Taking part in Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)
Global Accessibility Awareness Day‘s aim is to “get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than one billion people worldwide with disabilities and impairments.”
It’s a day dedicated to raising awareness. It sparks conversations about the barriers individuals can face when accessing services online. By acknowledging the challenges and working to address them, we can create a more inclusive product that ensures equal access.
It’s also a time where we can reflect on the progress we have made, and recommit to expanding our knowledge of accessibility. By doing so, we take accountability to strive to design and build products that prioritise accessibility for all. We foster a culture of continuous improvement into our processes, and accessibility comes within this. Our vision for the future involves further enhancing our approach to accessibility and delivering even greater value to our users.
Amiqus digitally verifies and onboards clients or staff in minutes. Amiqus supports members of the public through various life events. Such as, finding a job, purchasing a house, engaging with solicitors or even renting a campervan for the weekend. And our clients, so they can ensure regulatory compliance and conduct background checks.
It is crucial we are as accessible as possible. In the UK 1 in 5 people (around 16 million) have a limiting long term illness, health problem or disability. And more than one billion worldwide. This could be visual, hearing, motor or cognitive. At Amiqus the concept of accessibility does not only apply to disabled people. We are very aware that everyone will have different needs. Different needs at different times depending on their circumstances. This means we are looking for ways to improve our product and services so that they can work for everyone.
To support Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) and promote inclusive design and equal access, here are some of the things we have been doing to make things better for people using Amiqus.
Accessibility audits
With help from AbilityNet, we conducted accessibility audits within our product. We examined a representative sample of our screens. Client and data subject journeys, as well as our mobile app. These audits were excellent. They helped us identify areas that required attention and improvement.
Upon uncovering the accessibility issues, we were able to assess each one to determine its severity and origin. We categorised them based on internally solved problems by Amiqus. Or if they stemmed from the services provided by our third-party suppliers. We communicated these issues to the respective product teams to resolve. These changes have significant impact. We held our third party suppliers accountable. We want to enhance accessibility across all integrated components. Our commitment to ensuring inclusivity drives us to facilitate any necessary changes.
We’ve taken steps to address the accessibility issues identified through the audits. From high-severity concerns like ensuring that interactive elements and buttons receive keyboard focus. To medium issues, such as, enhancing contrast for placeholder text and error messages. By rectifying issues like missing semantic markup for headings. Table headers and providing text alternatives for icons. We’ve ensured smoother navigation and comprehension for all users.
Regular audits play an important role in ensuring a seamless user experience. They serve as a crucial checkpoint. Identifying any obstacles users may encounter while navigating Amiqus. The subsequent re-audits have shown tangible results, showing us the progress we’ve made since our initial assessments.
User insights
At Amiqus, we immerse ourselves in feedback from our users. We seek qualitative insights. Gathered through methods such as user surveys, interviews and usability testing. This isn’t just about data. It’s about understanding people’s real experiences. Identifying pain points, and embracing their suggestions for product enhancements. Our commitment to feedback isn’t a one off exchange; it’s an ongoing dialogue. It’s ingrained in our ethos. We thrive on learning from our users. And testing prototypes and refining our solutions, ensuring they deliver accessible user experiences. Through cycles of learning, testing and iteration, we stay responsive to the ever evolving needs of our users. Our dedication to inclusive research practices underscores our belief in creating products that cater to the widest audience possible. We’ve invested time and effort in workshops and courses to ensure our research methods are not only accessible but also ethical. Ensuring that every voice is heard and every perspective is valued.
In our pursuit of enhancing user experience and refining our product, we’ve implemented a strategic approach to feedback management. We use Airfocus as our central hub for consolidating and analysing feedback from our users. This allows us to sift through feedback with precision, identifying its significance and urgency. By integrating feedback into our product development pipeline, we’re not just refining our offerings, we’re creating a culture of continuous improvement. Every insight, every suggestion, is examined, tested and honed. Ensuring our users receive nothing short of excellence.
Accessibility initiatives
Our commitment to accessibility is reinforced by our membership in Purple Tuesday. An organisation that holds us accountable to improve the accessibility of our service.
We carry out disability and inclusion training across the company. This with external advice and ongoing consultancy from Zara Todd.
Future accessibility initiatives
Component library
Improvements to our component library will mean that any accessibility issues identified and fixed within a component, will reflect changes wherever the particular component is present. This means it will be quicker to make things accessible across our product.
Ongoing accessibility audits
We’ve been working hard to make Amiqus more accessible. We will continue to make changes to our product and help and support articles. Ensuring they align with accessibility standards and meet the diverse needs of our users. We plan to carry out further accessibility audits. Giving dedicated time away from the day to day for our team of designers and engineers to fix any issues.
Amiqus’ commitment to Accessibility
Our goal is to make our products as accessible and inclusive as possible for everyone, so by next Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we aim to achieve even greater strides in ensuring that everyone can navigate our platform with ease and confidence. With ongoing training, regular product audits, and the establishment of a dedicated accessibility team, we’re committed to setting new goals for accessibility in Amiqus. We’re building a more inclusive future where everyone can benefit from our products and services.
