Project plans are a mainstay of government and business - or so we have been led to believe. (Surprises abound, though - more on that in a coming issue!) In my time doing accessibility work, I have often found myself helping people make their project plans more accessible. When a project plan is not accessible, people with disabilities cannot benefit from the convenience and ease such a plan provides. The effects, almost always, are bad for the project as a whole.
People can become very defensive about their project plans. And I get it: we often see these plans as a reflection of who we are, and how we - specifically - are capable of getting things done. Sometimes, common habits get in the way of accessibility. And these are habits that can be unlearned just as they were learned - or adjusted to make better use of resources for an actually workable, accessible plan.
Consider this newsletter issue a distillation of things that I have learned and advised on over the years. In this issue, I will give you four things to do that can help make your project plans more accessible, and perhaps in future issues I will add more things. For this issue, I assume you are using a common planning tool, such as Microsoft Project, Asana, or an Excel spreadsheet.
A Text or Table Alternative for Every Chart
Charts make us feel serious. And they can be helpful for illustrating information - for example, how long some things take. However, many people cannot use charts, because they cannot see. For other people who can see, charts are difficult or impossible to use. For example, Gantt charts are unreadable for many people, because the lines “blur together” or trigger a headache.
Provide a text alternative for every chart you have. This can be in text or a table. While you can use alt text, I recommend noting in the alt text where the alternative is, and then making it visible, or providing a link where someone can see the information as a plain table. This will ensure that blind folks and people with other disabilities can both get the same information. Here is an example below with a pie chart and an associated longer description. (Substack does not let me add tables!) Note that I would have used a higher-contrast color for the third quarter.
Longer description: “58% of items were in the 1st quarter; 23% were in the 2nd quarter; 10% were in the 3rd quarter; 9% were in the 4th quarter.”
For more complicated charts, you will want to use a table.
Note that in Excel and most project management software, exporting the data into a table is usually a process of just a few clicks. Do check if your platform can handle tables - Substack, it seems, cannot.
Do Not Use Color Alone
Yes, I discussed color in the last issue. But I want to highlight again: do not use color alone to indicate if something is good or bad - you need to use text as well. Some people cannot see color, and others cannot distinguish between colors.
Colors are also commonly misunderstood. One project planner might use green to indicate “in progress” and red as “not started,” another may use those colors to say “on time” and “late.” Always add another indicator in text. For example, instead of just a color, you can also write (ahead of schedule), (on time), or (delayed).
Format Your Information Consistently
Sometimes, things happen, and a date or a service level agreement is entered differently from the others, and the information appears differently. In other cases, each person may have a different preference - e.g. May 30 versus 5/30. These mishaps are not just irritating, but can make the plan much harder to read for many people with disabilities. Such “interruptions” can be challenging for people with dyslexia, and many screen reader softwares will be interrupted in reading the information aloud. A little consistency goes a long way.
No Cell Left Behind
Many project plans are on spreadsheets - be they Excel or something a little more fancy. Often, people will leave cells blank or merge them for readability. I strongly recommend that you do not do this, as it will make your plan harder to read for people who use screenreaders or other assistive technology. Instead, take a “no cell left behind” approach: every cell covered by a header and row is used and unmerged.
There are two basic parts to this rule.
No blank cells: leaving a cell blank can trip up some screen reader softwares, and makes the plan harder for some people with dyslexia or other learning disabilities to read. I recommend placing a “-” or “N/A” in any cell that would have been blank.
No merged cells: Skip merging cells where possible. Otherwise, the information easily becomes garbled for someone who is using a screenreader, and data may be identified with the wrong header or row.
Here is an example table that follows these rules from Wikipedia. As a general rule, Wikipedia often has great examples of accessible tables.
If you have a lot of blank or merged cells, consider if you may need to break the information across two tables, or use another text-based format to show the information.
Learn More
These are only four aspects to make your project plan more accessible - but I hope you use them to improve your plans not just for your colleagues, community members, and collaborators with disabilities - but for you as well. Let me know what you think!
Remember that you can always book an appointment to learn more about OHA’s services on the website.
Opossum House Updates
Now for my update!
I have been certified as a Disability-Owned Business Enterprise (DOBE) by Disability:IN. Disability:IN partners with companies around the world to expand disability inclusion and also provide supplier and contracting opportunities for disabled business owners. I worked with DOBEs during my time at the Department of Labor and am excited to join this dynamic community.
Last week, I spent three incredibly productive days networking with connections new and old at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) conference in Ocean City, Maryland. Thousands of people attend this conference - including local and state government representatives from every county in the state. I was able to meet with many new potential partners and get a really good sense of what people want to do with and know about accessibility. Folks asked me many interesting questions, and I will be having many follow up conversations over the coming weeks. I also got to see some fabulous displays from vendors and Maryland state agencies - here are two examples:
An assistive communication board for children and adults with language disabilities and those with them. The vendor and others installs these at playgrounds. (Burke) 
Devices on offer from the Telecommunications Access of Maryland office, including adaptive phones, devices, and a cute crab mascot. (Courtesy TAM/Maryland State Relay) Many elected officials attend this conference, and I was lucky enough to have conversations with three - Gabe Albornoz from Montgomery County Council , Evan Glass from Montgomery County Council, and Delegate Robbyn Lewis, who represents part of the City of Baltimore in the Maryland House of Delegates. Both of them think really well about accessibility and have really interesting perspectives and ideas about how to make access better in an everyday context! We are lucky as Marylanders to have them in office.
I wanted to share one group that I am working with - Accessible Community, which provides accessibility education and resources for experts and organizations with any level of expertise or resources. I am going to be working with AC to help expand their learning content on their Ta11y resource, edit the content contributed by volunteers, and develop more content on physical accessibility. The founder, Rachael, is amazing, as is the whole team.
Some of you may be interested in the annual conference on disability and small business hosted by the National Disability Institute this November. The conference is virtual and will have all sorts of learning opportunities for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, disability, or both! My friend Tiffany Meehan and I will be giving a talk on moving from government employment to being business owners - we hope to see you there. I attended last year, and the conference was incredible.
That is all for now! Stay well,
Jonathan Katz-Ouziel