget. Nothing we saw on the market fit all our criteria, so we built our own platform. Traveltripper accomplishes all of our goals. We used it internally for 18 months before making it broadly available to any hotel. TravelTripper is completely standalone and can monitor any website. It is completely CMS (Content Management System) and programming language agnostic. Furthermore, it runs outside of your website, meaning it doesn’t require an install and there are no implications to site speed or performance.
Q: Aside from using your system, how would you advise hotels that receive demand letters or lawsuits to respond?
A: First, be proactive about compliance instead of reactive. When lawsuits come in, despite your best efforts to achieve compliance quickly, a “who done it” timeline is put together and if you’re out of compliance, you’re much more likely to have to settle with the plaintiff. By being proactive and having records of compliance you are able to prove compliance, or a path to compliance, during a certain time period. Our platform automates this entire process for you, but if you’re not a client of ours we still recommend that you keep all of your records related to compliance on hand and ready to reference.
Second, It is absolutely essential that you demand information related to how an error occurred, including the exact assistive device that was used, and you re-create that error. More and more frequently, plaintiffs and their attorneys are becoming more and more creative and far-reaching with the contents of these lawsuits. From there you must review WCAG 2.1 AA-Level statutes to determine if the accusation is relevant for hotels in the first place. Recently we’ve helped our clients respond to lawsuits where an open-source screen reader was used, which had a public-facing “known bugs” log, which aligned perfectly with the violations the plaintiff reported. It was the tool, not the website! By investigating this and providing the information, the lawsuit was dropped. In another recent case, for the first time, we saw a plaintiff sue a hotel citing AAA-Level violations, which are typically required by the government, medical, or insurance providers—not hotels. Again, the lawsuit was dropped based on the hotel’s proactive approach and research.
Q: What’s in the future?
A: We are beginning to roll out a third-party licensing and reseller strategy for those companies that want to partner with us. We plan to scale our platform within the hotel industry and then pursue multi-vertical opportunities.
Q: Do you have a pricing model for hotels?
A: Our pricing is aligned with hotel budgets, which typically corresponds with room count and ADR. We charge a one-time setup fee of $1,200 and an ongoing monthly fee of $200-$600 depending on the number of rooms. This covers the initial content audit and re-writes, ongoing real-time monitoring, quarterly extensive audits including manual usage of assistive devices, and the ability to export your complete compliance history that is stored within our system, which saves you and your legal team hours of time if you need to respond to a lawsuit.
Can You Hear Me Now? How the Travel Industry Is Answering That Call
Telecoils embedded in personal hearing aids have long been a discreet solution for people with hearing loss. They improve the quality of the sound they hear—whether it be in a noisy train station or on a city walking tour. Today many venues—from airport terminals to hotel conference rooms and theaters—offer a next-level hearing experience using a hearing loop. The loop transmits sound via an electromagnetic signal to personal hearing devices with telecoils, boosting volume and clarity. (With microphones turned off and telecoils turned on, travelers can hear public address systems, tour guides, ticket agents and others as though the person speaking was within inches of their ear.) Most background noise that can otherwise cover or interfere with understanding speech is eliminated. Sound is customized by the hearing aids to match the hearing loss pattern of each individual user, giving an extra boost to those frequencies that a person has the most difficulty hearing. Sounds great right? The only problem: Most people aren’t aware of how many places now use hearing loop technology and skip out on experiences they think they won’t enjoy, particularly when traveling abroad. Here’s what you need to know:
Where they are: In the U.S., a growing number of airports have installed the technology at departure gates and ticket counters. All New York City subway information and fair booths now feature hearing loops and new taxicabs are fitted with them. Many places of worship, museums, theaters, and other destinations now utilize this technology at ticket counters, for performances, and on walking tours. Even the 12,000 seats in the Breslin Center at Michigan State University offer hearing loop access to sporting and other events held there. All hearing loops use the same frequency in the U.S. and throughout the world. Whether you are at Domodedovo airport in Moscow, visiting Westminster Abbey in London or enjoying the Sydney Opera House in Australia, there are hearing loops.
How to know if there is a loop: The presence of hearing loop technology is usually announced by the display of an international symbol (T). If it carries a “T” the venue is either looped or provides neckloops to visitors. In the U.S. it is the standard blue and white disability signage colors but abroad it can be different colors. For travelers who have cochlear implants or telecoil equipped hearing aids, experts encourage people to purchase their own personal neckloop. Virgin Atlantic provides passengers on their international flights the choice of earphones or neckloops to connect to the aircraft’s sound system to listen to music or watch TV. On other airlines, personally owned neckloops will work as well or better. They also work any place that has an earphone jack, be it an airplane or at a theatrical production.
When to ask for a personal neckloop: Whenever a receiver and earphones are offered, travelers should ask if neckloops are available. Being able to hear better can help to ensure even greater satisfaction from a planned trip to any location in the U.S. or abroad. The 2010 revisions to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandate that any public place of assembly with a functioning public address system must also have an assistive listening system (ALS) that can wirelessly connect to the telecoils in hearing aids. This requirement applies to any new or significantly upgraded PA systems. More and more venues now feature it whether it be the neckloop option at a multiplex or the looped U.S. Supreme Court chamber.
Additional information on hearing loop/telecoil technology can be found at Hearing Loss Association of America. To find looped venues, check www.loopfinder.com/, www.aldlocator.com/ and www.time2loopamerica.com/loop-locator/
Stephen O. Frazier is a hearing loss support specialist, member of the Hearing Loss Association of America’s National ‘Get in the Hearing Loop’ Steering Committee and director of Loop New Mexico.