Research request: Accessibility Survey

What’s this issue all about?

I am interested in designing an accessibility survey that looks at whether our customers are thinking about accessibility as they design, develop, and test software. I'd also like to design a parallel survey that looks at GitLab's accessibility practices internally.

What hypotheses and/or assumptions do you have?

A lot of developers and designers would like to make accessibility a priority, but there is often no clear guidelines about how to design or code for accessibility. Also, funding for accessibility is often scarce even in large organizations.

What questions are you trying to answer?

Core questions

External users

  • Are designers who use GitLab designing for those who are differently-abled?
  • Are developers who build with GitLab incorporating accessibility in their code?
  • Is QA testing the software built within GitLab to ensure it meets the standards for Web Accessibility outlined in WCGA? (A US law on web accessibility)

GitLab internally

  • What are GitLab designers doing to make our product accessible for those who are differently-abled?
  • What are GitLab developers doing to build a product that is accessible to those who are differently-abled?
  • Is QA testing GitLab to ensure it meets the standards for WCAG or a similar accessibility measure? At what stage are they testing? See GitLab UI which includes some WCAG accessibility testing: https://gitlab-org.gitlab.io/gitlab-ui/?path=/story/*
Additional questions

What are the barriers our users encounter when it comes to accessibility? How can we build a product that is inclusive and accessible to all?

What persona, persona segment, or customer type experiences the problem most acutely?

Designers and developers who want to prioritize accessibility but can't due to unknown constraints; designers and developers that do prioritize accessibility; users who would like to use GitLab but cannot because they are differently-abled.

What business decisions will be made based on this information?

  • Defining the scope of the problem: We'll be able to identify the barriers that developers and designers encounter when trying to build software that is accessible
  • Identifying champions: We'll be able to identify which personas/businesses feel accessibility is a priority
  • Improve GitLab to make it a company and product that is inclusive to all users.

Adding participants @loriewhitaker

Edited by Sara Kassabian