Welcome to my April series, All In on Accessibility.
Accessibility is my MO.
My professional background is rooted in disability rights and developmental disability services. I’ve spent years working to become an expert in this space… and I know that, just like everyone else, I still have a lot to learn. That’s part of what makes it interesting.
As a one-woman studio, I work with a wide range of clients: government agencies, statewide organizations, local nonprofits, small businesses. What I’ve seen across all of them is that accessibility is good business, not just good ethics. And yet so much of what we do in this field is cleaning up after the fact, remediating violations and fixing mistakes that only happened because nobody started with access in mind.
Accessibility is more than a parking space. We tend to think about it in physical terms… ramps, curb cuts, reserved spots near the door. But digital accessibility is just as essential, and it matters more with every passing year.
Imagine being completely locked out of the internet. Not slowed down. Not inconvenienced. Locked out. That’s the reality for many people with disabilities when websites, social media content, and online documents aren’t built with access in mind. More than 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. lives with some form of disability… and what benefits them almost always benefits everyone else too.
Accessibility goes way beyond screen reader compatibility. As Meek Mill put it: there’s levels to this ish.
Here’s what we’ll be getting into this month:
- The legal landscape: what’s actually happening with ADA lawsuits targeting small businesses and organizations right here in Missouri, and why it matters even if you never get a demand letter
- The compliance deadline: what the ADA Title II Rule on Web Content and Mobile Apps requires, who it applies to, and what WCAG 2.1 AA actually means in plain language
- The AI problem: why accessibility overlays and “one line of code” widgets aren’t the answer, and where AI can genuinely help versus where it gives you a false sense of security
- Testing your site: free tools you can use right now to find out where your website stands, and the most common errors we see again and again
- Accessibility in design: the typography, color, structure, and content decisions that make accessibility possible from the start, not as an afterthought
Some of it will be practical. Some of it will be a little uncomfortable. All of it matters.
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