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Before You Hit Publish: �Accessibility for Marketing & Design Teams

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

September 03, 2026

Hosted by Travel Oregon

Facilitated by Jen Macias De La Parra, Accessibility Consultant, CPACC

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Accessibility check

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Any digital materials I share in this presentation will include:�

Added alt text to images
Checked headlines, outline, and reading order of slide layouts
Checked color contrast
Brief visual descriptions will be provided of informative images

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Why this matters

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Many teams have begun doing accessibility work. They just don't know which role it belongs to, when it's time to hire for it, and who to trust.

Naming these roles makes that work visible:

To your team, who no longer have to guess who does what
To the people who use what you build, who either get through it our get stuck
To your organization, who can hire for a specific gap instead of guessing at one

📋

Title II entities that serve populations greater than 50,000 have a legal deadline:

April 2027

Knowing which roles are missing is what makes the deadline possible to meet.

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Why you’re here

Process improvement and compliance are top drivers while a quarter of this group are still figuring it out.

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33%

improving an existing process

32%

meeting compliance

26%

curious, not sure yet

6%

other

2%

starting from scratch

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To turn policy into practice,�across every role that carries the work

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

Why am I here?

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Today’s Journey

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Understanding the Present

——�

Where digital accessibility stands today, grounded in real data, and why this moment calls for action.

Accessibility Belongs to Everyone

——

The most common roles that shape an accessible experience, whether or not that responsibility has been named out loud.

Role-Based Ownership

——

A closer look at what marketing, social media, and design each own, plus how to hire for what your team doesn't have in-house.

Resources and Q&A

——

Tools and references to carry this forward, and time for your questions.

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Upstream Accessibility�Health Checks

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

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Understanding the Present

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Accessibility Transformation in an Organization

Strategy

Plan

Create

Design

Review

Publish

Accessibility gaps are caught late, if at all.

The same gap repeats

Promote

Analyze

Marketing & Content Publishing Life Cycle

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Moving Accessibility Upstream

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“Shift Left” Thinking

Research

Plan

Create

Design

Review

Publish

Promote

Analyze

Marketing & Content Publishing Life Cycle

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Role-Based�Considerations

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

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Role-Based Responsibility

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Accountability Partners

——

Ex: DEI & Legal

Partners across the business to keep accessibility commitments honest, naming where policy and practice diverge and helping close that gap.

Ex: DEI & Legal

Leaders & Managers

——

Ex: Director & Owner.

Creates the conditions for their team to practice accessibility as a shared value, not a checklist item: time, training, permission to pace the work well.

Ex: Director & Owner

Marketing, Comms, & Content

——

Ex: Brand Managers.

Chooses words and images that stay legible and meaningful across the widest range of readers, including people who read with a screen reader.

Ex: Marketing & Content Strategist

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Role-Based Responsibility Continued…

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UX Designer

——

Shapes the structure and flow of an experience so people of all abilities can move through it with ease.

Structure & Flow

UX Researcher

——

Learns directly from people with disabilities and turns what they share into evidence for what gets built.

Insight & Evidence

Visual Designer

——

Builds the visual language so it reads clearly to people who see and process the world differently: contrast, color, imagery.

Contrast & Clarity

Front-end Developer

——

Turns design and content into code that assistive technology can actually read, navigate, and announce correctly.

Code & Compatibility

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Marketing & Social Media�Considerations

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

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Most Common Detected Web Issues

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83.9% of home pages fail on low contrast text alone, the single most common accessibility issue on the web (WebAIM, 2026).

This is typically Visual Designer work. When that role isn't on a team, the decision doesn't disappear. It lands on whoever opens the design file next.

84%

low contrast text

53%

missing alt text for images

51%

missing form input labels

46%

empty links

31%

empty buttons

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How to Hold This Work

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Progress over perfection�You don’t need to master every WCAG criterion before you start. Catching one real barrier is worth more than waiting until you feel like an expert.
Accessibility is a practice, not a checklist �The goal isn't a clean "done," it's building habits, like checking alt text and captions, into how content gets made every time.
Know what’s yours to carry and what isn’t�Covering a role's territory in a pinch is different from being expected to hold it forever.

Progress over perfection. �You don't need to master every WCAG criterion before you start. Catching one real barrier is worth more than waiting until you feel like an expert. �
Accessibility is a practice, not a checklist. �The goal isn't a clean "done," it's building habits, like checking alt text and captions, into how content gets made every time. �
Know what's yours to carry and what isn’t. �Covering a role's territory in a pinch is different from being expected to hold it forever. If you're consistently doing a specialist's job, that's information for a hiring case, not a personal failing. �
Accessibility expertise is real expertise. �If you're the one hiring, treat it like a skill set worth paying for and giving time to, not a line added to an existing job description with no added support. �
Center the person, not the audit. �Success isn't a clean compliance report. It's whether someone using a screen reader, a caption, or a keyboard can actually do what everyone else can do.

