Baking Accessibility into your Process
Lorenzo Milani · Science Editor · 2022
In baking, to achieve good results, key ingredients must be mixed using the right proportions and in the correct sequence, then left to cook at the ideal temperature for a certain amount of time. With patience and good techniques at every step of the process, one can turn those ingredients into a great cake or pastry. The same holds true when it comes to implementing digital accessibility into an organization’s product and content development processes. The term specialist might come to mind in relation to digital accessibility, just like a pastry chef in the field of baking. By specialist, I mean someone who has the expertise and knowledge on implementing accessibility requirements and making sure that accessibility is considered at every stage of design and development. Having a specialist on a team is extremely beneficial: they can be a source of knowledge and can easily spot when a feature or a piece of content is inaccessible. On top of that, their experience with in-depth testing ensures no barriers have been introduced once everything is ready for launch. However, organizations must not fall into the trap of over-relying on specialists and “dumping” all their accessibility needs onto a few people. Accessibility is often not considered at every stage of design and development, and more often than not, it is “bolted on” after launch, which is costly and time-consuming.1 Some organizations might not even have access to specialists, in which case accessibility could be deprioritized altogether. To properly “bake” accessibility into a […]