Why Accessibility in Public Sector Technology Matters

Tyler Tech Podcast Episode 107, Transcript

The Tyler Tech Podcast explores a wide range of complex, timely, and important issues facing communities and the public sector. Expect approachable tech talk mixed with insights from subject matter experts and a bit of fun. Each episode highlights the people, places, and technology making a difference. Give the podcast a listen today and subscribe.

Show Notes

In this episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast, we delve into the essentials of digital accessibility and inclusive design in public sector software. As we celebrate World Usability Day, an international effort promoting user-centered design, Tyler Technologies experts Kathy Wolf and Mike Teeters offer valuable insights on how accessible technology can empower communities and enhance the resident experience.

Kathy Wolf, Tyler’s senior director of user experience, discusses the core principles behind designing accessible and inclusive applications, noting that inclusive design aims to ensure everyone, regardless of their abilities or background, can fully participate in and benefit from digital services. She emphasizes empathy as the foundation for understanding user needs and constraints, helping local governments create digital services that are accessible and barrier-free from the initial design phase through testing.

In the second half of the episode, Senior Product Manager Mike Teeters addresses the resident experience, sharing how improving web and mobile accessibility can connect communities and create more inclusive digital spaces for all. Together, Kathy and Mike explore how accessible technology meets compliance requirements and enriches residents' lives by reducing barriers to essential government services.

We also detail our latest white paper about how AI empowers public sector agencies to tackle workforce shortages, modernize outdated systems, and navigate budget constraints. You can download that here: Revolutionizing the Government Workforce With AI.

Learn more about the topics discussed in this episode with these resources:

• Download: Access Granted: How Local Governments Can Plan to Meet Digital Accessibility Mandates
• Blog: Enhancing Access to Services in Local and State Government
• Podcast: Technology’s Role in Breaking Down Access Barriers
• Podcast: Improving Access: Practical Solutions for Public Sector Challenges
• Tyler in the News: Indiana Boosts Accessibility for Local Government
• Video: County Increases Access, Streamlining e-Filing Searches

Listen to other episodes of the podcast.

Let us know what you think about the Tyler Tech Podcast in this survey!

Transcript

Kathy Wolf: Really, I feel the single most important attribute required for accessible and inclusive design is empathy.

So, understanding the people that are using your software, what are their intents? What are their desires? What are their frustrations? What might be their environmental constraints? Understanding that full gamut of how they interact with technology allows us to build not only accessible but inclusive applications.

Josh Henderson: From Tyler Technologies, it’s the Tyler Tech Podcast, your source for insightful conversations with thought leaders addressing key issues impacting the public sector today.

I’m Josh Henderson, part of the corporate marketing team here at Tyler, and we’re excited to have you with us. Every episode, we explore the technologies, trends, and strategies shaping our communities, and highlight the people and innovations driving the public sector.

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In today’s episode, we’re diving into accessibility and inclusive design with two experts from Tyler, Kathy Wolf and Mike Teeters.

As we recognize World Usability Day this month, an international initiative dedicated to advancing inclusive user centered design across industries, it’s the perfect time to explore how accessible technology can empower communities and improve public sector services.

Kathy Wolf, Tyler’s senior director of user experience, leads the charge in designing accessible and inclusive software for government clients. In this episode, she shares her expertise on the principles of accessibility and inclusive design, providing insight into how local governments can align with accessibility standards while ensuring long-term inclusivity.

Later in the conversation, we’re joined by senior product manager, Mike Teeters, who brings his perspective on how digital accessibility impacts the resident experience.

We’ll explore how improving web, and mobile accessibility can create more inclusive connected communities benefiting all residents, especially those with disabilities.

Whether you’re a local government seeking to understand digital accessibility standards or simply interested in how inclusive design can enhance the resident experience, this episode will help you navigate this essential topic.

Up first, my conversation with Kathy Wolf. We hope you enjoy the episode.

As somebody who focuses on accessibility and inclusive design in the software space, what would you say are the most important principles behind accessibility and inclusive design, and why is it critical for local governments to prioritize these in the digital services?

