Evangelizing Accessibility

Overview

When I joined FantasyPros, accessibility wasn’t prioritized in design patterns or implementation. Recognizing its importance, I set out to change the culture and embed accessibility as a core value across the product development lifecycle. This required building executive buy-in, educating teams, and providing actionable guidelines.

Through persistent advocacy and collaboration, accessibility is now a top priority, embraced by design, engineering, and product teams alike. Today, it’s woven into every stage of development, resulting in a more inclusive, user-friendly product for millions of users.

Problem Statement

• No Accessibility Framework: Design and development lacked a shared understanding of accessibility requirements, leading to inconsistencies.
• Cultural Resistance: Accessibility was viewed as an afterthought or “nice-to-have” rather than a fundamental principle.
• Limited Awareness: Teams lacked knowledge of accessibility best practices, tools, and compliance standards like WCAG 2.1 AA.

Goals

1. Cultural Shift: Establish accessibility as a shared responsibility and non-negotiable priority across the company.
2. Clear Guidelines: Provide teams with actionable accessibility standards and frameworks to integrate into their workflows.
3. Ongoing Education: Ensure designers, developers, and PMs understand accessibility’s importance and how to implement it effectively.

Approach

Step 1: Building Stakeholder Buy-In

• Created a compelling case for accessibility, emphasizing its impact on inclusivity, user experience, market reach, and legal compliance.
• Partnered with my manager, the head engineer, and the head of design to align on the importance of accessibility.
• Facilitated an accessibility training program to bring key stakeholders up to speed on best practices and align the team on core accessibility guidelines.

Step 2: Establishing a North Star

• Developed a comprehensive Accessibility Guidelines Document, which outlined:
  • Why accessibility matters.
  • Specific roles and responsibilities for design, development, and QA teams.
  • Best practices for meeting WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
  • Actionable checklists for implementation and testing.
• Championed the idea that “Good design is inherently accessible,” shifting team perceptions of accessibility as an obstacle to it being a design enhancer.

Step 3: Embedding Accessibility Into Workflows

• Integrated accessibility checks into the design review and QA processes, ensuring every feature was tested for keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and contrast ratios.
• Collaborated with engineering to implement semantic HTML, logical tab orders, and focus indicators as default standards.
• Created a feedback loop to incorporate user feedback from individuals with disabilities, iterating based on their needs.

Step 4: Overcoming Resistance

• Navigated initial pushback from the design team by focusing on education and empathy.
• Worked closely with the head of design also became a champion for these initiatives.
• Celebrated small wins, such as implementing clear focus indicators and improving contrast ratios, to demonstrate immediate value.

Results

1. Cultural Shift Achieved: Accessibility is now a core consideration across the product lifecycle, with buy-in from design, engineering, and leadership.
2. Established Guidelines: The accessibility document became the team's go-to resource, ensuring consistent implementation.
3. Improved User Experience: Enhanced navigation, better readability, and inclusive design principles have improved usability for all users.
4. Legal Compliance: Meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards reduced legal risks and positioned the company as a leader in inclusive design.

Key Learnings

• Empathy is Powerful: Changing the culture required helping teams see accessibility not as a burden but as an opportunity to create better products for all users.
• Education Drives Adoption: Training and resources, such as the accessibility class and guidelines, were instrumental in overcoming resistance.
• Leadership Alignment is Crucial: Securing buy-in from key stakeholders enabled a company-wide transformation.
• Small Wins Build Momentum: Incremental improvements, like better focus indicators or contrast adjustments, created visible results that motivated the team to keep pushing forward.

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