Making Life and Work, Work For All

My son is a natural engineer. He may only be five years old, but in just the last week, he drew the schematics for a French drain we installed together in the front yard, began construction of a miniature paper Parthenon, and configured a sheet canopy over his bed. The boy was born to build.  

When my wife and I introduced him to Legos, it was no surprise that the generational toy quickly became the center of his world. Scouring through scenes from Harry Potter and a fleet of Star Wars ships, we found a series called Lego Friends which features people with disabilities. With my decade-long experience working to improve accessibility in software development, this purchase was a no-brainer. 

Then the magic happened. When my son started to build, he created a world that was accessible! He proudly showed off how his concert stage featured a ramp so the guitarist could strum from her wheelchair while the lead vocalist belted out hits. There was no mention that this singer had just one arm; to him, she was just the singer. This imagined show was his reality, choreographed from the opening number to the concluding fireworks display (not included).

My wife and I are thrilled that we can bring our values into our kids' world, and I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to bring those same values into my professional work. At World Wide Technology, we make our core values a first-class citizen. We review THE PATH — our social engagement and code of conduct— at every performance evaluation right alongside traditional performance KPIs. We have long believed that WWT is a Great Place to Work for All, and that extends to the solutions we provide to our clients. 

As we celebrate National Employee Disability Awareness Month, I'd like to address a few common questions and misconceptions about accessibility and how we can all work together to create more inclusive experiences, together.  

1. Is there a way to ensure my product is accessible? 

Since an honest lack of awareness is the genesis of most inaccessible experiences, normalizing the experiences of people with disabilities is a great place to start. Just like how my son's exposure created empathy, the same is true for adults. Once accessibility is a value, meeting accessibility standardization criteria will soon follow.   

Pro tip: In the world of product development, making one of your personas someone with a disability is a great strategy to ensure accessibility stays top of mind. This strategy can be applied to many industries and processes.  

2. Is accessibility a requirement or just an opportunity? 

In the United States, digital products such as websites and apps must meet accessibility standards under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990). Like many laws, there is no shortage of nuance, but it is important to recognize that across the globe from the European Union to Australia and beyond, inaccessible products and experiences are a business risk. 

Pro tip: From a business perspective, think of an inaccessible product like a leaky pipe in your house. While the most likely outcome is some ruined carpet or drywall (assuredly to be discovered at an inopportune time), the longer it's unresolved, the greater the risk. This analogy can be useful when prioritizing new features versus existing optimization on a product roadmap. 

3. Isn't accessibility really expensive?  

While remediation expense is relational to the degree of noncompliance, it doesn't have to be an extraneous expense. A small number of accessibility infractions account for the majority of issues so even if your site or app has been around for years, prioritizing these high-impact issues can make a big impact without breaking the bank. 

Pro tip: Don't think of accessibility as a line item. It should be a standard part of the creative process, much in the same way that users expect sites and apps to both be visually interesting and easy to navigate.  

4. If only a small number of people benefit, why bother? 

People with disabilities want to purchase products and participate in society just like anyone else, and they are not a small group. According to the CDC (July 3, 2024), more than 1 in 4 adults in the United States (28.7%) have some type of disability. Approximately 6.2% of US adults experience deafness or serious difficulty hearing while 5.5% experience blindness or serious difficult seeing, equating to roughly 29 million Americans. To put that in perspective, that's approximately equivalent to the combined metro area populations of Atlanta, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston and Miami.

While the amount of people living with disabilities is staggering, it's important to remember that many accessibility features also benefit people without disabilities. Have you ever watched a video with captions even though you have normal vision, or used a curb cut to transition from a street to a sidewalk? Accessible features benefit everyone.  

Pro tip: Accessibility is an opportunity to redefine a mindset from "them" to "us". From a business perspective, it's an opportunity to go from "I don't want to get sued" to "This is a great opportunity to grow my business!" 

If you want to learn more about our approach and commitment to accessibility, check out our Why WWT Accessibility page. To discuss your accessibility needs, reach out to us. We'd be happy to hear from you!  

Header Image source: Disability:IN