The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) continues to make important strides when it comes to designing accessible digital products, demonstrated in presentations at last week’s 2023 digital.gov Government UX Summit in which user feedback and testing were deemed to be paramount in delivering improvements, a belief BVA has supported for many years and further voiced publicly this week by Chief of Staff Tim Hornik. 

During a session of the conference titled “Accessibility Research in Action: VA’s Health and Benefits Mobile App,” VA Contractor and Staff Researcher Elizabeth Straghalis stressed the need to think about accessibility and the user experience early and often when designing digital products. 

“In fact, we have an accessibility-beyond-compliance approach to our work,” Straghalis said, asserting that compliance alone does not guarantee a positive digital experience for users.  

A major part of improving the user experience of the VA app relied on conducting VA feedback sessions to understand how people with vision impairments use assistive technologies, she also explained. 

Tim Hornik is a longtime vocal advocate for user testing to enable VA improvements in accessibility. He now focuses that support on behalf of blinded veterans and BVA. This week he commended VA for the recent positive changes that have resulted from the Department’s greater commitment to accessibility. 

“These advancements that we’ve championed for so long have enabled our constituents to access vital VA resources, information, and benefits,” he said. “BVA remains vigilant in its advocacy efforts and continues to collaborate with VA’s Office of Information Technology, Section 508 Team, and Digital Services Teams to prevent and resolve accessibility barriers.” 

Tim reiterated BVA’s position that digital products and services that are truly accessible to everyone, regardless of their disability, constitute a fundamental right. 

“User testing is a powerful tool that can help us achieve this goal,” he said. “As Ms. Straghalis attested at the Government UX Summit, by involving users early and often, we can create digital products that are inclusive and accessible to all.” 

For additional information about presentations that dealt with accessibility at the Summit, click here.