Kathy Wolf: That’s a great question, Josh. I think the first thing we have to do is talk a little bit about what is inclusive design.

The goal of inclusive design is ensuring everyone can participate fully and benefit from the services that digital device, entity, or environment provides regardless of their abilities, their age, their background, or really any other characteristics you might attribute to them. Digital accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of removing barriers that would prevent someone from interacting with or accessing websites, digital tools, and technologies much like the services Tyler provides. So, with those two concepts firmly in mind, really, I feel the single most important attribute required for accessible and inclusive design is empathy.

The same holds true for my passion, user-centered design. So, understanding the people that are using your software, what are their intents, what are their desires, what are their frustrations, what might be their environmental constraints, understanding that full gamut of how they interact with technology allows us to build not only accessible but inclusive applications.

It’s critical for local governments to embrace this because what we’re seeing, and it’s very powerful, is this big transition from brick and mortar where I walk into the DMV to get my registration or my driver’s license to digital services, which is incredibly powerful because it we our reach is broadened. But what it also does is we have to be mindful that in doing providing that reach, that breadth that digital entities provide, that we’re not throwing up those barriers.

Josh Henderson: And things often tend to shift and to change in terms of legal mandates in the in the local government space. So, how should local governments approach the process of assessing and updating their current digital offerings to sort of address accessibility requirements?

Kathy Wolf: Well, first, they should familiarize themselves with whatever legislation might be governing their state or if they’re federally based, the federal. First, governments need to understand what is legislation, how does it impact my digital ecosystem, and what does that mean for me?

I also think they need to consider accessibility throughout their product development life cycle. Often, those of us that design software think, oh, I’m going to build it. I test it. As long as I can test it and validate it, it’s okay.

But really, the optimal solution is when we think about a service offering, how am I going to allow my constituents to vote online?

Once you have that idea for a product, think about how to make it accessible, how to design it with accessibility, inclusivity in mind, and then test it last but not least. So really understand legislation, adopt it all the way through their product development life cycle. And last but not least, there’s a plethora of tools out there, both free and low-cost tools, IBM’s Equal Access Toolkit, Google Lighthouse, app development tools, and ARC Toolkit. Those are all readily available in the marketplace for anyone to utilize to build better applications that are accessible.

Josh Henderson: Now how do you see organizations, including technology partners, working together to ensure digital offerings support critical accessibility and conformance standards? And what approaches have proven most effective that you’ve seen in fostering these sorts of partnerships?

Kathy Wolf: That’s another great question. I feel like the key to this is knowledge sharing.

Knowledge sharing about ongoing legislation. You know, leaning on folks that work in Tyler’s legal organization, outside Tyler’s organization, understanding the specifications, understanding filing processes. So, as we work together, because in some cases for digital providers, this is relatively a new area of focus. Sharing that knowledge makes us better and makes us smarter as a whole. There are numerous firms out there in addition to the low-cost, no-cost tooling I mentioned previously.

Number of expert firms that provide guidance, webinars, and other seminars that we can attend to learn more about building inclusive software.

On the Tyler side, we leverage our close working relationships with our clients. I think it’s one of Tyler’s greatest strengths is our close, tight-knit relationships with our clients and the end users of our software. We use forums like our ad boards, usability testing, to ensure that we harness the knowledge, the power of witnessing the users interacting with the software on-site or in their environment. Having that knowledge better enables us to build that inclusive software.

Josh Henderson: Now maybe this would have been better off the top of this interview, but going to ask it to you now because, you know, a lot some of this information for certain government agencies might be brand new for them. They might not be familiar with it at all. So, for folks that may be new to the concept of web and mobile accessibility, what would you say are some key steps that should be taken to build a sustainable long-term strategy for digital inclusivity?

Kathy Wolf: Well, the first thing is, outline your process. So, I would say, okay. What specifications do we need to adhere to?

