If your goal is to ship an accessible website, one of the most powerful, yet underestimated ways to do it is by building momentum.
Of course we want to do the right thing. Of course we want our website to serve everyone, to increase our brand image and reputation and to minimise the legal risk of an inaccessible website.
That's easier said than done. And that's because momentum often has a slow build at first. The starting line is at zero. That's where growth starts. And that early growth seems like it takes forever.
We want quick wins, not a slow growth. But that's not how you get to build an accessible website that withstands the test of time.
It's by saying no to the quick win and accepting that it will take time and effort. And it will cause a lot of discomfort. It's not about doing it faster. Rather, it's about setting small habits and regular routines to create a steady growth through consistent progress. That's how you make more accessible things with less struggle.
Usually, we tell ourselves that we have to do everything all at once. We need to do an audit, we need to have a complete VPAT, we need to talk to disabled users, we have to have 100% test coverage. We need everything all together, all at once.
That just leads to burnout and you can never keep the momentum going.
A car gains momentum when rolling downhill. But it will never gain it without first starting to roll. I’m not here to sell you shortcuts, share accessibility hacks, or tell you how you don’t need to do the work and get all the results.
No. If you want momentum, you have to do the work, right now, by getting started!