I love a good comeback story.
Praise to the developer who swoops in to fix that broken screen reader compatibility. Applause for the designer who patches up colour contrast issues just before launch.
All heroes in my book!
But hang on a minute.
What if these heroes are the same people who created the mess in the first place?
What if they're the ones who built inaccessible components, ignored WCAG guidelines and pushed through designs that excluded users with disabilities?
Most of the time, that's who we sing praises for. Even when they do it again. And again. And again.
It's a proper cycle, isn't it?
Complicate things with unnecessary JavaScript widgets. Ignore semantic HTML. Skip accessibility testing. Then disappear for a few months whilst users struggle.
When the complaints roll in, show up and present their "innovative solutions." Suddenly they're the accessibility champions, getting praise, visibility and raises.
While the real heroes are all but ignored.
You know who I'm talking about. The developers who write clean, semantic code from day one. The designers who consider contrast and focus states from the start. The testers who include users with disabilities throughout the process. We think of them as cost centers (what a joke!).
But they're the ones preventing problems rather than profiting from fixing them.
Them is the real heroes!