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WCAG�Critical Issues

WCAG 2.1, AA

50 success criteria

Perceivable: 20 criteria

Operable: 17 criteria

Understandable: 10 criteria

Robust: 3 criteria

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Content Strategy: Top 5 Considerations

Meaningful alt text is provided for non-decorative images.

Do not rely on auto-generated alt text.

1

Meaningful link text reliably conveys the link's purpose. �"Read the full report” rather than "click here" or "swipe up.”

2

Anything essential to understanding a piece of content (a stat, a date, a call to action) lives in the writing, not only inside an image.

3

Helpful error messages are carefully crafted.

4

Meaningful page titles uniquely describes images

5

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Social Media: Top 5 Considerations

Alt text goes into the platform’s alt-text field, not just the caption.

1

Every video and Reel carries checked, accurate captions; �audio-only content gets a transcript.

2

Hashtags are written in CamelCase (#DestinationStewardship) so screen readers announce each word.

3

Slides are ordered so each one’s alt text makes sense on its own.

4

Flashing, strobing, or rapid-motion effects are avoided in video and animation.

5

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Source: Instagram Alt Text for SEO

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Source: Instagram Alt Text for SEO

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Visual Design�Considerations

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

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How to Hold This Work

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Accessible is not the opposite of beautiful�Sufficient contrast and clear hierarchy usually make a design stronger for more people, not a constraint you’re negotiating against.
Test what you can before you assume it needs a specialist�Contrast, color-only meaning, and visible focus states are things you can catch by eye and by tool.
Know what’s yours to carry and what isn’t�Visual choices are yours. Code-level implementation isn't. Naming that clearly helps the whole team, not just you.

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Visual Design: Top 5 Considerations

Foreground text and background colors have sufficient contrast, including text placed over images or gradients.

1

Color is never used as the only way to convey information, so status, category, and required fields all get a second cue.

2

Items with keyboard focus are visually distinct enough to see at a glance.

3

Motion, animation, and auto-playing content can be paused or reduced, since flashing and constant movement affect people differently.

4

Layouts hold up at larger text sizes and when zoomed, since spacing and hierarchy still need to work for someone who isn't reading at 100%.

5

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User Experience (UX)�Considerations

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

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How to Hold This Work

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Structure is accessibility�The flow, hierarchy, and order you design are often the difference between someone completing a task and getting stuck, before a single word or color is chosen.
Design for how people actually move through something, �not just how it looks �A keyboard user, a screen reader user, and someone using switch access all experience your structure differently than a mouse user does.
Bring accessibility into the wireframe, not the handoff�Fixing structure after visual design is finished will end up costing more.

Structure is accessibility. �The flow, hierarchy, and order you design are often the difference between someone completing a task and getting stuck, before a single word or color is chosen. �
Design for how people actually move through something, not just how it looks. �A keyboard user, a screen reader user, and someone using switch access all experience your structure differently than a mouse user does. �
Bring accessibility in at the wireframe, not the handoff. �Fixing structure after visual design is finished costs more, for you and for whoever inherits the fix. �
Progress over perfection. �You won't design the right flow for every person on the first pass. Catching structural barriers early and often matters more than getting it flawless once. �
Know what's yours to carry and what isn’t. �You decide the intended structure and order. Whether that structure actually works in code is a front-end conversation, not a solo one.

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UX Design: Top 5 Considerations

Heading structure follows a logical order without skipping levels, so someone navigating by headings can build a mental map of the page.

1

Tab order follows the same sequence a sighted user would read the page in, not the order elements happen to sit in the code.

2

Interactive elements are large enough and spaced enough to target reliably, for anyone using a mouse, a stylus, or a finger with imprecise motor control.

3

Placeholder text never replaces a real, persistent form label. Once someone starts typing, they still need to see what the field is for.

4

Error messages appear next to the field they belong to, not just in a summary at the top of the form.

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Visual Design vs.�User Experience (UX)

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

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Visual Design vs. UX Comparison

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Lens	Visual Design	Experience Design (UX)
Core question	Can someone perceive what's in �front of them?	Can someone get through this successfully?
Controls	Color, contrast, typography, imagery, how it looks	Structure, flow, order, hierarchy, where information lives
Keyboard focus	Decides if the focus indicator is visually distinct enough to actually see it	Decides if tab order follows the same sequence a sighted user would read the page in

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Hiring Guidance: Questions to Ask

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Can you speak to your UX work and visual work, separately?
Walk me through an accessibility issue you found and fixed.
Do you test with a keyboard only, no mouse?
Do you use semantic HTML, or divs styled to look like buttons �and headings?
Do you hold any accessibility certification, like IAAP’s CPACC or WAS?

