I keep seeing job ads for accessibility specialists. They usually go something like this.
Our goal is to ensure that all digital experiences and products meet the needs of diverse customers. As the accessibility specialist, you'll be responsible for conducting assessments and audits to ensure compliance with WCAG standards, developing and implementing strategies, training engineers and designers, ensuring our designs are accessible, writing and reviewing front-end code, assisting QA engineers and reporting to business stakeholders about progress.
I pity whoever gets these gigs.
If you're looking for someone to single-handedly "fix" accessibility for you, that’s impossible. Nor is it desirable.
Accessibility isn’t just one person’s job. Designers, developers, product owners and QA engineers have to work together. Your long term goal should be for accessibility to become part of the day to day. Part of your process. Not an afterthought.
Why is it important?
- The best ideas come from mixing different perspectives
- The process is smoother when everyone on the team communicates well
- Combining different skills leads to more user-friendly solutions
- You catch issues early and avoid costly fixes later
No one knows everything.
And even if you happen to find that someone, the last thing you want to do is have them burn out.
Many job ads get accessibility wrong. But we still apply. Maybe in the hopes that we can make a difference.