Access * Ability
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HARO: Every publicity person’s low-budget best friend
June 22, 2024
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash Ever wondered where reporters get their sources from and how to be one? I can’t count how many times I’ve heard on radio...
Handling accessibility demand letters
June 22, 2024
This must be the “demand letter” season. Maybe because all the lawyers are working from home due to COVID-19 with courthouses being closed? I’ve had multiple...
Groups that don’t care about people with disabilities
June 22, 2024
You don’t matter Your needs don’t matter You don’t deserve to be treated equally You are in the “we will get to you eventually” group because you have...
Got sued under the ADA for inaccessibility?
June 22, 2024
Photo by David Veksler on Unsplash Read Part 1 of this article here about recouping costs for accessibility lawsuits when others are at fault. This article...
Got sued over website accessibility?
June 21, 2024
This article is not legal advice. This is a general opinion article and should not be relied upon for any legal situation. Always consult an attorney who...
Getting a product accessible is not enough
June 21, 2024
TL;DR It’s not enough to get a product accessible. The entire product experience should be accessible.The processes needed to attain product experience...
Four Corporate Disability Equity Truths
June 21, 2024
Photo by Michael Carruth on Unsplash People with disabilities do not have access to equal business opportunities. If you don’t believe that, I ask you to...
Female leaders are better at ensuring people with disabilities aren’t excluded
June 21, 2024
In the article “What Do Countries With The Best Coronavirus Responses Have In Common? Women Leaders,” the female leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Germany,...
Federal accessibility laws don’t matter — California’s accessibility laws do
June 21, 2024
Federal laws are a minimum standard that must be followed by every entity they apply to in every US state/territory. The Supreme Court stated in Geier v....
Even free software needs VPATs …
June 20, 2024
Part 2 of a multi-part series on accessibility and open-source software. Read Part 1 here. Accessibility Myth: Free software doesn’t require VPATs. VPATS are...
Ethical design and accessibility
June 20, 2024
Red wooden block labeled “ethics” in the center of a Jenga game, other blocks labeled morality, relationship, behavior, choice, responsibility, trust,...
Enable Accessibility
June 20, 2024
I’ve been living in a trailer for seven months wearing the same one week’s worth of clothes every day. Everything else I own is packed away in storage while...
Eight steps to a more inclusive event
June 20, 2024
Photo by Gabriel Benois on Unsplash Part one of a two-part article. Part two focuses on how to make PowerPoint presentations more accessible. A significant...
Do you have a disability if you don’t have an official diagnosis?
June 20, 2024
First of all, disabilities are almost always thought of in either medical or legal contexts. The CDC’s definition of a disability, which is medical, is two-...
Don’t start the work New Year by sponsoring a weight loss contest
June 19, 2024
Exercise Almost 1/3 of Americans make New Year's resolutions. A staggering number of the resolutions made by people are related to weight loss (37 %),...
Don’t just design accessible products, build accessible experiences
June 19, 2024
Let’s break down that statement here real quick. Design accessible products “What the heck is offensive about that, Sheri?” you are probably saying to...
Domino’s accessibility lawsuit update
June 19, 2024
Photo by Oleg Ivanov on Unsplash Case history Robles, the plaintiff, couldn’t order a pizza from Domino’s through the Internet (this was back in 2016, which...
Do internet-only businesses come under the Americans with Disabilities Act?
June 19, 2024
Photo by mostafa meraji on Unsplash Places of public accommodation is a particular phrase defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA identifies...
Do internet-only businesses come under the Americans with Disabilities Act?
June 19, 2024
Photo by mostafa meraji on Unsplash Places of public accommodation is a particular phrase defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA identifies...
Documenting Accessibility Decisions
June 18, 2024
Focus and memory are privileges, perhaps even more so, for people with disabilities, who are: More likely to be at a socioeconomic disadvantage as measured...
Documentation and Accessibility
June 18, 2024
Photo by AndriyKo Podilnyk on Unsplash Document generation engines are a big part of technical documentation these days, especially in enterprise software....
Disability Microaggressions — AKA “Ableist things people say”
June 18, 2024
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash What is a microaggression? A microaggression is an indirect, subtle, possibly unintentional discrimination against members...
Disability inclusive workplaces
June 18, 2024
Yeah, that’s a lot of yellow. But I loved the graphic. Thanks stock.adobe.com ! HBR recently published an article called 5 Strategies for Creating an...
Disability Burnout is Real
June 18, 2024
Disability burnout is a state of physical or emotional exhaustion caused by, or made worse by a disability. Symptoms include: feelings of exhaustioninability...
Disability and AI Bias
June 17, 2024
Four cartoon images of business people of different genders and races, each holding a white face mask partially covering their faces. In May 2019, San...
