Cookie Banners and Accessibility
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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?
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
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”
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
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
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
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
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?
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-...
Are you guilty of “inspiration porn”?
Man with prosthetic leg exercising in Gym Inspiration porn is portraying people with disabilities as: inspirational solely or in part on the basis of their...
Are you Disability Compliant? Or Disability Competitive?
Disability Compliant is asking people to identify whether they are disabled on a questionnaire anonymously. Disability Competitive is conducting an annual...
Are bad graphical descriptions better than no graphical descriptions to someone with vision loss?
Customer service stoplight chart with red sad face, yellow neutral face, and green happy face This is the first part of a two-part article. The second part,...
Are bad captions better than no captions?
In the first part of this article, I explored whether bad image descriptions were better than no image descriptions. After consulting with many blind users,...
Applying Ted Lasso management lessons to accessibility
Used with permission from https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/ted-lasso/episodes-images/ I am one of a jillion people anxiously awaiting season 3 of Ted...