In the first chapter I gave you a few examples of what an accessibility committee can do. We will expand that in greater detail later, but for now, let’s talk about why it is relevant.
In a nutshell, I would say that the accessibility committee is the bridge between what is now and what is ideal. But it is not a real bridge, maybe a path rather, because the ideal is a moving target and if things are done well, the what is now is also changing dynamically. Therefore, it is not just the matter of crossing the bridge, rather, it is about always aiming at the direction where we want to be while it changes over time.
Accessibility does not happen just by accident
We can meet standards, follow guidelines, and ensure compliance. This will to a great extent improve accessibility. But often times when we ask people with disabilities once all the standards are met if they think that the organization is fully inclusive, the answer is not necessarily a confident yes. And the reason is that while standards are there to ensure that the basic requirements are met, they cannot include everything. Especially because each organization is different with its own traditions and processes. Standards compliance doesn’t mean that there is no room for improvement. Standards and guidelines are also often outdated written at a time when they mostly made sense, but down the road new research and new technologies can show that we can do more for full inclusion.
Therefore, just checking the boxes is rarely sufficient. It is important to continue asking the question of why we are doing it. Once we have the answer, we can take a step back and figure out how to get there. At this point, while compliance is still important, we will primarily no longer just follow guidelines, but respond to the needs of the people at our organization, which requires constant monitoring and adjusting.
Accessibility is a process, not a one time fix
Aside from the changing and improving standards and guidelines, there are many more changing components which we cannot disregard. One of the most frequent mistakes is to look at it as a project to complete.
I always say that there is no such thing as 100 percent accessibility. If you think that you are there, I would challenge you to keep exploring. Let me give you a few examples.
Over the years we went from consuming data in desktop browsers, to mobile apps to AI chats. They each have their own challenges, and while they can continue meeting compliance, we also need to ensure that they are serving the best interest of the end user.
We can switch vendors and update technologies. We need to ensure that it is maintaining the current efficiency, but hopefully exceeding it. Does this meet the need of all members of our organization?
There are many organizations to assess what is accessible today and invent new approaches for improvement. We can use their findings and research to implement them into our workflow.
Or simply, what we have is great and we could leave it exactly where it is. But we may have ideas of improvements. Therefore, it is important to revisit periodically what we have and make the necessary changes.
Lived experience changes the quality of decisions
At the end of the day what we are doing is making the environment more accessible for people with disabilities, or as I always like to add, make the organization more inclusive to all. Who is better to say how we are doing if not the people who directly benefit from our accessibility efforts, which we hopefully implement together with them and not just for them.
An accessibility committee can take continuous feedback from people with lived experience and dynamically change the strategy accordingly.
At a small organization for example it is not unlikely to hire a person with a disability that wasn’t previously represented. We may think that what we have is good, but it is important to be open for suggestion from the new hire and make the necessary improvements.
Another example would be at a large organization if we implement a new technology or a new policy. Does this meet the needs of all members of the organization?
An accessibility committee can ensure just that by gathering feedback and distributing it to the organization.
Accessibility committees create accountability
Sometimes we have the good intention, we make the right decisions and then life gets in the way. It is easy to forget about accessibility when we have procured all the accessible technologies, created all the right processes and we have a feedback mechanism to report if anything needs to change.
The accessibility committee is the right entity to constantly monitor all the implementations and immediately point out when anything is forgotten or disregarded.
It is about the culture, not just compliance
Above I mentioned that accessibility does not happen just by accident. But there is one more piece to it. If accessibility has to be enforced that maybe a temporary solution but it rarely helps improve accessibility organically.
All members of the organization need to be on board, and not just to follow the policies because this is what we are required to do. Here is where an accessibility committee can help.
Aside from helping to improve processes, an accessibility committee can be instrumental in creating a narrative about why it is important and spreading it around the organization.
If you look at the good accessibility legislations around the world you will find that they did not change the level of accessibility immediately on the national level. It is far from that. Sometimes even after decades you will find resistance, the lack of implementation or even lawsuits. It happens because the requirements are distributed but the reasoning behind it isn’t.
It is important that an accessibility committee does not only communicate the needs, but also explains the reasoning behind it. After all, if it is done well, it is going to improve the life of the organization overall, but it is hard to get people on the same page if they don’t understand why we are doing what we are doing. This resistance can be changed with the right communication and actually get more allies for the cause.
Barriers are harder to ignore
I will be the first one to admit that sometimes it is not easy. Sometimes there will be challenges, disagreements and frustrations. There will be the people who don’t feel as welcome as others. But if barriers are not negotiated and approached proactively, we will find out about them after some damage is done. An accessibility committee can be helpful estimating what the potential future barriers are and approach them with a proactive approach, avoiding them instead of applying last minute patches when they happen. When a new technology is implemented that makes life less efficient for some people, or when people resign when their needs are not met, the damage is already done, and it will not be easy to recover from it. But with the right approach and clear communication, most of these issues can be eliminated.
Why every organization benefits from an accessibility committee
Does every organization need an accessibility committee? I would say most of them do. As I discussed earlier, at each organization this entity has a different shape, and it is possible that a very small group will not have the capacity to run an actual accessibility committee. However, there should always be some kind of a structured approach to representing the accessibility needs of all people.
Generally I cannot think of a situation where the representation of accessibility needs is not necessary.
When accessibility practices are mature, an accessibility committee can continue maintaining and further maturing it.
If accessibility is not fully developed yet, an accessibility committee can help it more intentionally.
And in the case when nobody is asking about accessibility, it is a clear sign that someone should.
I have worked with organizations where it was stated that an accessibility committee is not needed. I believe when this statement is made, this is exactly the time when one should be established.
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