You ever been developing content and out the blue your project manager says "Okay, time to make our content accessible!". You were given no time to take in what that even means or what you have to do to make your content accessible. Learning digital accessibility for developers in both web and native mobile can seem like such a daunting task when they first dive into it.
Trust me I know. I have been there and done that as a web developer and it can be difficult. I tried myself to dive in and figure out how to make my content accessible by following ARIA patterns and looking up examples. However, when it went for re-test, the issues still were not fixed. So frustrating!
Looking back, I made one critical mistake early on that I want all developers to now know. Ask questions to folks in the accessibility field, because there are no bad questions when it comes to accessibility!
Don't Be Afraid
I am like any other developer, I feel the need to self learn. I love to learn and push the limits of the knowledge that I have. However, accessibility in web and mobile can be a difficult thing to fully grasp as you first start learning.
So many developers are afraid to ask questions to accessibility experts for fear of having a "bad" or "silly" question. I am writing this simply to tell you that this is false. Accessibility experts whether its a direct conversation, online forums, or social media LOVE to answer even the most basic of questions.
Folks who have dedicated themselves to the practice of digital accessibility want any and all developers to become accessibility champions and build their accessibility knowledgebase.
So questions as simple as 'How do I turn on a screen reader' or 'I made this component, what do I need to make it accessible' are awesome!! Ask them!!
Where To Find A11y Experts
There are multiple ways to find accessibility experts in the digital space, it just takes a little digging:
- Find your companies centralized a11y team
- Search #Accessibiltiy or #A11y on twitter and follow advocates!
- Search accessibility engineer or #A11y hashtag on LinkedIn
- Post in online forums such as StackOverFlow
Using one of these methods will get you in touch with someone in the accessibility space. Even if it isn't the right one, someone in our field can point you to the right person to ask!
In Summary
There are no bad questions in accessibility. Ask them! I write this now being on the other side of things, and working strictly as an accessibility engineer. I am seeing developers who are new to accessibility not want to ask me questions and making the same mistake I made early on.
It can seem daunting with how much knowledge accessibility experts have. Hell, I still am in awe by how much others know compared to myself! Do not let that scare you into thinking you cannot ask the questions you need answered.
All accessibility advocates want the same thing. A world where all digital content is accessible for everyone to use. That all starts with you as the developer reaching out and asking the questions you need answered!
Oldest comments (4)
I 100% agree, there are no stupid questions when it comes to accessibility!
Sadly however, there are those who will chastise you if you “use the wrong word” to describe a disability and call you “ableist”, and I think that puts a lot of people off when they are just starting to learn about accessibility, disability and inclusion.
So if you ever have a question and are worried about saying the wrong thing publicly, feel free to DM me on Twitter (link in my profile), I will never judge you if you are genuinely trying to learn accessibility!
Great article ❤️🦄
Ironic, isn't it.
Also, completely unrelated, but the "Dismiss" button on this website is the bloody devil. I've accidentally hit it a few times after writing out a reply and poof there it all goes - where in the damn hell is the "are you sure you want to dismiss this?" confirmation?!
That is a great point on the dismiss button, raise an issue on the Forem Repository as I never realised that and I have been lucky enough to not catch it by mistake!
Good idea, issued raised.