Last week, I touched a little bit on intangible accessibility metrics. I know I haven't really defined them properly, or even gave any examples. The truth is, I'm struggling a little bit with these things myself. It's no wonder I said they're hard to observe and hard to measure. But dang it, I know they're there and I know they're important.
So we have to observe them somehow. Measure them in some way.
If you'll indulge me, I'll try to do it with you.
What I'm after is evaluating areas that the traditional metrics won't be able to properly capture. If the accessibility metrics that give you early warnings are quantitative and objective, then these intangible metrics are qualitative and subjective. They're abstract, but I think crucial in evaluating an organisation's long-term commitment to accessibility.
Before I try to nail down the definition, I'm going to list a few of these intangible metrics that have been circling around in my head.
Accessibility advocacy
Is there sustained effort devoted to advancing accessibility awareness and adoption within the organisation? The presence of dedicated accessibility experts and champions can be a clear indicator.
Cross-functional collaboration
Are accessibility practices integrated across different teams and disciplines? We know accessibility isn't one person's responsibility, so cross-functional collaboration must be important. Do different teams participate in joint accessibility reviews and do they have shared metrics?
Knowledge sharing
This is the organisation's ability to maintain and transfer accessibility expertise despite team restructuring. It reflects how well accessibility knowledge is documented and shared across the organisation. One clear indicator is how integrated accessibility is into onboarding processes.
Technical agility
Can the organisation evolve and enhance accessibility practices in response to new technologies, user needs and changing standards? I'd like to measure how proactively a team explores and adopts emerging accessibility solutions and methodologies. Indicators can include open source activity.
Collective emotional intelligence
How well can the team understand and empathise with diverse user needs, beyond just following technical requirements? Indicators include participation in disability awareness training and direct interaction with users with disabilities.
Cultural safety
Do team members feel safe when raising accessibility concerns or challenging decisions that might impact accessibility? Indicators could include how openly accessibility issues are discussed and how feedback is received.
All these intangible metrics focus on different aspects of an organisation's accessibility maturity, from knowledge management to innovation, empathy, decision-making influence and psychological safety. And, you will notice, they are all internal to an organisation. This means they are best observed from within and can also be influenced from within, without outside intervention.
I'll try to look at some of these metrics in the coming emails. Perhaps after that, I'll be able to define intangible metrics.