I've been asked by a couple of lovely people how they might 'break into' being an accessibility designer. I'm keen to hear other people's advice too, but here's some things I've said to people.
Ps — this is not meant as a one-size fits all article, it's just some of my thoughts whilst pushing a sandwich into my face...
Learn some WCAG foundations
For this I'd recommend looking at the WCAG but in a translated piece so it doesn't overwhelm you.
- Martin Underhill has written an awesome blog post about the WCAG in a language he understands
- Stark have a wonderful set of guides about WCAG explained
- The WCAG quickref is the guides in a raw but digestible format
Learn about people
- Volunteer. I personally did some volunteering with BlindAid back in 2018 (before I had kids and thus had spare time) and it was the best experience of my life. I received sight-guide training and was assigned to a lovely person who I helped every week including socials or appointments.
- Seek lived experiences. Whilst volunteering, I learnt that multiuse pavements are terrible for guide dogs (no pavement edge to follow). I learnt that people with complete blindness don't have the light on at home and thus can put themselves at risk of burglary as the house can look empty. I learnt that London's ever changing shops can be confusing for someone so used to walking a certain path and counting on smells and sounds at certain points/stops of a journey. It's these things you can't learn online. If you don't have lived experience, talk to those that do.
- Join user research. If you have any opportunities at work, join user research sessions. Accessibility is essentially a subset of usability.
- Learn about people. Disability isn't something only permanently disabled people have. It can be temporary or situational and that can show in user sessions. Learn about people.
- Don't assume that the things you've learnt now make you the expert, you'll never be the expert. The Dunning-Kruger effect is real.
Don't always look for an accessibility role right away
- Build on what you already have. If you're in a role you enjoy, stick with it and bring accessibility-lead thinking into that role, advocacy is hard and can make you feel burnt out sometimes.
- Be the champion of accessibility in your team, then ask your boss to expense something, then write a letter a week to a stakeholder to give you some budget (Remember Andy in Shawshank?). Make a bit of a nuisance of yourself but do it in a way that you can show the value of good accessibility — Not everyone will see it like you do.
- Habit stacking makes it a little easier. Bring an accessibility thing you solved to your show and tell as often as you can.
- Be persistent. Be the person in your team who makes those that don't care or perhaps understand accessibility, roll their eyes at you. (I'm happy to say that doesn't often happen though).
- Question social constructs. Be that person who always says, "Yeah but what about someone who can't see your beautiful visual, what is beauty to them?" This shows a deeper empathetic understanding of why we do accessible design.
- Be the person who champions user centred design.
Sign up for some communities
- There's a Web-a11y Slack channel
- The Champions of Accessibility network run by awesome people like Heather Hepburn
- The Dead-bird app also has some nice A11y communities if you're able to wade through the Elon induced fascism to find them. (I'm not linking to that site here).
Find a mentor
I have an awesome mentor. Having someone to speak to about accessibility lead topics and development is so valuable. I need to make more use of this resource to be honest. But it's been so good. Find a mentor you click with.
Learn a screen reader
- Don't assume that how you learn to use a screen reader is how everyone uses one. Your volunteering and user research participation will teach you that.
- A few years old now, but Rob Dodson's A11ycasts are a precious bookmark I refer back to time and time again.
- I personally use VoiceOver on a Mac/iPhone and I use NVDA (free) on a PC.
- Don't forget other types of assistive tech!
- Visit accessibility empathy labs, such as the GOV empathy lab, NHS empathy lab or Christopher Patnoe's Google Accessibility Discovery Centre (ADC) — I've been with my colleague Zoe Coles (Portlock) and it's absolutely fantastic.
Avoid quick fixes
- Don't get sucked in by the accessibility vendors selling you Overlays or overnight courses.
- Bootcamps are rubbish, and expensive. Everything you need is out there for the cost of your own time.
- Speak to people and learn at your own pace.
- Find something you're passionate about and hit it like a steam train. Don't worry about what others are blogging about or what's 'Trending'. I hate those things, because they're normally suggested by companies or people that have some sort of underlying financial gain.
Connect with accessibility folk
- Ask for an IRL or virtual coffee, people might have some time if you ask nicely.
- Some design people I follow and hugely respect are Shaun Conner, Martin Underhill, Craig Abbott, Heather Hepburn, 🦞 Todd Libby (thanks for the stickers Todd), Zoe Coles (Portlock), Eric Eggert, Gareth Ford Williams, Alistair Duggin, Anna Cook, M.S., Molly Watt, Chris Bush — But this isn't everyone, just those who dropped out of my brain right now.
- There's a Webring club with loads more awesome people on it
If anyone is actually still reading this, (my own short attention span is telling me to go and watch a road rage video on YouTube). Then please get in touch. I'd love to know what others are finding useful, or advising other people on.
This was first published as an article on LinkedIn.
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