Traditional candidate evaluation advice can be biased and ableist. There are all kinds of advice on the Internet about things you should be evaluating when you conduct an interview. Very little advice exists on things that you should NOT be…
If somebody can use it, somebody can misuse it
Software development and the “doctrine of foreseeable misuse.” There is a portion of the American legal system under the category of negligence called “strict product liability,” also referred to as SPL. Under SPL, anyone in the product chain (seller, distributor, or…
Disability / Accessibility Language Choices
There is global and personal variation on what is considered acceptable and preferable. This is how I decide what language to use. In the first part of this three-part article, I talked about the four different sociological models of disability. To recap,…
Is an “identity model” replacing the charitable, medical, and social models of disability?
The next stage of evolution in how the global community views disability Part one of a three-part article. See part two on language choices associated with disability/accessibility here. Language is a strange and powerful thing. So are sociological models for traits…
Technology doesn’t make accessibility hard. People who don’t care do.
Everything that makes accessibility difficult ties back to one root cause: People not giving a damn about others who are different. These are the different categories of people you will run into in corporate settings that will make life difficult…
Silver (WCAG 3.0) First Public Working Draft released.
February 26, 2021, is the deadline to submit comments. The first peek at the long-awaited World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) major update to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is here. In W3C speak, we call a First Published Working Draft (or FPWD). Silver…
Four corporate disability equity truths
Permanent improvements in disability equity are impossible without understanding and dealing with these categorical truths. People with disabilities do not have access to equal business opportunities. If you don’t believe that, I ask you to look at Exhibits 1 and…
Ten Tips for Creating Effective Accessibility Workshops
For starters, re-imagine your all-day workshop in an “all you can eat buffet” format, not a single 12-course dinner. 1. Short 5–10 minute segments in repetitive “learn-do” cycles generally work better than live workshops It is challenging for people to take a…
Got sued under the ADA for inaccessibility? – Part 2
Here is what you can expect. Part 2 of a two-part article Read Part 1 of this article here about recouping costs for accessibility lawsuits when others are at fault. This article is not legal advice. This is a general opinion article…
2021 accessibility predictions
Yeah, machine learning and personalization made the list, but I also have a couple of other thoughts. It’s time for the annual “Year-End” accessibility predictions. Machine Learning Machine learning is going to continue to be exceptionally important to the advancement…