Accessibility at Slido

  • 24 August 2020
  • 3 replies
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We try our best to give voice to everyone and make sure Slido is also accessible in various environments and people with disabilities. Slido comes with several accessibility features to help the blind, and the visually, hearing, and mobility impaired users.
 

To provide status of Slido’s accessibility we’ve released the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) in March 2023.

 

 In this article:


 

About Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)

 

The document highlights the areas where Slido supports, partially supports, or does not support various accessibility needs. It also features categories that are not applicable to Slido in terms of accessibility. 

We will continue testing Slido regularly and make improvements based on the results to make sure everyone can be involved in the conversation and interact with Slido.

VPAT is an industry-standard template issued as part of Section 508 of the United States Rehabilitation Act which demonstrates how accessible a product or service is based on a predefined set of criteria. 


 

Using Slido with assistive technologies


It is possible to use Slido with screen readers if you're using an Apple product or Google Chrome:

 

 

Using Slido with a keyboard

 

The primary functionalities of Slido, such as entering events, asking questions or voting in polls, are accessible while using it on a desktop computer or laptop. You can navigate via keyboard shortcuts, using Tab, Space, Enter and arrow keys or numbers.

  • Tab - moving onto the next interactive element
  • Shift+Tab - moving onto the previous interactive element
  • Space or Enter - activating the currently selected interactive element
  • Arrow keys or numbers - where appropriate (such as in polls)

 

 

Examples


We recommend reading the two following blogs from AbilityNet, discussing events, accessibility and Slido.


3 replies

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Hello. This post is 2 years old and I’m keen to understand if there have been any further enhancements or improvements with Slido’s accessibility credentials / certifications?

Specifically, we are working on a big project with government here in the UK here we would like to use Slido, but they require WCAG 2.1 AA compliance as part of their statutory duty on accessibility. Is this something that Slido does or can demonstrate compliance with?

Thanks,

Badge

Hello. This post is 2 years old and I’m keen to understand if there have been any further enhancements or improvements with Slido’s accessibility credentials / certifications?

Specifically, we are working on a big project with government here in the UK here we would like to use Slido, but they require WCAG 2.1 AA compliance as part of their statutory duty on accessibility. Is this something that Slido does or can demonstrate compliance with?

Thanks,

 

Hi Krystian,

I’m here for a similar reason so thought i’d answer.

 

If you open up the VPAT 2.4 linked above, you’ll see it steps through where the product does and does not comply with WCAG 2.1. The short answer is no, it doesn’t fully comply.

That being said, it’s a tough ask for these kinds of applications to fully comply and you’ll find nearly all the video conferencing tools on the market don’t 100% comply either. Even Zoom is not 100% compliant.

The pragmatic approach is to find something that is the most accessible and that have a roadmap for continued accessibility improvement. For the non compliant components, your organisation could provide a equitable workaround for users who need to use the inaccessible components of the software stack.

Badge

Hello. This post is 2 years old and I’m keen to understand if there have been any further enhancements or improvements with Slido’s accessibility credentials / certifications?

Specifically, we are working on a big project with government here in the UK here we would like to use Slido, but they require WCAG 2.1 AA compliance as part of their statutory duty on accessibility. Is this something that Slido does or can demonstrate compliance with?

Thanks,

 

Hi Krystian,

I’m here for a similar reason so thought i’d answer.

 

If you open up the VPAT 2.4 linked above, you’ll see it steps through where the product does and does not comply with WCAG 2.1. The short answer is no, it doesn’t fully comply.

That being said, it’s a tough ask for these kinds of applications to fully comply and you’ll find nearly all the video conferencing tools on the market don’t 100% comply either. Even Zoom is not 100% compliant.

The pragmatic approach is to find something that is the most accessible and that have a roadmap for continued accessibility improvement. For the non compliant components, your organisation could provide a equitable workaround for users who need to use the inaccessible components of the software stack.

 

Thank you so much for this insightful and helpful reply @eebee. Having passed the Slido VPAT document linked at the top back to my client, they confirmed what you suggested that the product is not fully compliant. I looked into the document but found it all very confusing as I have no background or experience with this area!

It looks like we’re going to use 2x tools - a basic but fully accessible custom webform that will feed questions into Slido where they can be moderated alongside questions from those who can access Slido from the QR code and read out at our event. Not ideal, but it should work.

 

Thanks,

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