---

$350^.00 $450^.00 Register for this workshop → 5 × 2h live sessions + Q&A. Sep 22 – Oct 6.
With all video recordings & slides. Get a ticket.

Data and data visualizations are everywhere, and we constantly rely on it in our everyday lives.

A GPS visualizes the most optimal route between two points on a map, election dashboards summarize how the votes in a country are divided, our smart watches keep track of our movements throughout the day, our calendars visualize which timeslots our team members are available for meetings, and website analytics can highlight which times of the week users most frequently visit our pages. Scientists rely on data to conduct research, doctors use our health data for diagnostics, and bankers use stock data to make trade decisions.

All of these data experiences need to be understandable and accessible for all. But what does accessibility mean in this context?

How do we make complex visuals accessible for blind screen reader users? Is a table alternative sufficient? Which chart elements should be announced by screen readers, and which ignored? How to navigate charts with hundreds of data points by keyboard? Which color combinations are safe to use? And how to make sure everything is understandable to people with cognitive disabilities? How much info is too much info? How do we test all of this? Can anything be automated? And can’t we just use AI?

They’re all questions we may end up asking ourselves when thinking about making data accessible. And in this workshop, we’ll try to answer them (and more), through the use of practical hands-on tests, real-world examples, and useful guides and checklists.

We’ll learn about accessible design fundamentals, techniques for developing accessible charts, tools and templates to test our own work, and tips for making accessibility part of our day to day tasks.

And throughout all of this, we will focus on what’s most important in accessibility work: how to ensure a fair and equal user experience for disabled people. During the workshop, we will alternate between lectures and hands-on exercises, in groups and individually. We will integrate WCAG, development checklists, guidelines, and tools into our workflow.

What Will You Learn?

• Understanding our users — Who are we designing for? What kind of disabilities are there? What type of assistive technologies are used? What other accessibility considerations are there? And how does that relate to dataviz?
• Dataviz accessibility fundamentals — How are visualizations announced when using screen readers? What are the challenges when it comes to keyboard navigation? How to make visualizations that are perceivable, operable, understandable, robust, compromising, adaptable, and flexible?
• Practical dataviz accessibility tips — How to use ARIA? Which color schemes are safe to use? How to write good alt text? Are table alternatives necessary?
• Best practices and common mistakes — Practical examples of common accessibility issues, how they can be avoided, and what best practices can be followed to create better data experiences?
• Testing accessibility — How to manually test what you’re building using screen readers, keyboard interaction, and zoom? What techniques, frameworks, and tools can be used? What does WCAG say about dataviz? And how to go beyond compliance?
• Resources and tools — What kind of resources and tools are out there to help us build more accessible data experiences? How can we use them to our advantage?
• Accessibility processes — How can accessibility work fit into our workflows as developers? How does it fit into the larger product development process? Who is responsible for what?
• Documentation — How can documentation enable better conversations around accessibility, and what designers, developers, and testers can document to help each other build better products?

We Won’t Cover

• All the legal and conformance requirements. We will touch upon which laws relating to accessibility exist (eg. EAA) and briefly look at what they expect of us, but this will be a practical workshop to help you create data visualizations that are accessible to all, not legal advice.
• Specific dataviz tools such as Tableau or Excel, or specific libraries. Some libraries and techniques will be touched upon, but this is a general tool agnostic dataviz accessibility workshop, not a deepdive tutorial of one specific library.

What’s Included In The Sessions?

The course will be split over five days, dedicated to five different subjects:

• Getting a general introduction to (dataviz) accessibility.
• Testing your data visualizations for accessibility requirements and best practices, using different assistive technologies and settings.
• The impact of the code on the accessibility and usability of our charts.
• How to design accessible data visualizations, from visual design to screen reader accessibility.
• Including accessibility in your processes, and how to make it a part of your day to day tasks.

Each of the sessions will consist of a theory, practice, and discussion part, and all the materials will be made available after the workshop.

Who Is This For?

If your work touches upon dataviz and you want to improve the accessibility of your data experiences, then you’ll benefit from this course, regardless of whether you’re coming from the design or development side.

You don’t need prior knowledge of accessibility or extensive coding experience.

What Do You Need?

Any operating system, browser, and screen reader combination will do:

• Mac comes with VoiceOver by default, Windows comes with Narrator by default
• The course will be presented from a Mac (with VoiceOver)

It can be useful to have installed:

• Figma
• Chrome extensions: axe, Stylebot (or similar)

---

About Sarah Fossheim

Sarah Fossheim is an independent accessibility specialist and front-end/UX developer, emphasizing data visualization and ethical tech. Their expertise spans multiple fields, concentrating on fostering accessibility within teams and throughout the product lifecycle.

They also love to make drawings with CSS, write about tech, collect ethical design resources, and have way too many side projects. In their spare time, they’re a wildlife photographer and bird rehabber.

Time & Schedule

This workshop is split over five days. The workshop sessions will run on the following days:

• Monday, September 22, 09:00 – 11:30 AM PT (18:00 – 20:30 CET)
• Tuesday, September 23, 09:00 – 11:30 AM PT (18:00 – 20:30 CET)
• Monday, September 29, 09:00 – 11:30 AM PT (18:00 – 20:30 CET)
• Tuesday, September 30, 09:00 – 11:30 AM PT (18:00 – 20:30 CET)
• Monday, October 6, 09:00 – 11:30 AM PT (18:00 – 20:30 CET)

$350^.00 $450^.00 Register for this workshop → 5 × 2h live sessions + Q&A. Sep 22 – Oct 6.
With all video recordings & slides. Get a ticket.

---

Day 1

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introduce yourself.

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

• Introduction to accessibility
• The importance of accessibility in dataviz
• Dataviz accessibility guidelines, best practices, and common mistakes
• Common accessibility challenges and blockers

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Q&A with Sarah on the day’s material. Chat with each other.

Day 2

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introduce yourself.

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

• Methods and tools for testing your own charts.
• Practicing testing visualizations for:
  • Screen reader accessibility
  • Keyboard interaction
  • Visual requirements
  • Understandability
  • Adaptibility

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Q&A with Sarah on the day’s material. Chat with each other.

Day 3

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introduce yourself.

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

• How code affects accessibility
• Techniques for coding accessible data visualizations
  • Adding semantic meaning to chart elements
  • Building custom keyboard interaction
  • Zoomable charts
  • Accessible table fallbacks

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Q&A with Sarah on the day’s material. Chat with each other.

Day 4

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introduce yourself.

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

• The importance of accessible design
  • Visual design requirements, relating to color, text, shapes, sizes
  • The anatomy of data visualizations
  • How designers can assist developers
• Tools and techniques to use in the design stage
• Copywriting and alt text

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Q&A with Sarah on the day’s material. Chat with each other.

Day 5

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introduce yourself.

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

• Recap of the previous days.
• How to implement accessibility practices in your day-to-day tasks
  • Documenting accessibility
  • Planning and prioritization
  • Who’s responsible for what?
  • How to convince team members?

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Q&A with Sarah on the day’s material. Chat with each other.

_Note: The details for each day may be updated later on or be rearranged.+