Let me tell you about the last accessibility audit I worked on. Over 100 issues, more than 60% were critical problems, close to 20% were serious "must-fix" items and the rest were nice to haves, so to speak.
My heart sank. How do I present this to the team? I knew they busted their behinds working a lot on accessibility. After all that work, it'll feel like they were still on square one.
The truth is, most accessibility professionals live in this gap between now and the future.
We're trained to spot what's missing: the alt text that isn't there, the keyboard navigation that breaks, the ARIA labels that need fixing. It's like having a to-do list that grows faster than you can check things off. More work coming in than going out. It's exhausting. Eventually, the bubble will pop.
That's why product teams start avoiding accessibility because they've become synonymous with failure. A game you can't win.
So as I was thinking of how to deliver the audit report, I thought, what if I flipped the script by highlighting the progress they've made so far?
Six months ago, their forms were completely unusable with a screen reader. Now? They're working for most of their users.
Before the last product release, the focus indicator for all those buttons, links and form controls was completely invisible. Now, everyone can easily spot their place when they tab through the page.
It's not all perfect, yes, but that's okay.
Those "skip to main content" links they'll add next? That's time saved for hundreds of keyboard users every day.
The colour contrast fix? It'll help everyone read your content better, including folks checking their tablets in bright sunlight.
Maybe it's time to reshape that next accessibility discussion.
I'd start with a "Gains list."
Before diving into what needs fixing, I'd spend a few minutes talking about what's better now than it was three months ago.
Keep the problems list. You'll need it. But don't let it be the only story you tell.
Perfect accessibility is a horizon. You move toward it, but you never quite reach it. The real win is in making things a little bit better along the way.
If you only see the gap between you and the horizon, you'll be constantly stressed and eventually burn out.
What would happen if you instead focused on the gains between where you were yesterday and where you are today?