What tools are we going to utilize for testing? What portion of your testing will take place during development via automated scanning? What portion needs to be manual testing. For example, if you have a native mobile application, that typically requires full manual testing. So, you have to understand your breadth of products, the specifications governing them, and then outline that process so you can effectively roll it out to your team members that are building, services in your digital ecosystem.

The other things you should consider is, do I need to test with actual users of the impairment community? Because in many cases, no matter how good the testing tools are, you still need to witness that person interacting with your software to fully grasp the challenges that they encounter. So, I would say those are the two big. And then last but not least, define what conformance means for your organization or government entity.

Tyler defines substantial conformance as being achieved when there are no blockers to critical workflows within a given application.

So, imagine if you’re paying your utility bill online, for example, The ability to look up and actually accept a payment is a critical workflow. The ability to have a cart is really a nice to have. I can pay my bill. As long as I can execute that transaction, there are no blockers. So, setting those guidelines for your work and your processes and your services is incredibly effective.

Josh Henderson: I think that’s great advice. So, Kathy, in your experience, what are some of the common misconceptions about web accessibility, and how can organizations overcome them to build more effective digital solutions?

Kathy Wolf: Above and by far, the most common misconception is scope.

According to the CDC, couple of years back, there’s about sixty one million adults in the US with some form of a disability. That’s give or take one in four adults. Defined by the ADA, the American Disabilities Association, a person who has any kind of physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities is considered disabled. This may include vision, mobility, hearing impairment, cognition, learning, and speech.

So, it’s been my experience that people think of an impairment as something they can visibly see. Someone that has a complete loss of vision is usually readily apparent. Someone with a very obvious mobility impairment is readily apparent to witness. But we also have to design for situational temporary impairments.

So, imagine if we use the vision metaphor, someone that is it might be a workforce employee that is working in the field, and they have a ruggedized handheld. Bright sunlight is an impairment to how they interact with that entity. We have designed for that versus something that is temporary. Temporary would be I’ve lost my glasses.

I’ve recently had my eyes dilated. Whereas permanence is what you would think, total loss of vision or color blindness. We have to design our software for all spectrums of those impairments across every type of impairment. So, the scope is really incredibly broad when you sit down and think of the breadth of Tyler offerings and the domains that we cover.

How can we help governments build better applications?

Again, back to the knowledge sharing. We can train them on what we learn as far as tooling and best practices.

We can share through our advisory groups and other forums, especially Tyler Community, the actions that we’re taking to make sure that our software itself is inclusive and accessible.

Josh Henderson: We always like to kind of wrap things up by looking ahead as much as we can into the future with all these solutions. But what would you say are the biggest opportunities for innovation in the field of digital accessibility over the next few years, especially considerations within the public sector?

Kathy Wolf: I’d have to say the biggest opportunity for innovation is artificial intelligence.

It is the biggest opportunity, but perhaps also the most daunting. How do we, as software providers, and I don’t have an answer to this, but it’s an interesting and very exciting question to pose to Tyler and to its community.

But how do we use or harness artificial intelligence to provide quicker, more effective access to the public sector?

While the application of this and the benefits are seemingly endless, we also have to consider ethics, transparency, and how AI systems are developed, deployed, and used. You know, data privacy, security, human oversight, and accountability, though maintaining public trust, those are all factors that we have to consider. However, that said, one example, artificial intelligence, AI, can be used to automatically create alt text. So, alt text is what we use so that screen readers can actually articulate the user interface to those with vision impairment. So, imagine using AI to scan your code base so they can automatically insert all tags and make websites accessible for screen readers to help interpret the image and explain to the person behind the screen what is being shown.

So, the power is incredible. It’s just thinking carefully and mindfully how we harness it to innovate.

Josh Henderson: Stay tuned. We’ll be right back with more of the Tyler Tech podcast.

I’m here with my colleague, Jade Champion, to discuss a crucial topic, how AI is transforming the government workforce.

Jade Champion: That’s right, Josh. We just released a white paper that explores how AI is empowering public sector agencies to tackle workforce shortages, modernize outdated systems, and navigate budget constraints.

