This week, I saw Kung Fu Panda 4 at home. Don't worry, I won't spoil anything.
One thing stood out to me. The fox, one of the main characters, was at some point trying to convince the other animals to help her stop the villain. She said something along the lines of "do it because it's the right thing."
After a moment silence, all the other animals erupted in joyous laughter.
Yep. They weren't going to lift a damn finger (or paw) because something was the right thing.
But.
The fox made an argument of why helping was the right thing. Without knowing it, she sold them on it.
The animals twisted her words and came up with their own version of why doing the right thing was the right thing for them. It was all for the wrong reasons, of course. The fox caught that and was disappointed.
Should she have been?
Probably not. Doing the right thing is doing the right thing. Albeit for the wrong reasons.
This stood out to me because I've been beating the same drum for web accessibility.
Sure, I'd love it if every one made their sites accessible purely because it's the right thing to do. But that's not reality. Some folks need to hear the legal argument. Others care about the business case. Others want more users, better SEO, fewer support tickets.
And you know what? That's fine.
As long as the work gets done, as long as everyone can use the web, does it really matter why someone fixed some accessibility issues?
The end result is what counts for me.