My journey with digital accessibility
A momentous shift in the digital space right now is crafting online spaces that are accessible for people with disabilities. Much of the world has embraced remote work, and e-commerce has overtaken brick-and-mortar purchasing. At digital accessibility consultancy Tamman Inc., I dedicated time to building the inclusive web. At Tamman, I was trained in digital accessibility standards and applying best practices. My role involved creating content accessible for people with disabilities. I designed my written, auditory, and video content to provide an equitable experience for people who are blind or deaf, only use keyboard navigation, or experience cognitive challenges.
Starting my accessibility education
Digital accessibility combines technical and personal areas to provide a quality online experience for people with disabilities. I learned the foundations of accessibility by earning my CPACC certification. The CPACC stands for Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies. The IAAP, or the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, issues the CPACC.
Now, I understand many of the challenges people with disabilities experience online. Additionally, I’ve learned the tools and strategies they use to access the internet. This training covers categories of disabilities, testing for color contrast, accessibility and universal design, major assistive technologies, and much more. These skills also apply to architecture in the built environment, consumer industrial design, and transportation systems.
I’ve also invested time in studying the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), the guiding north star of digital accessibility. As the last person who viewed all website content, I learned accessibility best practices for all forms of content. These best practices included alt text, web page structure, videos, images, graphics, copy, and social media.
Adapting my working style for accessibility
After several weeks of working with my teammates with disabilities, I realized I needed to adapt how I shared information. If several teammates are blind, I’m not helping them by only sharing a meeting agenda on my screen. I asked my teammates what they needed from me so they could keep track of the agenda items and be best prepared.
After this, I shifted my process and working style so everyone could understand the team’s real-time discussion. I sent out meeting agendas earlier so my teammates with visual disabilities could read through the document beforehand with a screen reader. I adjusted what I deliberately spoke about versus leaving unsaid, how I organized my notes, and how much depth I put into my agenda. It made me a better note-taker and project manager. I needed to make sure that if a blind colleague had to miss a meeting, they could quickly get up to date. I had to write my notes, structure my meetings, and lead my marketing meetings more intentionally.
What working in accessibility means to me
A big takeaway from my time with Tamman is that the need for accommodations and inclusive services is universal. They are necessary for people who have disabilities right now and those in the future. As people age into their golden years, their bodies and minds will accrue more disabilities over time. These new disabilities can take the form of vision impairments (glasses), reduced mobility (canes), or memory lapses (senior moments). I am personally concerned about my parents aging as the years stack up. Eventually, everyone will experience disabilities. Eventually, everyone will need and benefit from accommodations.
During my undergraduate studies, I worked for a startup called The Helper Bees. The company connects older adults aging-in-place with a home care services network. While I worked in the aging-in-place world, I spoke with multiple clients whose loved ones needed help because of recent disabilities. I realized that myself, my parents, and my friends will eventually all get older. We will all eventually need accessibility services. My time working in digital accessibility was an opportunity for me to invest time now so that my loved ones will have those services in the future. I think of it as my current self doing my future self a huge favor. I might as well make the world more accessible now because, sooner or later, I’m going to need it.
Alt Text
I posted images weekly, so writing alternative text, commonly known as alt text, became one of my staples. Alt text functions as a textual description of an image or graphic. It shares the key information of an image or graphic with people who are non-sighted or have a vision impairment. This information can range from the context of a GIF on social media to the design of a shirt on an e-commerce site.
Assistive Technology
Whenever I post on a WordPress website, I double-check that each web page provides an easy keyboard navigation experience. This includes implementing an accessible heading structure (H1, H2, H3, paragraph, etc.). This way, someone who uses keyboard navigation, a screen reader, or other assistive technology can easily use the website. This results in more repeat visitors and more consistent business.
Screen readers are a common assistive technology that helps blind individuals use the internet if a webpage is structured correctly. Screen reader users go beyond helping people who are blind or have low vision. People with cognitive disabilities or mobility challenges also use screen readers every day. They do this by breaking down a website and reading the page’s content to the screen reader user.
At Tamman, I worked with three experienced screen reader users at Tamman (two who were blind and one who had low vision). I learned how to make digital spaces easy for screen readers to work with, how they help users, and how a screen reader sounds in real-time.
Social Media
My role included creating accessible social media posts. The platforms I used were primarily LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram. I also used Twitter / X, Facebook, and LinkTree. Additionally, I put these principles to use in our monthly MailChimp email blasts. Each social media post has multiple accessibility considerations. These include alt text for each photo, properly described links, and color contrast standards for images and graphics. It’s vital to note that each social media platform has nuances that make it accessible. For example, a best practice for LinkedIn is not necessarily the best one for Instagram.
Tools and software I've used for digital accessibility projects
Podcast production using PodBean and Adobe Audition
Wave accessibility checker, which checks a website page’s accessibility standards
Wave accessibility checker, which checks a website page’s accessibility standards
