New year, new thoughts
Happy new year Owls! Many of us use the freshness of the changing year to reflect back and think about new ways of operating in our personal and professional lives; myself included. Any time we can take moments to practice self-efficacy and reflect, we can make room to give ourselves grace and some perspective. As I enter my third month at Rice and given the time of the year, it seems like a good time to share my thoughts on how we as a community can future plan for accessibility in the coming year.
One of the frequent questions I’ve been getting as I meet more colleagues across campus is how we are doing on the accessibility front. We have a strong foundation from the University’s commitment to accessibility and DEI, and there have been some good investments in technologies that can help people learn more about how to design accessible websites and learning experiences. As I have been having these conversations, one of the stories I’ve been sharing on how we can plan for the future is the importance of looking at how we can shift accessibility “left” in our departments, teams and individual workflows.
Shift left
The concept or principle of shifting left is a business and IT concept that centers around performing certain tasks earlier in a lifecycle to hopefully decrease errors that cause rework and extra costs that could have been avoided (Gadda, 2016; Cognizant, 2014). Anyone that has had to edit an inaccessible document, media or web content knows how much additional time and effort it takes, over starting with creating an accessible content item in the first place. The same applies to choosing a technology program or application.
For people with disabilities, engaging with that inaccessible content or program means they don’t have equal access the same way an able-bodied person would. The barrier can lead to frustration, feelings of otherness and can even leave the person unable to carry out their task whether it be for an assignment or for a work project/responsibility.
Putting shift left to use
Utilizing the shift left principle, we can all work toward understanding the experience of our students and colleagues with disabilities and include accessibility as we begin a new project, when we review existing workflows or procedures or evaluate new technologies. Here are some ideas on how we can shift left in our work:
- Keep people with disabilities in mind when we think about how our end users (students, other faculty and staff) will engage with content, service or product. Unsure? Review the W3C’s How People with Disabilities use the Web or ask your friendly neighborhood Digital Accessibility Coordinator (that’s me!)
- Include accessibility within the requirements gathering phase of your project planning. For projects that include digital components, we must adhere to the WCAG 2.1 AA standards per Rice policy 851. Check out the A11Y Project’s tool Check Your WCAG Compliance, it’s an easy to understand checklist
- Knowledge is power. Include accessibility training opportunities in your yearly goals or encourage your team to spend time getting to learn about accessibility and disability. Join the Accessibility @ Rice Slack channel to see updates from me on training and learning!
I hope you will all join me this year in shifting left and putting accessibility as a priority in your work. Accessibility is everyone’s responsibility and it takes all of us to move the needle forward. When we utilize accessibility best practices, our products, services and teaching benefit everyone.
References
Cognizant. (2014). Driving Business Excellence Through Innovative IT Service Management.
Gadda, K. R. (2016). Shift-Left Strategy Practices in Business Intelligence System of the European Materials Technology. Journal of IT and Economic Development, 7(1), 34-43.
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