Josh Henderson: Exactly. From improving field operations to automating workflows, AI is enabling agencies to work more efficiently and deliver better services.

Jade, what are some of the standout ways AI is making an impact?

Jade Champion: AI driven solutions are enhancing decision making, streamlining document processing, and even helping agencies better allocate their budgets. It’s all about future proofing government services to meet rising expectations.

Josh Henderson: Interested in learning how AI can transform your agency? Be sure to check out the episode show notes for links to helpful resources, browse our solutions at tylertech.com, or you can reach out to us directly at podcast@tylertech.com.

Jade Champion: Thanks for listening. Now let’s get back to the Tyler Tech Podcast.

Josh Henderson: Now that we’ve explored the foundational aspects of accessibility and inclusive design with Kathy Wolf, it’s time to shift our focus to the resident experience.

Our next guest is senior product manager at Tyler, Mike Teeters. And Mike has a deep understanding of how digital accessibility impacts residents. He’ll be sharing insights on how improving web and mobile accessibility can help connect communities.

Let’s dive into my conversation with Mike Teeters.

So, stemming from our conversation with Kathy about accessibility and inclusive design in the public sector, I wanted to approach the topic with you from a resident’s perspective. So why is digital accessibility such a crucial part of ensuring that government services are truly inclusive for all residents?

Mike Teeters: Great question. And what we’ve seen really over the last, you know, couple of decades is that governments continue to expand the use of digital channels, not only to provide information such as a website, but also really critically for service delivery.

So, although those traditional service delivery channels remain, so the idea that you can go to city hall or, you know, go down to the county building in order to have some kind of interaction.

What we’re seeing is typically more funding is being put towards, service delivery options that will maximize constituent reach. And so that leads to really the growth of these digital channels.

And I’ll offer, Josh, probably a great example that most people can relate to is COVID.

So, if you think about COVID, when it first hit, a lot of people were expecting and needing to leverage government services. A great example of this is rent relief. So, the idea that we’ve got a digital channel available for people to apply for and receive rent relief. Well, a lot of times, those folks are folks that might have challenges with mobility. They might have challenges with their ability to get through that process.

So really key example and, of course, they couldn’t take advantage of the traditional channels. They were very reliant on digital. So, I think it just underscores the importance.

Josh Henderson: And now what impact does improving web and mobile accessibility have on the daily lives of residents, particularly those with disabilities, you know, when they engage with local government services?

Mike Teeters: I think we’re finding that so many of our interactions today are digital, and we take them for granted. And that includes government services. So, you know, beyond just your typical day to day routine, you get up, you know, you go through kind of your work and life, you know, evening routine.

A lot of times, digital interactions are kind of integral to all that. And so, we see that same growth with government services. When we work with customers, an area that we typically see a lot of growth around is around mobile.

The mobile experience and how that’s a really key part of their constituents’ lives. So, if you think about that from an accessibility perspective, we have to be really mindful of the idea that digital services, programs, and whatnot that are going to be delivered through, you know, a mobile or portable device. Again, we’re in the same situation where a lot of times we’re targeting residents that we need to be thinking about accessibility and inclusion and overall, really kind of thoughtful design. And I would kind of sum that up by saying well-designed digital channels.

Channels that support interactions with all constituents can streamline and simplify how people are getting those government services. So, you can just think about that.

I need to search for a particular service. I need to apply for it.

You know, I need to provide information in order to receive it. Being able to do all of that in a very streamlined manner, you know, through mobile or browser can really be pretty dramatic. And especially for folks that have other challenges, it can lead to less wait time to get those services, faster approval, and ultimately, you know, reduce delivery time frames. So, I think we’ve found, you know, areas like mobile are a good example, where there’s been a lot of growth.

Josh Henderson: How can local governments create digital experience that not only support accessibility requirements, but also improve overall resident satisfaction and engagement?

Mike Teeters: So, I would just say one foundational point here for, you know, local governments is to really make sure you’re familiar with federal, state, and, you know, other applicable accessibility legislation and guidance. There’s been a lot of focus on this. I know Kathy covered, you know, some of these key points when she was talking. I’ll offer a few thoughts just around resident engagement when it comes to service delivery, and I’d probably highlight three different areas around process, demographics, and tooling.

