For my second-to-last post of 2023, I want to answer one of the most common questions I get in my DMs – “How do I start with accessibility in an organization that has not yet valued this as part of its inclusion goals?”
One step at a time.
Accessibility doesn’t NEED to be complicated. However, accessibility is frequently portrayed as complicated by people who don’t want to include it in their MVPs. Don’t view WCAG as an overwhelming goal. Look at it one success criteria, or a small group of related success criteria (such as color), at a time.
Arthur Ashe, who knew quite a bit about lack of access, even though it was a different kind of access, had this to say:
1) Start where you are.
To build a mature accessibility organization, you can’t lie to yourself. You need to know where you are starting from so you can measure progress.
2) Use what you have.
There are a ton of free tools and resources out there. make use of those. This article discusses much of what is available that is low-cost or free. https://lnkd.in/dRUi8T48
3) Do what you can.
Maybe you have a friend on the social media team you can convince to add alt-text to their posts. Maybe you know someone on the branding team who might be interested in the perspective of someone who is colorblind.
Don’t have any friends yet outside of your immediate group? Make some.
Accessibility is an organization-wide effort, and convincing people outside the accessibility team to be allies is one of the most important things to do to get started.
If everyone did these three things in 2024, the world would be a more accessible place.
Alt text: Accessibility isn’t complicated.
People who do not understand accessibility over complicate it.