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AccessibilityOps: Moving beyond “nice to have”

Thursday, September 19, 2024 • DesignOps Community
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AccessibilityOps: Moving beyond “nice to have”
Speakers: Nicole Bergstrom , Anna Cook , Kate Kalcevich and Saara Kamppari-Miller
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Summary

Accessibility Operations is real, and it’s enabling organizations to make their products and services more inclusive at scale. Join our panel discussion, featuring AccessibilityOps insights from the session’s sponsor, Fable, as well as experts in accessibility and inclusive design from Microsoft and Hilton. We’ll explore how companies are integrating accessibility into their core processes, as well as practical strategies to move beyond compliance and create inclusive experiences for both employees and customers. Bring your questions and discover how to make accessibility a fundamental part of your business strategy!

Key Insights

  • Accessibility has evolved from awareness-raising to integrating people with disabilities actively in design and development processes.

  • Many organizations move beyond WCAG checklists, focusing instead on usable accessibility rather than just compliant accessibility.

  • Co-design with users with disabilities, including non-apparent and neurodivergent conditions, is becoming a critical practice.

  • AI presents both opportunities and risks for accessibility; inclusive data sets and bias mitigation are essential.

  • Centralizing accessibility tools, vendors, and budgets helps achieve consistent practices and reporting across organizations.

  • Embedding accessibility experts in product teams scales accessibility accountability and strengthens ownership.

  • Aligning accessibility programs with business KPIs and strategic priorities ensures executive support and resource allocation.

  • Training is more effective when accessibility is taught through real product problems and interaction with users with disabilities.

  • Gamification, immersive events like CSUN, and Global Accessibility Awareness Day foster ongoing accessibility culture.

  • Patience, resilience, and focusing on progress over perfection are key to sustainable accessibility improvements.

Notable Quotes

"You can’t have an accessible experience if it’s not usable, and you can’t have a usable experience if it’s not accessible."

"The wrong place is to not start with accessibility; where you start doesn’t matter as long as you do."

"We don’t use WCAG checklists in our Agile teams; instead, we focus on accessibility as usable for real people."

"Nothing about us without us—people with disabilities must be involved in design and AI development."

"Centralizing budget and tools for accessibility helps build maturity and consistency across large organizations."

"Bringing real users into design sprints transforms designers’ understanding beyond what checklists can provide."

"If you want to work with Hilton, you have to bring accessibility to the table like security and privacy."

"Accessibility should be embedded in product roadmaps owned by product managers, not just in a separate accessibility roadmap."

"Training accessibility through gamification and immersive experiences makes learning stick and creates champions."

"Progress over perfection—that’s how accessibility wins get made and sustained."

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