Summary
This blog post, based on a talk by Kai Wong and Asha Sachdeva at A11yNYC, explores strategies for championing digital accessibility. The speakers emphasize that anyone, regardless of title or authority, can drive change by fostering an accessibility-focused culture in organizations. It highlights that accessibility is a shared responsibility, and incremental improvements contribute to a broader movement for inclusive digital spaces.
This article is based on a talk given by Kai Wong and Asha Sachdeva at A11yNYC. They delivered an engaging and insightful talk on championing digital accessibility, emphasizing that anyone can drive change. They shared strategies for fostering accessibility within organizations, including tailored training, embedding accessibility into engineering workflows, and advocating for inclusive design.
The speakers highlighted the importance of empathy, effective communication, and collaboration, encouraging attendees to build relationships and influence accessibility culture. They also provided practical tips for engineers, such as using linters, semantic code, and accessibility unit tests to catch issues early. The session concluded with a call to lead by example in making digital spaces more inclusive.
Getting started as an accessibility champion
It’s important to ask: What makes an effective change champion? What makes an influential leader? It’s somebody who can rally around a shared interest. Get others to rally around and move towards that shared interest all together. Somebody who has a big idea and can get others to be sold on that.
You don’t need a fancy title to be a champion of change. You don’t need authority to make ripple effects happen. What you need is passion and a few other things.
Start by believing in yourself and prioritizing learning. Learn from trusted resources. Begin with W3C and the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG). Learn the tools that people with disabilities often use, like screen readers and all the accessibility on your phone.
Remember, accessibility comes down to people. Get connected and meet as many people as you can. Especially those who are different from you. The more connections you build, the more allies you can have.
Sharing accessibility knowledge
Once you gain knowledge, spread that sauce everywhere. Spread it like pizza. Like the sauce on pizza. Teaching others is important because it raises awareness. It builds credibility. As an accessibility educator and influencer, as a champion of change, do whatever it takes to capture the audience’s hearts and minds. As you spread the sauce, focus on three Es: educate, entertain, and engage.
To educate, you need to know your audience and what’s important to them. Explain key terms and use statistics, but don’t overdo it. Next, engage to keep people interested. You can do that by doing polls and quizzes. Leave time for questions.
The third is to entertain. You need to bring energy and be real. Share stories, use analogies, and add in a few good jokes. Have fun. When you’re having fun, the audience will have fun.
Train teams
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) aren’t easy to read through. How can engineers know what to do? How do we make accessibility more than a checklist? It means bringing it to the team culture, and it starts with high-quality training and upskilling. There are four components to this.
The first is to define what accessibility means and the best practices for the company. High-quality training needs to incorporate training materials.
Another important component of upskilling a team on accessibility is training new employees during the onboarding process. Embedding accessibility training into onboarding creates a culture where inclusion is the standard.
The third component is to build champions. These are employees who are passionate and knowledgeable about accessibility. They can help with accessibility code reviews, they can help with accessibility questions from the team or clients, and ensure there’s quality training planned for the entire organization.
The fourth component is tailored training. No one needs to know everything. Hence, tailor training based on roles. This ensures employees get relevant training.
When employees get the right tools, training, and support, accessibility stops being a burden. It becomes a part of building better products.
Build relationships
While training people, it’s important to build meaningful relationships. That’s what it takes to get buy-in from everyone. Take your time and get to know as many people as you can. Find out what drives them. Meet them where they are and without judgment. Accept that it’s OK not to know. The key is to be willing to learn.
Call people in before calling people out. Kai went to an accessibility conference. While on the plane, Kai wrote a post about the conference and included a picture. After landing, Kai received a message from someone at the conference who was blind. “Hey, Kai,” He wrote. “You think you can add alt text to your images?”
Kai was embarrassed that the post went up without alt text. Maybe the Wi-Fi didn’t work, or they forgot to save the alt text. Fortunately, the friend privately messaged Kai rather than comment publicly on the post.
He didn’t accuse Kai of being a fraud. Instead, he called Kai in. This allowed Kai to fix it, apologize, and make things better. Most importantly, it built trust between the two of them.
Drive change
One of the most impactful ways to drive change is to bring accessibility into your work.
Bringing accessibility to the workplace
Talk about accessibility everywhere. That’s being a champion of change. You’re influencing others by normalizing accessibility. By bringing the topic to every table, every party, and every chance you get to talk about accessibility.
Next, make good decisions about who you talk to about accessibility. For example, make decisions about the colors you might use in a PowerPoint. Small decisions add up.
Once you finish that PowerPoint presentation, you check your work. Run an accessibility checker on your presentation. And finally, make accessibility part of your goals. When you do that, you’re making a commitment to it and taking responsibility.
Engineers can bring accessibility into their work in the following ways:
- Use linters and automated tools.
- Use semantic code.
- Test with screen readers, various browsers, and no mouse.
- Write accessibility unit/integration test cases.
- Be careful with external libraries.
These will help engineers catch accessibility issues early. This will make it easier to fix.
Scale accessibility beyond your team
A good starting place to scale accessibility beyond yourself is through good communication and advocacy. This means not telling others what to do. Instead, focus on the why and how. Create a channel, a safe space, for conversations. Collaborate and partner with others by finding groups and allies.
For example, you provide accessibility training. Someone comes up to you after the training with questions and thanks you. This person is now an ally. You may not know the ripple effects, but they’re there. Influencing happens when you’re not looking.
Another essential activity for scaling accessibility is providing detailed feedback. Don’t just point out the problem. Show them why it’s not working. Use metrics and tell stories. You need metrics for tracking progress. You also need stories because they drive action.
And remember to celebrate wins. Recognize people for their accessibility work. They need occasional reminders that their impact makes a difference. It compels them to keep going.
Countering accessibility pushback
Some people push back when you talk about accessibility. This could be because of a knowledge gap. The key is to create a safe space to learn. Be prepared to repeat yourself often. Keep these one-liners handy and respond calmly. It helps reframe how people think of accessibility.
Technical one-liners
- No ARIA is better than bad ARIA.
- No tabindex is better than wrong tabindex.
- Use responsible design to support zooming and text resizing.
- Don’t add tech debt by building accessibly the first time.
- Semantic code is accessible code.
General one-liners
- Accessible design is good design.
- Accessibility is usability and compliance.
- How can we make this more inclusive?
- How would someone who is blind use your product?
- Accessibility is everyone’s job.
Change happens when people make it happen. You don’t need a title or authority to create change. All you need are passion, persistence, and a willingness to invest in what matters. And while the journey might sometimes feel uphill, know that every small action, every small change, contributes to a larger wave of change.
Video Highlights
- Be an accessibility champion
- Teaching others
- Importance of building relationships
- How to drive change
- Q&A with Kai and Asha
Watch the Presentation
Bios
Kai Wong (she/they) believes in the transformative power of accessible technology for a better world. At Teladoc Health, the global leader in health and whole person care, Kai is a Principal of Digital Accessibility, founder of Accessibility Champions for Change, and serves on the leadership board for their disability-focused Business Resource Group (BRG).
Asha Sachdeva is a seasoned senior manager of engineering specializing in accessibility, bringing over two decades of experience in leading cross-functional engineering teams to deliver high-quality, accessible, and user-centric digital products. With a strong passion for creating technology that empowers individuals of all abilities, Asha operates at the intersection of technical innovation and social responsibility.
