Access * Ability

The Impact of the First 100 days of the Trump Regime on Americans with disabilities

May 7, 2025

A red, white, and blue highway sign that says “America, The First 100 days” on a background of white fluffy clouds. When people talk about civil rights...

What is Accessibility Sludge and How to Get Rid of It

April 30, 2025

Thick icky sludge at the bottom of a water pipe Nobel Prize-winning behavioral economist Richard Thaler defines “sludge” as unnecessary friction that makes...

Dangerous Accessibility Assumptions That Put Everyone at Risk

April 23, 2025

Three strips of intersecting yellow and black “warning” tape. Accessibility isn’t an extra feature or a nice-to-have add-on. It’s a foundational requirement...

Tariffs and People with Disabilities

April 16, 2025

Pallets with the words “2025 US Tariffs Impact” stenciled on them Trump’s proposal to impose tariffs on imported pharmaceutical products is more than bad...

Running Strong Accessibility Programs Without DEI Support

March 12, 2025

Wooden blocks teeter on a single point of failure, with a house on top. A hand pulls away one of the support blocks, and the house begins to fall. Recent...

What “Sending Education Back to the States” Looks Like for Disabled Students

March 7, 2025

Children getting on a school bus Linda McMahon, the new Secretary of Education, supports Project 2025's proposal to transfer education policy control from...

Why Economic Uncertainty Hurts People with Disabilities the Most

March 5, 2025

Economic Policy Uncertainty index from the end of 2019 to January 2025 showing spikes during the pandemic, leveling out between 2021 to 2024 with smaller...

The Six Cs of Accessibility

February 26, 2025

Business team huddle with three men and three women with their hands touching in the center. Many subjects use the mnemonic “5Cs” to identify elements at the...

Running Completely Anonymous Meetings

February 6, 2025

AI-generated image of a full face mask invoking the image from V is for Vendetta. Do you know how many ways your activities online can be tracked? Every...

When the Federal Goverment refuses to follow its own laws, chaos reigns.

February 5, 2025

Man in business soot with his arms crossed When federal agencies fail to follow laws in place for decades, the result often resembles the Wild...

Can You Have Accessibility Without DEI?

January 29, 2025

Numerous colorful game piece representations of people, all connected in a network. TL;DR: Accessibility, Yes. Good Accessibility, No. Accessibility and...

A Common Misstep When Facing Accessibility Litigation Threats

January 27, 2025

Wooden blocks on a table that say “Avoid These Mistakes” I saw an accessibility consulting agency share advice on responding to an accessibility demand...

The Four Most Dangerous Words to People with Disabilities

January 22, 2025

Football flying through the air to the right of the field goal posts We've all heard it before: "At least they tried." I’ve heard this phrase so often,...

What People with Disabilities Should Do as DEI Programs Begin to Disappear

January 15, 2025

Chain of paper cut out figures with one missing in the middle Over the past few years, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs have become more...

Have an Accessible New Year with these 12 Resolutions

December 18, 2024

Notepad with the heading 2025 and multiple empty checkmarks. I am writing this article as I return to California from a family holiday get-together, thinking...

The “perilous pitfalls” of Accessibility Maturity

December 11, 2024

A businessman in a suit at the top of a ladder posing in the picture. Several people pointed me to an article titled “How to Avoid the 24 Perilous Pitfalls...

Disability Inclusive Holiday Party Planning

November 20, 2024

Group of many diverse people holding plates of food in their hands standing in front of a table full of buffet-style hors d’oeuvres It’s that time of year...

Deconstructing Accessibility Statements

November 13, 2024

Glasses on a blurry piece of paper. Photo by Mari Helin on Unsplash This is MY interpretation of the accessibility statement legal-ese. I am not your lawyer....

Accessibility is mmm, mmm good. The Campbell's Soup Case Sudy

November 6, 2024

Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup can from https://turnerduckworth.com/work/campbells For over 50 years, Campbell’s Soup used the same old labels on their...

Reducing Digital Accessibility Litigation Risk

October 30, 2024

The word “inaccessible” on a piece of paper, with the letters “in” being rubbed out with an eraser Let’s talk about something every business owner,...

Six things NOT related to accessibility that will improve your disability inclusion efforts

October 23, 2024

Emphasizing inclusion, flexibility, and growth is essential for empowering employees with disabilities.

Diverse or Just Pretending? Why Your Stock Photos Need Authentic Disability Representation

October 16, 2024

A picture from the TommyHilfiger.com website shows adaptive clothing for people with disabilities. One model has a prosthetic arm, and another is in a manual...

Perfect attendance records in the US: Legal or Discriminatory?

October 9, 2024

Shadows of people in a business setting talking in small groups with social media loves, likes, and comments showing up in bubbles above them I belong to a...

How to identify a Toxic Accessibility Culture, and what you can do about it

October 2, 2024

A real dumpster fire (from which the term “dumpster fire” was coined) Urban dictionary defines “Dumpster Fire” as: 1. A complete disaster.2. Something very...

