Accessibility at Scale
Summary
The outcome of designing at scale won't be accessible products unless accessibility practices scale in parallel with design. There are six primary challenges to scaling accessibility: 1) Reliance on human testing which is especially complicated for large/dynamic products. 2) SaaS/Native app "release whenever you want" timelines. 3) Third party code/content managers. 4) Achieving "substantive WCAG conformance" 5) Closing the feedback loop by getting defects/feature requests from people with disabilities into the backlog. 6) Shifting the focus to an accessible experience, not just an accessible product.
Key Insights
-
•
Accessibility encompasses both visible and invisible disabilities, affecting roughly 30% of users via permanent, temporary, or situational impairments.
-
•
Assistive technologies communicate bidirectionally with software, requiring products to support this interaction cleanly to be accessible.
-
•
WCAG standards are the international source of truth for accessibility, with version 2.1 AA widely mandated and 3.0 on the horizon.
-
•
Automated tools catch about 30% of accessibility issues, machine learning tools currently only about 4%, leaving over half to human validation.
-
•
Making a product accessible initially is straightforward with resources and people; maintaining accessibility over time is far more complex and process-driven.
-
•
Scaling accessibility in cloud and continuous integration environments is challenging due to rapid, frequent software releases.
-
•
Integrating accessibility from the beginning into design, development, and definition of done prevents costly retrofitting later.
-
•
Organizational culture changes including executive buy-in, centralized resources, and accessibility champions are essential for scaling.
-
•
Hiring and retaining employees with disabilities and ensuring all workplace tools and events are accessible fosters inclusion and eases product accessibility efforts.
-
•
Accessibility defects should be treated like any other critical bugs and prioritized accordingly to ensure timely remediation.
Notable Quotes
"Accessibility isn’t just about visible disabilities; it’s about invisible disabilities and situational impairments too."
"Either you need accessibility now or you will need accessibility in the future."
"Assistive technology has to communicate with the destination, that’s your website or product."
"You’re not supposed to sell to the US public sector unless you’re WCAG 2.0 AA compliant."
"Getting something accessible is a straight line; keeping something accessible requires process change."
"Keeping something cloud-based accessible is the most complicated because of hundreds of releases per day in continuous integration."
"Accessibility at scale can put you into the VUCA world – volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous."
"You want to catch accessibility defects early through automated testing in your CI/CD pipeline, what we call shifting left."
"If you’re rewarding designers for delivering on time, great, but if you reward them for delivering accessible products on time, you’ll get better results."
"Accessibility defects are bugs. If it’s a P1 blocking bug for an accessibility issue, treat it like any other P1 bug."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Ideas that get sold without knowing how they work or how they’re made reflect a cultural problem in the team."
Husani OakleyBias Towards Action: Building Teams that Build Work
June 14, 2018
"Culture and process come first; they attract people interested in that mindset, not the other way around."
Bob BaxleyLeading with Design Operations Past and Present
December 19, 2019
"We can’t innovate until we’re aligned over what works and what doesn’t."
Adrian HowardSturgeon’s Biases
September 25, 2024
"Even though we’re virtual, we are still a community and obligated to treat each other with kindness and respect."
Bria Alexander Louis RosenfeldWelcome
September 8, 2022
"Every app built into my phone is perfect when it comes to accessibility – Apple and Android set a strong example."
Sam ProulxMobile Accessibility and You
June 9, 2022
"People want to get credit and recognition for the work that they’re doing."
Etienne FangPower of Insights: Why sharing is better than silos with Uber’s Insights Platform
December 16, 2019
"One designer said collaborating across Salesforce has been the best experience they’ve had at the company after five years."
Melissa TsangFrom Insights to Action: Driving Business Values through DesignOps
January 8, 2024
"At Atlassian, many confident non-researchers were already doing lots of research, which was an opportunity and a challenge."
Leisa ReicheltOpening Keynote: Operating in Context
November 7, 2018
"I woke up one day and just chose myself. I changed my name in Apple’s directory and it was the best moment ever."
B. Pagels-MinorBreaking the Tension: The Power of Enabling Your Employees to Show Up Authentically
June 10, 2022
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What are the limitations of WCAG color contrast guidelines for real-world design?
In what ways has AI increased workload and burnout among designers despite promises of efficiency?
How do product risk categories like feasibility, viability, desirability, and usability relate to research method choice?