Summary
The Cigna Digital Design Operations stood up a new Digital Accessibility and AccessbilityOps team. Digital accessibility as a general term is the inclusive practice of ensuring that digital products (websites, apps, PDFs, etc.) can be used by everyone — including those with a disability or physical impairment — while retaining functionality and usability. Our team ran into many roadblocks including establishing processes, team structure, organizational support, and human resource issues, including onboarding a new team member who was blind. This case study showcases the steps, challenges, and lessons learned standing up a Digital Accessibility Ops team at a Fortune 100 Health Insurance company.
Key Insights
-
•
One in four US adults lives with a disability; globally, one billion people are affected.
-
•
Digital accessibility lawsuits increased 177% from 2017 to 2018, signaling a growing concern.
-
•
Companies often lack preparation for onboarding employees with disabilities despite good intentions.
-
•
Accessibility should be integrated early in the design process, not just during QA.
-
•
Leadership engagement is crucial for developing an enterprise mandate for accessibility initiatives.
-
•
Developing a strong understanding of WCAG guidelines is key to compliance and practice effectiveness.
-
•
Accessibility needs to be treated as an ongoing process rather than a checkbox activity.
-
•
Collaboration between design, development, and QA teams is essential for achieving accessible designs.
-
•
Educating team members on the practical implications of accessibility can foster better understanding and responsiveness.
-
•
Building a support network within the organization, including HR and disability resource groups, enhances accessibility efforts.
Notable Quotes
"Mike is a visually impaired developer who recently accepted an offer to work for Signe."
"Despite being an award-winning company in diversity and inclusion, we were not prepared operationally for Mike."
"One digital accessibility lawsuit was filed every single hour in 2018."
"Even you right now may develop a disability, so shouldn't companies enable everyone to use the internet?"
"It's the responsibility of our company to educate and assist on accessibility."
"If you can't testify that your sites are accessible, then you may not understand accessibility as well as you should."
"Accessibility needs to be as far in the process as it can be, starting with product design."
"Our digital accessibility team was formed after we realized how unusable our site was for a screen reader."
"You can only get so far with one person; you'll need more support to make accessibility happen effectively."
"Moving the needle on accessibility might mean getting from 50% to 80% during iterations."
More Videos
"Money is not an evil thing."
John MaedaMaking Sense of Enterprise UX
June 9, 2016
"Thinking styles are not horoscopes, they're not universal things."
Indi YoungThinking styles: Mend hidden cracks in your market
January 8, 2025
"What if design teams and data teams could partner up to solve big customer problems?"
Chris ChapoData Science and Design: A Tale of Two Tribes
May 13, 2015
"Public displays foster engagement and trust among teams."
Elizabeth ChurchillExploring Cadence: You, Your Team, and Your Enterprise
June 8, 2017
"We had to put together very intentional and deliberate rituals."
Rusha SopariwalaRemote, Together: Craft and Collaboration Across Disciplines, Borders, Time Zones, and a Design Org of 170+
June 9, 2022
"I believe having an ethical framework can help limit the harm typically done in design."
George AyeThat Quiet Little Voice: When Design and Ethics Collide
November 16, 2022
"Creating space for us to name the things we were experiencing allows us to unload some emotional weight."
Ariba JahanTeam Resiliency Through a Pandemic
January 8, 2024
"Executive sponsorship is essential for scaling design thinking across the organization."
Julie Gitlin Esther RaiceDesign as an Agent of Digital Transformation at JPMC
June 9, 2021
"We can decide how to improve the trust of our users based on the way we are transparent with them."
Matteo GrattonCan Data and Ethics Live Together?
October 1, 2021
