Links to my most read stories, most impactful stories, and favorite stories In November 2018, I set a goal of writing 100 accessibility articles before the end of 2019. I met that goal, and then some. Here are some of…
How Colleges have Ruined the College Admission
Bulk emails have made it far too easy for colleges to spam parents in an attempt to influence their children on which higher education location to choose I woke up early on Veterans’ Day. I had done a lot of…
Federal accessibility laws don’t matter — California’s accessibility laws do
Ignoring California standards like the CCPA and Unruh Act will cause significant risk even for organizations based outside of the state. Federal laws are a minimum standard that must be followed by every entity they apply to in every US…
Disability Microaggressions — AKA “Ableist things people say”
Yes, all of these have actually happened to me personally What is a microaggression? A microaggression is an indirect, subtle, possibly unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group. Usually these take the form of statements, actions, incidents, or exclusions. Being excluded from…
Having a VPAT is not the same thing as being accessible
Companies that view VPATs as a “checkbox” exercise frequently confuse the two. In reality, VPATs can be chock-full of exceptions that block people who use assistive technology from getting in the front door. I try to write thoughtful, sometimes geeky…
Want an employee who is a natural problem solver? Hire someone with a Disability
Employers should be seeking out employees with disabilities, not avoiding them. Why are problem solving skills desirable in business? The ability to troubleshoot or solve problems is really a collection of a number of other skills including: Decision Making: To solve…
How to identify a Toxic Accessibility Culture, and what you can do about it
A broken organizational culture makes everything disability-related harder, from implementing accessibility projects to getting critical support to move the disability / accessibility needle forward Urban dictionary defines “Dumpster Fire” as: 1. A complete disaster. 2. Something very difficult that nobody wants…
Starting a Disability Employee Resource Group (ERG)
Last week, I wrote about how important disability-focused employee resource groups are to creating an environment where employees with disabilities feel comfortable disclosing them and in turn helping others. This week I’m going to describe some steps to take to…
The Importance of Disability Employee Resource Groups
Do you bring your “authentic self” to work? Most people with disabilities don’t, especially those with invisible disabilities. Disability ERGs can help with that. First-class relationships are possible only in an atmosphere of total trust. ― Wu Wei, I Ching Life: Becoming…
Accessibility Debt — What is it? How to pay it off ???
Sometimes, accessibility isn’t important until suddenly it is. The accessibility paradigm shift from “yeah, eventually” to being included as part of “business as usual” usually derives from one of the following occurances: a lost sales opportunity over lack of accessibility…