By Jennie Delisi, Accessibility Analyst, Office of Accessibility

Change can be easier when you have a clear goal, a good plan, and persistence. Improving digital accessibility is no different. We often only observe the outcome of work others have done. But, what if we could understand how someone's advocacy skills developed?

We all have a role to play in improving digital accessibility. It can be as simple as ensuring that we understand how to make accessible:

• Documents.
• Websites.
• Software.
• Apps.

But advocacy can also involve:

• Identifying when a process, product, or project could better address accessibility.
• Training ourselves, our teammates, vendors, and those on projects on ways to make these improvements.
• Connecting with others to build stronger networks to build our accessibility capacity.

Advocacy starts with the question: what will make this better? Advocates take that next step to determine how to make it better, then take action.

For the next two months, we talk with five state employees that are advocates for greater digital accessibility. Each has a different role. They reveal some changes they have made, and what had the most influence. And they share advice for you and your supervisor to improve accessibility in your organization. In fact, there is so much great information that we will publish it in installments. This first installment focuses on celebrating the changes that sparked their advocacy skill development. And some of their smaller step recommendations.

Thank you to this month’s article contributors:

• Tamara Sawyer, Accessibility Coordinator, Minnesota Management and Budget
• Michelle Aguilar, Web Manager, Minnesota Department of Health
• Mike Reinhart, Service Portfolio Manager, Minnesota IT Services (MNIT)
• Bryan Priem, Web Application Developer, MNIT Partnering with Labor and Industry
• Proshat Shafizadeh, IT Advanced Project and Program Manager, MNIT Partnering with the Department of Administration 

Changes Sparking Transformations

We often know we need to do something different. Once we change, we can often point to a specific event or moment that felt like a turning point. I asked each person about that moment for them. Not surprisingly, the pandemic with its shift to working from home was a common theme.

This did not mean they began their accessibility journey then, but its path changed. Reinhart explained, “There (became) such a focus on using the conferencing tools. We really had to be much more diligent about accessibility related to those applications and making sure that they are accessible.” This work was not new for him. He had already been “working with the vendor and pushing them to provide the feature updates that include accessibility. We've done more of that in the last couple of years without question.” In addition, many vendors increased the speed and release of updates and new features. This changed the way Reinhart and others needed to interact with vendors, and proceed with work internally.

Also, working from home changed the way they worked with people. Aguilar said that “we used to do in-person training in a classroom at in the office.” Aguilar and her team worked to determine new ways to reach employees, to teach them about accessibility. Both she and Sawyer felt the absence of meeting employees in person. Sawyer shared that “the good part is that I have worked with many different teams (before the pandemic). Going to all online and all digital - people have really recognized the need for accessibility. Some of our groups have really embraced it. Going from all in-person to all digital where we've made all their materials accessible - that has been a huge success. So on one hand, I feel this disconnect. But on the other hand I feel some groups are super successful.”

Partially because of this feeling of disconnect, Sawyer reached out and joined a new group. “I think for me (another) big difference was joining in with this Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion group (DEAI) within my agency. It’s one thing to be a part of the statewide digital accessibility coordinators.” While she appreciated working with the network of coordinators from other agencies, Sawyer noted that they are less familiar with the everyday work at her agency.  

During this time, many observed a change in culture. Priem shares that “for a while I felt like I was sort of the only one who seemed to be aware of accessibility. And then, realized I’m not. It’s all over the place.” First Priem mentioned that the agency communications division began improving accessibility of their documents. But he had more to share! “My Chief Business Technology Officer, Tyrone Spratt: accessibility is in his playbook. [It is] a question that always is brought up. He is at the forefront of any new projects and contracting so accessibility comes up a lot. We have a security officer, Mike Woolley, who will often bring up his security issues but then mention that we also need to address accessibility. So, it’s everywhere. You can try to put your head in the sand and say, well, we’ll just forget about accessibility for a minute, but nope, there’s people saying we need to have that. We need to make sure it’s in there and we can’t move forward without it. It’s like a team effort and it was sort of grassroots. There’s more growth to be had, but we’re moving forward, we’re getting there.”

Some people we interviewed shared that furthering their education changed them and changed their advocacy. For Shafizadeh it introduced her to digital accessibility. “I remember that I just began my bachelor's degree program in information technology management from the University of Minnesota. As part of the program requirements I had to take a web development class. It was that web development class that dedicated an entire chapter to accessibility. I remember that I was completely blown away by my lack of awareness about digital accessibility. Once I began to learn about it, it was like a wakeup call.”

For Sawyer, going back to school while working as a digital accessibility coordinator had impact. She took some courses related to Human Resources management, and diversity, equity and inclusion as part of a master’s program. “I think those 3 classes really helped with how I've approached things. Now I approach things a little bit differently. Just knowing more about how to manage programs and how to manage people, has helped. It’s given me more confidence in standing up to make sure that my program is being run right.”

Starting with small steps

As you celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day, a few simple steps for improve your advocacy skills:

• Ask for help: Sawyer suggests that you not “be afraid to reach out if you need help. You have resources if you just reach out.”
• Start developing one new skill: For Aguilar, that skill was “definitely fillable PDF forms. I did not know (how to make them accessible) prior to 2 years ago. I had a form that was 20 pages full of radio buttons. I had to learn how to do JavaScript and all those radio buttons. It was a tedious process, but I know it, now, after doing.” 
• Just start – pick one thing: Priem found it helpful to think “What are some of the things that I could do that don't require a significant level of understanding, like screen readers. But I can do keyboard testing, right? That's not too hard to pick up. Color contrast testing, easy. Umm well not easy…The tools are out there. You just have to get them downloaded. I just decided, you know what? I'm just gonna try this and document the results.”
• Dedicate time: Shafizadeh shared “One thing that I've changed in project planning in particular, has been to dedicate enough time for accessibility. I have it included very, very early on - during my initiation phase of the project. This includes: 
  • Informing our business partners and our stakeholders about accessibility. 
  • Making sure we have enough time to bring in the Office of Accessibility or accessibility coordinators to do accessibility reviews and decision making before we move forward to next steps.”
• Accessibility as a part of everything: Reinhart reminds people to include accessibility whenever discussing work. “It was probably sometime in mid-2020 or so when we started doing more communications on a monthly basis of teleconference updates, for instance. And, making accessibility part of that. It's not something that we add on. It's just part of what we what we want to communicate. I think normalizing it and making it just part of day-to-day stuff, everything you do.”

Until Next Month…

Happy Global Accessibility Awareness Day to everyone. We hope that on your accessibility journey you take a moment to start using these tips, taking new advocacy steps. Next month we will share more from these accessibility advocates, including:

• More of their tips.
• How they shifted their small steps to support bigger changes.
• What they feel helps nurture an increase in a digital accessibility culture.
• Tips for managers and supervisors.