For a company to prioritize digital accessibility, creating a corporate culture around it is essential. For too many organizations, accessibility is an afterthought.
There are many challenges involved in shifting your company’s culture, but it’s possible--and it can be done well. Let’s talk about the changes and mindset shifts involved in making a positive transformation toward greater accessibility.
Unfortunately, there’s a history of exclusion regarding web accessibility. This happens primarily due to a lack of understanding among those who design and create websites, programs, software, and applications for the web. The abled individuals engaged in this work don’t understand:
Rather than being treated as a critical component of a digital product’s overall functionality, accessibility is regarded as a “nice to have” feature in many cases and pushed off as a future task.
One way to change the landscape of web accessibility is to implement it within company processes directly. Each team involved in creating web properties must learn how to create websites, apps, and content that is accessible to everyone.
Because accessibility arrives on the scene as an additional requirement that teams across a company need to manage, it can be difficult for companies to embrace. As a result, it often begins as a project that requires the team to adapt its processes.
To bake accessibility into permanent company processes, it must be sustainable for a long time. And that means starting with accessibility as a core consideration.
Making accessibility sustainable will mean transforming the brand's DNA from the inside out. Several essential steps must be taken to make these changes. Let’s take a look at what those are.
To make genuine, lasting changes to your company’s processes, you’ll need designated accessibility champions to rise to the challenge. You can find and create these champions through intentional conversations surrounding the importance of accessibility.
Ideally, everyone on your team will become champions simply by paying attention to these important conversations. However, you’ll want to focus on cultivating champions from the following departments:
You can inspire your champions to action; ideally, they will begin to inspire one another.
Your organization will need to begin embracing a mindset of accessibility first. Here are a few ways to begin that process.
Adopting a digital accessibility culture in your company will take time, so breaking it down into achievable, sustainable goals is incredibly important. You’ll need to work with your interdepartmental teams to develop realistic timelines for the changes and remediations.
Drafting and adopting your Accessibility Policy will take time and multiple revisions.
As you determine the timeline to include accessibility in your software development cycle, set up milestones to help you track progress. Additionally, you’ll need to account for the time and resources it will take to implement ongoing education throughout the company.
Along the road to transformation, be aware of potential challenges and setbacks as you adopt digital accessibility. For example, track teams or projects where accessibility is deprioritized for any reason.
In addition, you may encounter partners and vendors who aren’t enthusiastic about accessibility. If they don’t have the awareness, knowledge, or capacity to do the work, then you may need to look for new vendors who do.
Lacking a central process for accessibility can also make these changes more challenging. Siloed teams are at higher risk of sidelining the changes. This is equally true if individuals inside your organization are resistant.
Building better habits across your company is essential as you make these changes. Atomic Habits by James Clear is a fantastic resource for helping leaders to build stronger, more effective habits.
Education is critical to inspiring accessibility champions to help lead change within your organization. Be sure that you share:
Related Blog: Building Your Arsenal: Empowering Conversations for Web Accessibility
Your teams will need to ask themselves a series of important questions to become more aware of each project’s accessibility needs. They can ask things like:
Now that you understand the importance of creating a culture of digital accessibility in your company, it’s time to start. First, you’ll need to get a clear understanding of where you’re currently at when it comes to accessibility.
Next, identify the individuals, teams, and leaders to talk to and start meaningful conversations about accessibility and how your company should approach it. Along the way, you’ll begin to find your champions.
Finally, begin planning how to spread the word and implement change. Set goals and timelines for these changes, and be accountable to them.