I have one gigantic flaw. At least in some circumstances, it's a flaw. I'm a control freak. If I want something done right, I'd rather do it myself. I mean, isn't that the only way to ensure quality?
Maybe.
But it's also a good way to create more problems for myself and those around me.
As I was thinking about this in the context of accessibility, I realised this need for control, for perfectionism, essentially means a lack of trust in others. When it comes to accessibility, do you trust your team to know what the right thing is and do it?
If you're taking too much time to answer, you might have a trust problem in your team.
When we refuse to trust our team, we're limiting growth. We're putting up barriers that prevent collective understanding and innovation. Trust in accessibility isn't about believing everyone will get everything perfect. It's about creating an environment where making mistakes is part of learning.
If you miss an alt text, you haven't failed. If you didn't know about that ARIA attribute, that's okay. It's all an opportunity for collective improvement. This way accessibility becomes a shared responsibility, not siloed expertise.
The metrics are in the subtle dynamics of your team's interaction.
- Do people lean in during accessibility discussions or lean back?
- Are questions met with defensiveness or genuine curiosity?
- Is there an underlying belief that everyone is trying their best, even when they fall short?
- Are all accessibility tasks assigned to one person or are they shared?
- Who contributes to accessibility training?
- Who writes accessibility guidelines and documentation?
If it feels like all the burden is on one person, and everyone else just thinks it's not their job, you need to dig deeper and see why that is. It may very well be there's a perfectionist in the group, who, like me sometimes, is a control freak.
Perfectionism kills trust. Accessibility, at its heart, is about understanding the differences in those around us. And that includes how different we are when it comes to how we learn, grow and improve.