Show me your UX work and your visual work, separately.�A real UX practitioner can produce wireframes, user flows, or sitemaps. A real Visual Designer can produce a style guide or a contrast-checked color system. If someone can only produce one, that's not disqualifying, it tells you which half of the work they cover and where you'll need to fill the gap.�
Walk me through an accessibility issue you found and fixed.�The single best question for separating real experience from familiarity with the vocabulary. A specific answer names a tool, a barrier, and a fix. A vague answer stays at "we follow best practices.”�
Do you test with a keyboard only, no mouse?�For developers specifically. Tabbing through an entire page with no mouse surfaces a large share of real accessibility problems, and it's something you can verify yourself live in an interview or demo.�
Do you use semantic HTML, or divs styled to look like buttons and headings?�Semantic markup (real button elements, real heading tags, real form labels) is what lets assistive technology understand a page at all. Someone who can't answer clearly, or defaults to "we handle it with ARIA" without knowing when ARIA is actually needed, is worth pressing further.�
Do you hold any accessibility certifications, like IAAP's CPACC or WAS?�Not having one isn't disqualifying, plenty of excellent practitioners aren't certified. It's one more verifiable data point, not a pass/fail gate.

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Hiring Guidance: Flags to Watch For

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“One line of code makes your site compliant.”
“We're WCAG compliant," no level or version named.
A title with nothing behind it.
A portfolio with zero accessibility evidence.
Automated scan only, no manual testing mentioned.

"One line of code makes your site compliant."�This is the overlay pitch. In January 2025 the FTC ordered accessiBe to pay $1 million for falsely claiming its AI widget could make any website ADA and WCAG compliant. Going deeper on this next slide.�
"We're WCAG compliant," no level or version named.�WCAG has versions (2.1, 2.2) and levels (A, AA, AAA). A real practitioner can name which one they're targeting and why. A vague claim with no specifics usually means no one actually checked.�
A title with nothing behind it.�"UX/UI Designer," "Web Designer," and "Digital Designer" mean different things shop to shop. Ask to see the work, not just the title. �
A portfolio with zero accessibility evidence.�Not every project needs to be a case study, but no mention, no example, and no answer when asked directly is worth noticing.�
Automated scan only, no manual testing mentioned.�Tools like axe, WAVE, and Lighthouse catch a meaningful share of issues, but not most of them. Leaning entirely on an automated report, with no mention of manual or keyboard testing, is partial coverage dressed up as complete.

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The Overlay Trap

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28% of digital accessibility lawsuits in 2025 targeted websites that had already installed an overlay widget, up from 25% the year before.

The overly wasn’t cited as a defense. �It was cited as the barrier.

— UsableNet, 2025

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Accessibility Theater: Why Overlays Fail

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They often override a user's own assistive technology settings, undoing personal customizations that were already working.
Overlay widgets are easy to spot from the outside, and that makes the sites running them easy to find and potentially target.
There's content it can't reach at all, like PDFs, embedded videos, and custom-built graphics or animations.
In my own testing, overlays often end up revealing just how inaccessible the underlying site actually is, not hiding it.

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Resources

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

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Resources

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Webinar 1: �Preparing for the ADA Title II Compliance Deadline

Webinar 2: �Authoring Accessible Documents

Webinar 3: �A Guide to Accessibility Statements

Webinar 4: �Before You Hit Publish: Accessibility for Marketing & Design Teams

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Questions�& Answers

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Digital Accessibility

Foundations

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Ask an Expert sponsored by Travel Oregon

Digital Accessibility Consultation

Get free, personalized guidance to make your destination’s digital experiences more welcoming for travelers.

What you get:

One-on-one consultation with an accessibility specialist
Tailored strategies for your websites, apps, social media, and booking systems
Follow-up summaries with resources and next steps

Jen Macias De La Parra

Experience Designer & Accessibility Consultant

Book consult through �Ask an Expert program ↗

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Digital Tourism Accessibility Snapshot

Complimentary Offer

From Zenyth Group

What’s included:

High-level digital accessibility risk summary
Booking engine and map accessibility check
Public-facing accessibility messaging review
Governance gap observations
3 prioritized action steps

Schedule a call with Daryn Harpaz to get started ↗

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Thank you!

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Jen Macias De La Parra

Experience Designer, Accessibility Consultant�

e / hola@jenmacias.com

s / www.linkedin.com/in/jen-macias

w / consultant profile