I’ve very much debated whether to mention the statements below. However, I figured talking about the problems is not the problem. Below are 20 deeply uncomfortable messages that I would tell my younger self circa 2019. This very much centres on my experiences in the private sector.
One of the best-case scenarios is that you are, or part of, a cleanup crew for bad code.
The certification body in the space doesn’t really have a website that meets standards themselves. Unfortunately the industry tends to ignore this, you will be always confused as to why. Few people seem to call this out.
Many companies only release budget due to the threat of legal action to meet compliance. Most work is done through this lens. To reduce risk, rather than unblock, centre and empower disabled people so they can use the product or service.
The technical skillset is hugely devalued by some Designers and Developers, this is due to a mix of complicated reasons. I have so many examples of this it’s hard to know where to start. One interview I was highlighting accessibility issues within a technical test “we don’t care about that” was the response.
Only about 5% of Frontend Developer roles in the UK, even mention WCAG and accessibility.
There is a very high risk of relational aggression. What does that mean? Imagine you block work (such as a pull request) for release because it doesn’t meet standards. Or you re-open a ticket as it was closed still with bugs. There’s a high risk of being bad-mouthed about something completely unrelated. The pattern doesn’t happen when doing the same for something like spelling mistakes. It’s related to ableism.
There are very few accessibility teams, and even fewer Chief Accessibility Officers. You will notice huge teams be let go and many very competent people, even leaders in this space, be out of work for a long time.
Accessibility Overlay Companies, plug-in vendors & toolbars actually make accessibility worse. However these companies will gain so much of the money from the private sector and direct money away from people doing the real work. The people in charge of these companies will actively lie and mislead. Law firms that should know better will use them.
Performative marketing from companies, will irk you way more than you want. There will be companies or brands that talk about accessibility but their home page has major issues.
Sometimes you will lose battles with an entire organisation to add something very basic like focus styles. Training, workshops will be delivered and it won’t matter. Even if when you add them it will be reverted. It will break you a little.
You will gain a deeper understanding of ableism, you will start to notice it and experience in various forms as you try and do work. The systematic weight of it will be difficult to navigate on-top of furthering your technical knowledge.
Unless you’re within an accessibility team, you’ll be ignored a lot, pretty much all the time. It doesn’t matter how many technical arguments you can provide or laws you can cite. You will be ignored. You’ll have to switch gears and try and inspire and influence. This will be due to ableism, many of the arguments you will hear, when swapped for another demographic like gender, would clearly be unacceptable. However there is a hierarchy of power.
Be prepared to explain “alt text” over and over and over. Also be prepared for weaponised incompetence, you will be expected to provide training on things that are an internet search away.
In reality there are very few legal protections for people. The laws exist for sure. But if someone or a company breaks the law - “what are you gonna do?” Lawyers are very expensive and justice is deeply inaccessible - by design.
Only one company in your career will give access to the proper tools and value the time to test with screen readers. One.
You will believe this is deeply valuable, technical work however many companies will not. You will see some roles that expect one person to perform the work of an entire team. Mainly as it’s just a risk mitigation piece, to show in a legal document someone was hired.
There will be one company in your career that will pay you for your time to complete a technical test, this will be a disability-owned company. It will give you such hope.
Other people in the accessibility community may call you out if you mis-step. If you sense there’s anger listen deeply. It means you’re about to get very valuable feedback and a perspective you’d not even considered.
You realise 3rd party companies that provide software will just lie. With a straight face. They will lie about VPAT, they will lie about WCAG compliance, they will lie about the testing they’ve done. They will happily lie without a second thought to the intent of these requirements. A product manager will say to you “We want this WCAG compliance request to go away, we’ve bluffed our way through so far.”
You will meet some amazing people in this space. You will still believe this is valuable work however you will be asked: “Is this is a healthy space to be in? Do you have to work in this space?”
You will struggle to answer this.