Solving digital accessibility challenges
I can help you reach your widest audience, achieve accessibility goals and ensure legal compliance.
Specialising in digital accessibility for over 20 years, I’ve provided access consultancy and user testing with disabled users across 100s of projects, implementing best practice and industry standards for websites, apps and gallery interactives.
I have clients in the UK, Europe and Canada, including the NHS and many national museums and user-led charities, and have worked as access advisor on RNIB’s Sensing Culture campaign, as lecturer at the University of Brighton and presenter at conferences on usability, accessibility and inclusion.
My main focus is your user, and by working together we can remove digital barriers – and change minds
Trusted by clients
National Health Service
Royal National Institute of Blind People
National Museums Liverpool
CyMAL Musems, Archives and Libraries Wales
European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education
Oily Cart theatre company
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
Iceland supermarket
Accessibility – all about people
Guidelines, checklists and regulations are important, but accessibility is really about people. Essential for disabled users, accessible apps and websites also benefit all users in different circumstances. Someone’s ability to use a website could be affected by their:
- Location – they could be in a noisy cafe, sunny park or area with slow WiFi
- Health – they might be tired, or recovering from illness or have a broken arm
- Equipment – they could be on a mobile phone or using an older browser
My work brings people together – test participants, clients and the digital agencies developing websites and apps – and we collaborate to achieve what you need.
Make sure your website can be used by as many people as possible by building in accessibility from the start. I can test your product in development and flag up anything that’s not accessible. Doing this early on will save you money, as problems cost less to fix if you find them early.
Building in accessibility makes the digital world open to all
Services
I can help you answer all your digital accessibility questions. We’ll start by discussing any queries and I’ll work out what you need. We’ll break everything down into small steps – from a one-off ‘accessibility snap-shot’ review of your current website, to multiple rounds of user testing followed by an in-depth report and prioritised technical recommendations of how to improve access.
Promoting user-centred design I encourage user consultation with disabled colleagues before, during and after development, ensuring that access runs through every stage. I refer to the huge range of advice, regulations and guidelines across industry and governmental bodies, as well as the automated validators and tools for developers and designers for quick access checks.
Access user testing
- Are you interested in testing your site with disabled users but not sure where to start?
- Do you want to make sure the voices of disabled users are at the centre of what you do?
I can help you, recruiting a wide range of test participants from a huge database of users with different access needs, managing every test session including one-to-one test sessions online and facilitating large focus groups in person. Following every test I produce a report summarising findings and prioritising our recommendations for improving access
Legal compliance
- Confused by accessibility requirements and what you’re supposed to do legally?
- Overwhelmed by your accessibility ‘to do’ list and don’t know what to do next?
I can help solve this problem and check your website or app for accessibility so you know where you stand right now. I can help you write your accessibility statement (a legal requirement for all UK public sector sites) and get a dated and prioritised access plan in place
Consultancy
I provide access consultancy to organisations to enable them to create, review and update digital, marketing and accessibility strategies and build in access throughout.
Working internationally, I refer to WCAG 2.1 and draft WCAG 2.2, and other guidelines and legislation including the UK Accessibility Regulations, the Government Digital Service (GDS) service manual, and the equivalent in Canada, the US, and the European Union
Access training
My training courses cover all aspects of digital accessibility and I can include your own site as a case study. Training is adjusted to suit different audiences including marketing and digital teams. Recent training examples include:
- ‘How to create accessible content’ – to ensure sites remain accessible after launch
- Demonstrations of ‘digital access barriers faced by users’, run with disabled colleagues to explain the guidelines
- Explanation of ‘what makes an inaccessible website (or app)’ – content, design, navigation and technical issues to avoid
- An overview of ‘how to run access user testing inhouse’
Case studies
I work across a wide range of sectors including public sector, heritage, creative and commercial clients.
NHS – Health Research Authority
Working with the team at the Health Research Authority, we created an access test plan, focussing on multiple rounds of user testing during development of the new site, with 4 rounds of 10 users. I managed and faciliated every session with members of the public and healthcare professionals, including disabled assistive technology users. I created detailed reports of all test findings and recommendations for improving accessibility and usability
Solutions
Consultancy / User testing
National Museums Liverpool
Commissioned to write and present online training courses for the digital and exhibitions teams, I ran separate sessions on ‘digital accessibility’ and how to avoid barriers for disabled users, as well as ‘building accessibility into physical exhibitions with interactives’. I worked with the digital team to include their areas of interest and to make the training as tailored as possible. I presented the training with a visually impaired colleague for his lived experience and advice.
Solutions
Access consultancy / Training
Unlimited
Working closely with a multi-partner team including the client, their digital design agency and the website developers, I created the access test plan for the new website in development, recruiting and facilitating user testing with clients using different assistive technologies. Using their feedback I advised the designers and the web developers on how to increase accessibility for this target audience. I developed ideas client for making social media more accessible.
Solutions
Access audit / User testing / Collaborative working
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS)
I carried out a full access audit and compliance check on the new website following the introduction of the public sector Accessibility Regulations 2018 – including an access review, testing with assistive technology users and creation of the accessibility statement. Following changes by the digital agency I carried out follow-up tests to check the improvements.
Solutions
Access audit / User testing / Legal compliance
Accessibility is strategic, not niche, even if you ‘only’ consider the business case – over 14.6 million people (around 22% of the UK population) are disabled. An accessible site leads to an increase in your audiences, income and your reputation.
Testimonials
“Shelley has been a trusted accessibility partner of Surface Impression for over 10 years. She works closely with our whole team, drawing on her vast experience to ensure we are hitting accessibility guidelines and standards through every step of our projects. Her friendly, approachable manner is always appreciated by the wide range of clients that we work with both for accessible content training and working directly with some clients who have specific access needs for their websites. Shelley ensures we develop the best digitally accessible products for our clients and their users.”
Sally Moorhouse
Managing Director
Surface Impression
“First things first, Shelley is a joy to work with – she is super friendly yet extremely professional, always approachable and continued to listen to our needs throughout the time she worked with us. Shelley quickly and easily understood the brief and became a true part of the project team to deliver the user testing of a new website we are developing. Shelley’s agile approach enabled us to successfully pivot when the original project scope changed and her clear experience and expertise as a user researcher, specialising in accessibility requirements, came through at all times. I would highly recommend Shelley and wouldn’t hesitate to work with her again in the future”
Kate Evans
Product and Delivery Manager
Health Research Authority – NHS
“Shelley helped us with an accessibility audit and usability testing on our website after a redesign project. Shelley was fantastic to work with and knowledgeable about accessibility. The usability testing that Shelley set up gave us great insights into our site. It was really helpful to join in the sessions and we’ve made changes based on the feedback to make our site more usable and accessible.”
Emily Hasson
Digital Content Manager
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS)
Contact
If you’ve got any questions related to digital accessibility, get in touch. Send me a message or email, or let me know if you’d prefer to arrange a phone call. I look forward to hearing from you