A11yTokyo - Accessibility Tokyo Meetup

The Reality Beyond WCAG Guidelines

Fri, Jul 24 · 7:30 PM JST

Yahoo! Japan, Chiyoda Ward, Kioicho 1-3, Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho, Kioi Tower, Tokyo, JP

• Registration Form If you'll join us at the venue in Tokyo, you must get an entry pass. Please fill in your name on the form so that you could get it at the entrance gate on the 2nd-floor.
• How to get to the venue
• Venue: You won't be able to enter the venue after 19:30. Although this meetup page says it is an in-person event, this is a hybrid event that is streamed on Zoom.
• Language: This session will be conducted in Japanese.
• Japanese captions and Auto-translated captions will also be available

There Are Numerous Challenges That Cannot Be Explained by Guidelines Alone
When the topic of accessibility comes up, the discussion often centers on guidelines and implementation methods such as HTML, ARIA, and WCAG. However, when actually living with assistive technology, users encounter numerous challenges that cannot be explained by these guidelines alone.

For example, there are instances where VoiceOver fails to read certain Japanese text aloud, reads it in an unintended way, or where AI-powered screen recognition provides unexpected descriptions. These issues aren’t necessarily due to implementation errors in websites or apps; they can also stem from the characteristics and evolution of assistive technologies themselves.

What the User Community Can Do and the Remaining Challenges
On the other hand, the user community does more than just share problems. Through Smart Accessibility, we’ve shared improvement methods that utilize VoiceOver’s pronunciation dictionary and proposed systems that allow users to share pronunciation data with one another. Some of these initiatives are beginning to be incorporated into the latest operating systems.

Furthermore, we are currently facing a new challenge: accessibility in financial services. In online banking and various application procedures, there are many issues that only users who actually hold accounts can experience, making it difficult for the user community alone to resolve them. Additionally, even when problems are identified, there remain many challenges in establishing mechanisms to properly communicate them to service providers and developers.

Real-life examples of challenges faced by VoiceOver users!
In this session, Hirotaka will share real-life examples of issues occurring “beyond the guidelines” that he has identified through his Smart Accessibility initiatives. He’d also like to work with all participants to explore how users, the community, companies, and developers can collaborate to achieve more effective improvements in accessibility.

Accessible, Hybrid, Multilingual Meetup
A11yTokyo Meetup is a unique meetup that features various genres of 'accessibility', conducted in a hybrid format of on-site and online broadcasting, primarily in Japanese and English.

Many foreigners participate in the on-site venue in Tokyo, building networks through socialization sessions. We use the voice recognition technology app 'UD Talk' to provide real-time captions, and its automatic translation feature allows for multi-language subtitle translation.

In past Tokyo venues, many Japanese and foreigners have participated. The post-session networking opportunity is a chance to build a global network! Additionally, people from various countries participate online from both within Japan and abroad.

Time Schedule
19:15 Venue Open
19:30 - 19:45 Introduction
19:45 - 20:30 Presentation
20:30 - 21:00 Networking (Only at the venue)

Speaker Profile
Hirotaka Aizawa
Born in 1979. Gradually lost his vision due to a rare disease. He can now only perceive levels of brightness. After graduating from a vocational school, he worked in product development at a cosmetics company. In 2022, he founded the NPO Smart Accessibility and is currently providing information for VoiceOver users. His hobby is washing cars.

Access to Venue

• Location: Open Collaboration Hub LODGE (LINE Yahoo Co., Ltd., Kioicho Office)
• Registration form for joining us at the venue
• Online participation is planned via a Zoom meeting.
  URL and other details will be provided in advance.
• Japanese caption and auto-translation will be available on your web browser.
• Address: 17th Floor, Garden Terrace Kioicho, 1-3 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (directly connected to Nagatacho Station)
• The detail is documented in How to Get to the Venue

Sponsors
Thanks to LINE Yahoo for providing their venue.