Yes, all of these have actually happened to me personally What is a microaggression? A microaggression is an indirect, subtle, possibly unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group. Usually these take the form of statements, actions, incidents, or exclusions. Being excluded from…
Having a VPAT is not the same thing as being accessible
Companies that view VPATs as a “checkbox” exercise frequently confuse the two. In reality, VPATs can be chock-full of exceptions that block people who use assistive technology from getting in the front door. I try to write thoughtful, sometimes geeky…
Want an employee who is a natural problem solver? Hire someone with a Disability
Employers should be seeking out employees with disabilities, not avoiding them. Why are problem solving skills desirable in business? The ability to troubleshoot or solve problems is really a collection of a number of other skills including: Decision Making: To solve…
How to identify a Toxic Accessibility Culture, and what you can do about it
A broken organizational culture makes everything disability-related harder, from implementing accessibility projects to getting critical support to move the disability / accessibility needle forward Urban dictionary defines “Dumpster Fire” as: 1. A complete disaster. 2. Something very difficult that nobody wants…
Starting a Disability Employee Resource Group (ERG)
Last week, I wrote about how important disability-focused employee resource groups are to creating an environment where employees with disabilities feel comfortable disclosing them and in turn helping others. This week I’m going to describe some steps to take to…
The Importance of Disability Employee Resource Groups
Do you bring your “authentic self” to work? Most people with disabilities don’t, especially those with invisible disabilities. Disability ERGs can help with that. First-class relationships are possible only in an atmosphere of total trust. ― Wu Wei, I Ching Life: Becoming…
Accessibility Debt — What is it? How to pay it off ???
Sometimes, accessibility isn’t important until suddenly it is. The accessibility paradigm shift from “yeah, eventually” to being included as part of “business as usual” usually derives from one of the following occurances: a lost sales opportunity over lack of accessibility…
Personas with Disabilities
Some people love personas. Some people hate them. But if if you have personas, and they are 100 % able-bodied, you are doing everyone a disservice Most articles on personas fall into one of three categories: Some articles think personas…
Stop doing “Walk Throughs” and Start doing “Roll Throughs”
Using a “growth mindset” to understand the point of view of someone with a disability may help you identify issues before there are complaints. There are two types of mindsets according to Dr. Carol Dweck. The first is a fixed…
Interview Questions Accessibility Professionals should ask
How can you tell if your potential future employer is committed to improving things for people with disabilities or if they are just #Diversish. A couple of months back, I wrote an article listing questions and behaviors that I thought were important…