Did you ever feel awkward and out of place to bring up accessibility in sprint planning? Like it's something out of the blue. No one's ever mentioned it before and now that you will, you're not sure how the message will be received.
Will they nod? Will they shoot you down? Will they say it's not a problem, so let's not make it one (yes, this happened!)?
Cultural safety.
It's not physical accommodations. It's not technical compliance. It's not really in the WCAG. It's not a question of awareness either. But it is an often overlooked dimension of an organisation's commitment to accessibility.
Cultural safety deals with the psychological and the emotional. In short, it answers the question:
Does everyone feel safe challenging decisions that might impact accessibility in a product?
At its core, cultural safety is about creating an environment where everyone feels empowered to speak up without fear of retribution or marginalisation. This is true whether people know what accessibility is or not.
What you ideally want is a team where team members can raise accessibility concerns knowing their input will be received with respect, curiosity and a genuine desire to understand and improve.
Cultural safety as a metric is unfortunately hard to quantify. It's an abstract concept. But the signs are there.
- Do accessibility discussions happen openly and frequently?
- When someone challenges a decision that might exclude certain groups, how does everyone else respond?
- How does the leadership respond when someone raises accessibility concerns?
- Do team members see accessible perspectives as valuable contributions or complaints?
- Do they genuinely listen or do you sense defensiveness?
- Do marginalised voices get amplified or silenced?
- Are accessibility champions supported or subtly discouraged?
Measuring and tracking this relies mostly on observation. Look at the patterns of communication, the tone of the meetings and whether feedback is incorporated or swept aside.
Look for:
- Regular, public sharing of accessibility progress, challenges and improvement plans that show a commitment to accountability and continuous learning
- Executives and managers actively discussing accessibility, participating in training and visibly supporting accessibility initiatives
- Clear, accessible channels for employees and stakeholders to provide accessibility feedback without fear of negative consequences
- Documented evidence of how accessibility feedback is reviewed, investigated, and implemented, not just acknowledged
- Continuous, mandatory training that goes beyond compliance and focuses on empathy and understanding
The goal is to move the entire organisation towards ongoing dialogue that surfaces diverse perspectives.
Cultural safety isn't just about removing barriers. That's okay. But we need more than just okay. We need to make room for everyone. We need to create spaces where we celebrate differences. Where we look at inclusion as the fundamental way to work and create, and not an afterthought.