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…
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…
Want to add value to your startup? Be accessible
What is accessibility? I could answer this question by doing a deep-dive into the WCAG guidelines and talk about the four pillars and 50 rules of accessibility, or I could say “Steven Hawking and Stevie Wonder need to be able to use…
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…
Radical Candor about Accessibility Day-to-day Job Responsibilities
Some days you get to tilt windmills, some days the windmills tilt you So far in the category of “accessibility as a career”, I’ve written articles about: Self-study tips for qualifying to work in accessibility Questions managers should be asking if they…
Interview Questions Accessibility Professionals should ask
How can you tell if your potential future employer is committed to improving things for people with disabilities or if they are just #Diversish. A couple of months back, I wrote an article listing questions and behaviors that I thought were important…
Do your stock photo libraries have realistic scenes including people with disabilities?
Or are they #Diversish? Hint: It’s not just about the subject in the photo, it’s also about how the photos are staged If at least 10 % of your photos with people in them don’t have disabilities represented, you are clearly…