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Easy Digital Accessibility: �What’s your +1?

Kathryn Weber-Hottleman, CPWA, ADS, ADAC

Senior Accessibility Lead

Travelers

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Hello! I’m Kathryn

  • CPWA, ADS, and ADAC certified
  • 10+ years in accessibility
  • UConn, Deque, and Travelers
  • Published papers on personas, accessibility testing tools, and digital accessibility programs

Tagline: “Making Accessibility Accessible”

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Introduction

Effective accessibility champion

=

change management practitioner

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Change Management

Big Idea

Introducing a new idea disrupts established and comfortable processes

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Keys to Successful Change Management

  • Communication
  • Psychological safety
  • Personal transparency and vulnerability

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Balancing �Accessibility Goals

  • Business goals vs. cultural changes
      • Perceived importance
      • Perceived difficulty
      • Perceived value and impact
  • Deliverables

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The +1 Method

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Project goals

Milestones

Iterative Process

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Constants and �Linear Effort

  • Constant: Product/project goals
      • Typically defined by business
    • Linear effort: Current work towards the goal(s)
    • Measured in milestones

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Iterative Effort: +1

  • Identify gaps
  • Identify concrete step to meet the gap
  • Demonstrate relationship between step and gap

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Putting It Together

  • Constantly iterate through gap analysis – step identification – current work tie-in while moving towards the product/project goal
  • Keep both long- and short-term goals in mind

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+1 and Agile

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Sprints and Iterations

  • Leverage the Agile sprint and iteration process
  • Build accessibility AC and defects into backlog and sprint planning
      • +1 new idea per sprint
      • Remediation as iterative and granular
  • Keep accessibility scalable and relevant

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+1 as Change Management

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Change Inertia

  • Accessibility SMEs are rarely brought in at beginning of build
  • It can feel like an attack or harsh criticism if only defects given
      • Problem: Business stakeholders only want to see defects at first
  • Accessibility can be overwhelming if presented all at once

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Benefits of +1

  • Introduces new ideas slowly so they don’t feel aggressive
  • Helps people recognize that they’re already practicing desired techniques
  • Creates knowledge transfer opportunities
  • Reminds us to be positive
  • Builds partnership

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Creating Ownership and the Accessibility SME

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Questions about the Accessibility SME

  • What is the SME meant to do long-term for the team?
  • What do we do if we don’t have a SME?
  • If we have a SME, then we don’t have to learn accessibility, right?

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Accessibility, Accountability, and Agile

  • Agile framework has built-in accountability
    • Harness for accessibility
  • What happens when one role does not practice accessibility?
    • Added time
    • Added cost
    • Tech debt

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Generating Buy-In

  • Leverage existing resources and work
    • WIPs
    • Completed projects
    • Designs and wireframes
  • Identify where accessibility is built in
  • +1: Show how new accessibility ideas build on existing practices

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The SME’s Evolving Role

  • Scaffolding towards independence
    • Ground floor: SME teaches and demonstrates
    • First level: SME works alongside team
    • Second level: Team leads, SME mentors
    • Third level: Team leads, SME observes
    • Fourth level: Team is independent, SME rolls off

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Strategies

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3 Concurrent Strategies

  • HTML best practices
  • User stories with functional and accessibility AC
  • Knowledge transfers and resources

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HTML Best Practices

  • HTML as inherently accessible
  • Web-generated UI underpinned by HTML
  • DOM order
  • Basis for custom work

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User Stories and Acceptance Criteria (ACs)

  • Accessibility AC are functional AC
  • One story for all functional AC in specific implementation
    • May be separate when creating reusable components

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Knowledge Transfers and Resources

  • Bite-sized knowledge transfers 2x/week, recorded
    • <20 minutes of teaching, 10 minutes for questions
  • Resources with videos, text, and screenshots
  • Component library and accompanying AC library
  • QA process and template
  • All housed in easy-to-find places!

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Takeaways

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Sustainability and Scalability

  • Use your own past work as exemplars
  • Ask questions—don’t just guess or assume

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End Goal

Teams feel comfortable making accessibility decision independently

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Thank you!

Email: kweberho@travelers.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kathryn-w-510a0137