In the coming period, you will read articles about accessible communication and digital accessibility here. For this, I spoke to people who are involved in this. I spoke to most people via a video call and I process their answers into an article, but others answered my questions in writing by email and I can sometimes take them over. I spoke to Roel Van Gils both by email and in a video call. He is the only one from my interview series who lives in Belgium and I was therefore curious about the differences between the Netherlands and Belgium that he notices.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
Hi, I’m Roel. Just turned 41. Together with my husband I live and work in beautiful Ghent. Around the turn of the century I arrived here and got my first job. I’ve actually always worked ‘for the web’. First as a web developer, later as an interaction designer and project manager.
I find it quite difficult to put myself in a box, but these days I like to introduce myself as a Digital Accessibility Geek. Digital accessibility has always been a common thread in my work, and for a few years now I have been devoting myself to it one hundred percent. There is still so much to learn. Thanks to the continuous digitalization and innovations such as Artificial Intelligence and Voice Assistants, it remains an extremely interesting ‘niche’ to work in.
When did you first come into contact with accessibility and specifically digital accessibility or accessible communication?
When I was still in school, a good friend of mine was studying law at university. Unlike me, Raff was a real genius (he has been working as a lawyer for almost 15 years now). During our studies, he would often call me late at night to ask: “Can you get that legal text or article from the internet and paste it into an e-mail for me?” He didn’t ask because he was lazy or clumsy, but because websites like the one from the Ministry of Justice or EUR-Lex (a website with all European legal texts) were very difficult to use with a Braille line and a screen reader. Raff is blind.
Although I myself have a slight visual impairment, I managed to find the legal texts and convert them into a format that my friend could read. As a true ‘geek’ I also understood how websites worked under the hood. At that time we experimented with automatically converting long texts into spoken mp3s. That helped him with studying. That was long before the iPhone or podcasts were around.
I did that with pleasure, but it wasn’t until a few years later that the first ‘penny dropped’ for me. That was when I started working for the government as a web developer in 2004. I vividly remember that our department once had an accessibility expert who worked for an organization for the blind. He came to talk about the importance and necessity of digital inclusion. I then realized that it is also my responsibility, as a web developer, to ensure that everyone can easily find and read government information. Later we became colleagues.
Since then, many more pennies have dropped.
Like what?
For example, I gradually realized that digital accessibility is far from the sole responsibility of technicians.
Today I teach organizations and digital teams that accessibility is a team sport. Everyone on your team has a role to play. Management needs to include accessibility in their policies. Designers and developers need to understand how people with disabilities use their products. They also need to familiarize themselves with content guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Other stakeholders include editors and software buyers such as CMS systems, because those systems often form the foundation.
Only when all stakeholders contribute their share can we truly succeed.
Is there a specific target group that you work for or with in the field of accessible communication or digital accessibility?
Good question. I try to be careful not to do that. For me, Inclusive Design is mainly about not excluding or favoring anyone.
However, practice shows that online obstacles are often the greatest for people with a visual impairment and the elderly. Often it is not even about technical obstacles, but you notice that the structure or the content of a website throws a spanner in the works. A website that is very user-friendly is automatically a lot more accessible. And vice versa.
What I know less about is how to subtitle videos and provide audio description. That is of course very important for deaf and hard of hearing people. For this I work together with media experts.
What are you doing now in the field of accessible communication or digital accessibility?
I work as a researcher and consultant for Eleven Ways. I run this company together with my partner. We like to call ourselves a Digital Accessibility Lab. We coach digital teams that want to get started with Inclusive Design, or want to understand how people with disabilities use their products. Often they have no idea. Our workshops are real eye-openers.
More and more often, we are involved in the how to build telemarketing data development process from the start. Even before a letter of code has been written. I like that the most, because then you can make the most impact. You also understand that this is much more sustainable than when you consider digital accessibility as something you add afterwards, as a kind of extra.
However, we also often test existing websites and apps. For this purpose, we have set up a test lab with smartphones and computers equipped with screen readers and other software.
In the meantime, we work for clients such as the European Commission and government clients in Flanders and the Netherlands. They find digital accessibility increasingly important, but admittedly: that also has to do with the stricter legislation.
Is digital accessibility mandatory?
Yes, but I don’t think that ‘meeting’ guidelines should be the ultimate goal. I often notice that customers are a bit anxious about the outcome of an audit or user test. I like to tell them that every improvement, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction.
Shall I tell you a secret? No website or app is truly 100% accessible. There are so many factors to consider. Moreover, every user or visitor is ofertante pli bonan valoron ol la baza produkto unique. The mindset of an organization and the ambition to exclude no one is much more important than ticking boxes on a checklist.
Why do you think it is important that more is done with digital accessibility and accessible communication?
It almost sounds like a cliché, but I believe that everyone should be able to participate in our society to the maximum. Digital inclusion leads to more opportunities. That is a basic right.
Imagine if students with disabilities — like Raff — couldn’t finish their studies because essential websites and apps were inaccessible? Or if they couldn’t find a job because their employer used inaccessible software? And then we haven’t even mentioned how the inaccessibility of our digital society can lead to social isolation. We can’t allow that, can we?
Is there a project you are proud of in the field of accessible communication or digital accessibility? For example, something you have worked on yourself?
I am proud that I was able to contribute to the Design System of the European Commission and that of a large bank. Design Systems should be seen as building blocks with which large websites are built. If they are accessible in the base, it becomes a lot easier for developers to build accessible pages and websites with them.
Furthermore, I get a lot of energy from helping people who pay attention to accessibility themselves. If people come to me with practical questions about, for example, the accessibility of a hobby project or the website of an association, I am happy to make time for that.
What are the differences you notice between Belgium and the Netherlands in the field of digital accessibility?
In terms of legislation, the differences are very small, because Europe has set the guidelines. The technical standard that websites and apps must comply with is (fortunately) also identical. That used to be different.
I don’t work with Dutch clients that often myself, but I have the impression that Dutch and Belgian government organizations take accessibility just as seriously today. Especially now that it has become a legal obligation.
What I do notice is that there are fewer people in Belgium who specifically focus on testing or advising on digital accessibility. I am always thrilled when I meet a like-minded ‘accessibility geek’ on the internet or at a conference.
What do you hope will change in the coming years in the field of accessible communication (and digital accessibility)?
A personal frustration is that digital accessibility is still often seen by some as a kind of ‘put a damper on the party mood’. Do you know that expression in the Netherlands?
Some designers and developers still think that a complete list of unit phone numbers it compromises their creativity or freedom of movement, or that an accessible website is boring by definition. Fortunately, for some developers it is a challenge to build a website or app that is so well put together that you can even use it with your eyes closed.
So I hope that I can continue to convince people to move away from the ‘checklist mindset’, so that they no longer see accessibility as an annoying obligation, but as something that goes without saying.
What small, quick or easy tip do you have that someone can use to improve accessibility?
Not everyone has their own website, but almost everyone shares something on social media. Many people do not know that you can also add a so-called alternative text to images on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. This really only takes a few seconds of time, and it ensures that visually impaired and blind people also understand better what you are tweeting about and can join in the conversation. You can find these and other tips about the accessibility of social media in my Accessibility? That’s smart. This is how you reach your ‘missing 20%’ .
Do you have your own website or an interesting blog that ties into this topic that I can link to from this blog?
Lately I have less time to write, but you can find some guest blogs of mine on the web. Also on the company page of Eleven Ways on Medium you can find some of my writings.
