When Conformance Isn’t Enough: Accessibility for Complex Canvas Interactives

Scheduled at 9:45 in Virtual E on Thursday, November 19.

Speaker(s)

• Jonathan Miller, Accessibility Program Manager, W. W. Norton & Company

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: Intermediate
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

Complex canvas-based interactives present accessibility challenges that WCAG success criteria alone don't resolve. This session explores how existing frameworks apply to dynamic, interaction-dependent content in higher education courseware, takes an honest look at where conformance diverges from usability, and examines the promise and open questions around AI-generated descriptions for dynamic state changes.

Abstract

For most web content, accessibility has a playbook. WCAG success criteria, ARIA authoring patterns, and established best practices cover the majority of what practitioners encounter. Complex canvas-based interactives are a different category, and exactly the kind of content higher education relies on for STEM and social science instruction.

Canvas elements lack an inherent semantic structure. When the interactive is a dynamic economics graph where students manipulate supply and demand curves, or a rotatable 3D brain visualization where spatial exploration is the pedagogical point, a text alternative does not capture the interaction. WCAG provides a foundation but not a sufficient roadmap: conformance is achievable while still producing something a screen reader user cannot use.

This session explores how existing accessibility frameworks apply in practice to canvas-based courseware, drawing on practitioner work across economics and psychology interactives in higher education. The session addresses defining equivalent experience where interaction is the learning outcome, evaluating approaches against pedagogical intent rather than conformance alone, and making implementation decisions where WCAG provides criteria but not clear answers.

The session also takes an honest look at AI-generated descriptions for dynamic state changes. Pre-authored alt text cannot keep up with a student moving a curve or rotating a 3D model. AI-generated streaming descriptions are promising but raise real questions around latency, accuracy in an educational context, and delivering descriptions through ARIA live regions without overwhelming screen reader users. These are open problems, not solved ones.

This session is for accessibility professionals, AT coordinators, and product and engineering teams working with complex interactive content.

Keypoints

1. Canvas elements lack an inherent semantic structure, so accessibility must be built rather than extracted.
2. Equivalent experience for interactive content must consider pedagogical intent not only technical conformance.
3. Making complex interactives accessible requires real organizational investment, beyond "bug fixing."

Disability Areas

Cognitive/Learning, Mobility, Vision

Topic Areas

Accessibility and Accommodation in the Current Political/Legal Environment, Accessible Course Design, Artificial Intelligence, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller is the Accessibility Program Manager at W. W. Norton & Company, where he leads enterprise-wide accessibility across a broad portfolio of digital learning products, working to make inclusive design part of how products are built from the start. His path into accessibility began co-developing a custom assistive technology solution alongside an occupational therapist for students at his local school district — an experience that shaped an approach grounded in real people first, technology second. With over 7 years in accessibility and 10+ years in digital product development, he brings a background in software engineering, data visualization, and design psychology that informs how he thinks about complex interactive content.