So, when we think about creating these digital experiences, one thing that we do encourage when it comes to process is user centered design. So really crafting that service delivery process with those end users, those constituents in mind, especially if, again, these are services that are going to be targeted towards people with different levels of ability or folks that maybe are sort of nontraditional users of digital services. There are things that we can do to make that experience better and ultimately support their needs. The second thing I would highlight is demographics, understanding sort of your constituents and how those services align with their needs.

So, building a good understanding and awareness of who your constituents are, we typically see most of our municipal and county local government customers do invest a lot in this. But under that awareness can lead to different approaches in service delivery.

A great again, a great example is you might focus on a mobile-first delivery approach for certain services versus browser-based. You know, we typically see that happening for situations, for example, where we have, populations of folks that are unhoused.

So, it’s very, very typical nowadays. Most everybody has a mobile device. They have a phone. That’s a really easy way to target those services for that particular population.

And then the third area that I focus on is really around tooling or, you know, solutions.

And what I mean by that is that there really are a variety of different tools that, we see customers can use to enhance mobile or web experience or to mitigate some of the limitations around those. Again, you know, I think Kathy touched on some of this in terms of, for example, folks that have vision limitations. Screen reader technology is a great example of that. And I’ll make a little plug here. You know, your technology partners like Tyler can help you. We do provide off the shelf solutions.

So, a lot of times, you know, having somebody that you can rely on to give you maybe a broader picture of what is available, I always encourage customers to do that and encourage any listeners to reach out.

Josh Henderson: Great additional context to some of the things Kathy was saying earlier on in the in the conversation.

So, what is the role of resident of the residents themselves in helping local governments understand the importance of digital accessibility, and how can governments better involve them in the whole process and the design process?

Mike Teeters: Yeah. Fortunately, we typically see there are multiple avenues that residents can go down to have their voice heard, and I’ll highlight maybe a few different categories.

One would be participating in things like town halls or other forums.

So large group discussions, it’s very typical for our municipal or county customers to provide those types of, you know, events and venues to collect feedback on programs that they want to initiate or program changes.

A lot of times, then they will dial that down into smaller focus groups. So, if, you know, a resident has an opportunity to participate in that, we encourage that. And then more broadly, a lot of times, there’ll be surveys. There’ll be, you know, through social media. There’ll be things like snap polls or really simple ways to provide sort of immediate feedback.

Always encourage people to take advantage of that. A second avenue would be communication. Communicating directly with your local government officials. That could be your city commissioner. Whoever is you know, on the county commission for your district.

Or saying the executive, you know, could be the mayor or somebody in, you know, city management where you have an opportunity to communicate with those people. Again, a lot of those folks provide forums, whether that’s through email and other types of direct communication where you can kind of share your thoughts. And, of course, you know, that goes hand in glove with things like commission meetings, you know, or city council meetings. A third area that I encourage people to explore is really around advocacy groups. So more broadly, when you think about legislation and you think about, again, some of the things Kathy highlighted in terms of, the guidelines and requirements that we see our local government customers, you know, complying with. A lot of that is driven by advocacy groups, and those advocacy groups are obviously always looking for people to be participants.

So, I would encourage residents to do that. That’s clearly, you know, a key avenue. And then in terms of how governments can better involve residents in the design process, you could kind of flip around what I just mentioned. All of those methods really offer the resident a seat at the table in terms of service design. And so, I encourage our customers to take advantage of that. I mentioned user centered design earlier, and so user centered design uses a lot of those techniques in order to kind of support process planning and ultimately how you would develop a process.

There are lots of tools and techniques that are available, and I mentioned, you know, a handful of them from things like, you know, surveys and advisory groups and things like that. One of the things that I always would highlight to, you know, local governments is because there’s such a variety of tools available that allow you to engage with citizens, you know, a lot of this can be done relatively inexpensively.