Disability/Accessibility Language Choices
June 17, 2024
Photo by Soner Eker on Unsplash In the first part of this three-part article, I talked about the four different sociological models of disability. To recap,...
Digital Accessibility Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
June 17, 2024
Creating a metrics oriented hierarchy for tracking accessibility progress OKR hierarchy with seven components: Objectives, Key Results, Target, Framework,...
Digital Accessibility Concerns in Design Affordances
June 17, 2024
13 different types of kitchen utensils made of various materials A design affordance is a clue about how an object should be used, typically provided by the...
Difficult conversations about disability and birth defects
June 17, 2024
TRIGGER WARNING: This article includes discussions about pregnancy termination. Any off-topic, rude, or religious-based comments will be deleted. Usually, it...
Designing Toast Messages for Accessibility
June 15, 2024
Three toast messages, the first is informational and says “great job” the second is success and says “the server configuration changed” with a close icon,...
Department of Justice to companies with inaccessible websites: We’re back!
June 15, 2024
On November 1, 2021, the Department of Justice published a settlement agreement it entered into with the nationwide pharmacy chain Rite Aid specifically...
Deconstructing Accessibility Statements
June 15, 2024
Photo by Mari Helin on Unsplash This is MY interpretation of the accessibility statement legal-ese. I am not your lawyer. You need to make up your own mind....
Dark UI themes are new and cool — but are they accessible?
June 15, 2024
The dark mode is one of those new, hot design features that is generating a lot of “buzz”. Apple and Slack, for example, have been pushing dark-themed pages...
COVID-19 vaccine workplace accommodation requests
June 13, 2024
Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash Disclaimer: This is not legal advice and is my own opinion. It in no way should be considered the opinion of my employer....
Cost per hour for Accessibility Testing
June 13, 2024
This is part one of a two-part article. The second part focuses on whether you should staff testing resources as employees, or contractors, or use...
Cookie Banners and Accessibility
June 13, 2024
What is a cookie? Cookies are small text files created by a website that is stored in the user’s computer either temporarily (session cookie) or permanently...
Convincing People to Be Accessible
June 13, 2024
Product owners and people above them in the executive hierarchy frequently hold the position that current customers and what they want are the most important...
Context is the most critical aspect of alt-text everyone seems to miss
June 13, 2024
Twenty-two months ago, when I started this blog, I swore I would never write an article about alt-text or headings because I thought those topics had been...
Constructing an accessibility elevator pitch
June 12, 2024
Accessibility elevator pitches are essential for two reasons: Introducing yourself and explaining what you do.Immediate, pre-programmed comebacks to people...
Color Blindness Considerations for Designers and Content Managers
June 12, 2024
Calendar app where background color is black and important actionable components are red. Good use of negative space, but red on black is almost invisible to...
Captioning: It’s Time for a Revolt
June 12, 2024
What if every person who was deaf, Deaf, had hearing loss (plus those peoples’ friends and family) refused to do business with a company that didn’t caption...
Can’t Find Underrepresented Minorities for Tech Jobs?
June 12, 2024
pipeline oil spill - Imgflip At the end of September, the CEO of Wells Fargo publicly stated the following: “[T]he unfortunate reality,” he wrote, echoing...
Can I go to beta with an inaccessible product?
June 12, 2024
I get asked the question, “Can I go to beta without being accessible?” frequently. This question usually comes outside of my employment situation, most often...
California Law AB 979 promoting board diversity does not go far enough
June 7, 2024
AB 979 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020. This law requires that by the end of 2021, California-based publicly held corporations diversify...
Building an “accessibility brand”
June 7, 2024
Branding isn’t just for companies anymore. Post-pandemic, in our almost completely digital world, a personal brand is no longer an extra; it’s necessary for...
Books on Disability Resiliency
June 7, 2024
Part one of a two-part article: Read part one, “My favorite books on accessibility and related topics.” What makes a good disability resiliency book? So this...
Attracting candidates with disabilities
June 7, 2024
Part one (1) of a three-part article. Read Part 2 (on employment policies related to people with disabilities and Part 3 (on retaining employees with...
A tale of two retailers — a disability inclusion story
June 7, 2024
Sprouts Farmer’s Market Three d/Deaf applicants applied for jobs at Sprouts and were selected for interviews. The applicants requested American Sign Language...
“As Designed” is a useless bug closure status — especially for people with disabilities
June 5, 2024
As someone who started off in software testing over 30 years ago, and then transitioned into accessibility, I’ve seen some crazy bug closure statuses. Won’t...
Are you ready to be anti-ableist in 2021?
June 5, 2024
As I start to think about the standard “year-end” / wrap-up articles related to accessibility, this one seems pretty obvious. We need more people to be anti-...
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