Transforming Experiences for Neurodiverse Individuals through Sensory-friendly Hours and Quiet Spaces

September 25, 2024

Child wearing noise-canceling headphones in a very wide and long hallway (blurred) with other people around them. In our noisy, complicated world, it can be...

Fight Club, Parent Edition

September 18, 2024

Wheelchair-using student in 1:8 resource room setting with a one-on-one aide. When you are expecting a child, your mind fills with visions of a picture-...

The Biggest Headaches Job Hunting While Disabled

September 11, 2024

Woman interviewing man in wheelchair Job hunting is stressful for everyone. But for people with disabilities, the process is often fraught with additional...

Why People with Disabilities Are More Vulnerable in Emergencies and How We Can Achieve Societal Equity

September 9, 2024

People with disabilities die at substantiallyhigher rates in natural disasters, police interactions,and mass casualty events.We will not have achieved...

We don’t all “have the same 24 hours"

September 4, 2024

Wooden hourglass “We all have the same 24 hours” is an empty maxim. Commonly followed by “What you do with it is up to you” or “Successful people just...

Diversity Managers — Here’s what you need to know about Disabilities

August 28, 2024

Circle split into thirds showing Diversity flowing into Equity with the word Knowledge appearing in the overlap, Equity flowing into inclusion with the word...

Essential Special Education Planning (Back to School edition)

August 21, 2024

Scrabble letters spelling out Back To School on a yellow legal pad of papre. Image by Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay August marks the end of summer...

What people should know BEFORE writing articles or creating products about accessibility

August 14, 2024

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash I read a lot of articles about accessibility, and also try out a lot of accessibility-related products. Some of them are...

Essential Special Education Planning (Back to School edition)

August 7, 2024

Scrabble letters spelling out Back To School on a yellow legal pad of papre. Image by Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay August marks the end of summer...

Is "Blind Barbie" really inclusive?

July 31, 2024

Screenshot from Sheri Byrne-Haber’s laptop showing the Barbie Fashionistas website with an overwhelming amount of pink. The page view is a specific Barbie...

Why repeal a law when you can covertly suppress its impact?

July 30, 2024

AI-generated image of male appearing partial face looking through a single brick removed from a brick wall Imagine a scenario where a law that has...

All Accessibility is Political: Understanding the Intersection of Accessibility, Disability, and Politics

July 25, 2024

Photo by Parker Johnson on Unsplash You can’t talk about accessibility without talking about disability because accessibility is inherently tied to the...

Project 2025's threat to Disability Rights

July 24, 2024

Black, white and red image with the text “Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project” with a red circle and a slash running through it over the text The...

Why Litigation is Essential for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance

July 17, 2024

This article is NOT legal advice. If you find yourself in a situation where you are either considering filing or possibly defending accessibility litigation...

ADA Coordinator and Accessibility Manager - What's the difference?

July 10, 2024

Photo by Robert Ruggiero on Unsplash In the bustling world of accessibility in the United States, two titles often emerge: ADA Coordinators and Accessibility...

Accommodations Fail: How Lack of a Sign Language Interpreter Led to EEOC Filing Discrimination Charges Against Amazon

July 3, 2024

Introduction Another day, another multi-billion dollar company fired an employee instead of providing a sign language interpreter. The EEOC takes a specific...

John Maeda’s 2020 CX Report and Accessibility

July 2, 2024

Photo by Stephen Dawson on Unsplash Read John’s Medium article here with links to his short, medium, and long videos delivering his report. John Maeda is the...

Job Hunting while Disabled

July 2, 2024

Photo by Elevate on Unsplash Note: every “bad” HR behavior listed in this article, I have had personally happen to me, or heard about first-hand from the...

I’ve got my accessibility certification — Now what???

July 2, 2024

Note: I am not endorsing any of the classes below, I have not taken any of them personally. But I’ve had generally good educational experiences with the...

I’ve given up on the ADA to protect my rights as a person with a disability

July 2, 2024

The ADA turned 30 on the day I published this article. Anyone who views the ADA as a complete success doesn’t understand the problems facing people with...

Is there a bias against disability in your Unconscious Bias training?

July 2, 2024

Blurry picture of 4 individuals wearing business clothes and a pair of eyeglasses What is Unconscious Bias? Unless you have been hiding under a rock, if you...

Is an “identity model” replacing the charitable, medical, and social models of disability?

July 1, 2024

Image custom created by the author cannot be reused without permission and attribution Part one of a three-part article. See part two on language choices...

Interview Questions Accessibility Professionals should ask

July 1, 2024

Businessman in wheelchair interviewing with business woman A couple of months back, I wrote an article listing questions and behaviors that I thought were...

International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) position statement on overlays

July 1, 2024

Last fall, IAAP established an Overlay Task Force after increased concern from their membership about the activities of Overlay companies in the context of...

“Informal accommodations” are worth the paper they are printed on

July 1, 2024

In an earlier article, I wrote about how mental health conditions have to be accommodated like any other disability. Immediately my inbox was flooded with...

Inaccessible Third-party Content and Code — Why it is Important, and How to Address it

June 28, 2024

Cardboard with post-it note — Time for New Content In the United States, various parts of the federal government have made it painfully and consistently...