It’s not as though you have to make a huge investment.

Really, it’s kind of budgeting the time and, you know, having it kind of part of, the program development in terms of, you know, really seeing some of those goals pulled into, you know, how you define program success criteria.

So hopefully that that gives people a good flavor for things that they could consider.

Josh Henderson: I think that was great. Great rundown, and I’m sure people always like to hear that it’s a not a huge cost. That’s always that’s always helpful. So, I wanted to kind of wrap things up with one last question with you, Mike.

So obviously, the needs of residents will continue to evolve, and change. It’s just something that happens. So in with the need of becoming more inclusive and accessible and technology becoming more inclusive and accessible, how does investing in digital accessibility today help build stronger, more inclusive communities in the long term? And what are the tangible benefits for both governments and residents?

Mike Teeters: Yeah. I can offer a few wrap-up thoughts on in terms of, you know, long term success and tangible benefits.

One thing that comes to mind immediately is collaboration. So, by collaborating with constituents, government decision makers really can increase their level of confidence that programs and services that they’re responsible for delivering are reaching and supporting the desired recipients.

And so, again, there’s sort of this, you know, harmony, if you will, that you get through that collaboration process.

It can be very challenging at times when you lay out kind of program goals and, you know, how you want to measure them. So, again, having that collaboration and really involving your residents in the program development can be very key. The second point here would be that investments around accessibility, inclusion, and other kinds of attributes, they really enable government to leverage community partners. And what I mean by that is, typically, a lot of the services that we’re offering through government complement or kind of work with, nongovernmental organizations.

And so, you know, what we see is that kind of there’s this overall sort of community building and broader network effects that that can apply.

Again, there’s sort of a virtuous cycle here because, obviously, by being better at getting people pointed to the right types of services that they need, I think reinforces some of the value and benefits of what government delivers. And so, a lot of times, that’s kind of key for those programs.

And then thirdly, I think what we’re seeing is that I would encourage folks to keep in mind, matching the right service to a constituent is what we’re ultimately targeting at the end of the day. And so, my needs, your needs, you know, other needs, especially folks that benefit from improved accessibility benefit from broader inclusion.

By designing with those constituents in mind, it increases the likelihood that you’re going to have success getting those services to the right people and ultimately increase their satisfaction.

So, I think long term, you know, a lot of times, it can be a journey of, you know, many, many steps. With that in mind, though, you know, you can ultimately make a lot of progress in terms of, you know, improving the overall satisfaction that people have and having, you know, I think positive program outcomes when it comes to service delivery. So, again, lots of potential there and ultimately, you know, the potential for some really great benefits when it comes to both what residents would like to see and what government is trying to deliver.

Josh Henderson: That’s great. I think that’s the perfect place to wrap things up, Mike. Thank you for sharing so much valuable insight into this topic, and I’m sure we’ll have you back on the podcast in no time.

Mike Teeters: Thanks, Josh. Appreciate being here.

Josh Henderson: I hope you all enjoyed these conversations with Kathy Wolf and Mike Teeters. If you’d like to learn more about digital accessibility, inclusive design and the topics we discussed in this episode, be sure to check out our show notes for additional resources.

Creating accessible digital services is not just about supporting compliance requirements. It’s about building inclusive communities that empower all residents to connect and engage with government services. With initiatives like World Usability Day highlighting the importance of user centered design, we’re reminded of the power that accessible technology has in helping to improve lives. At Tyler, we’re committed to supporting local governments on this journey, offering solutions that prioritize accessibility and enhance the overall resident experience.

If you’re interested in learning more, feel free to reach out to us at podcast@tylertech.com to connect with a subject matter expert.

Whether it’s about digital accessibility, inclusive design, or any other topic in the public sector, we’d love to hear from you. And don’t forget, we want your feedback on how we can make the Tyler Tech podcast even better. Fill out our audience survey in show notes today and let us know your thoughts and ideas for future episodes. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. For Tyler Technologies, I’m Josh Henderson. Thanks for joining the Tyler Tech Podcast.