How to become an accessibility designer for free.

I've been asked by a couple of lovely people how they might 'break into' being an #accessibility designer. I'm keen to hear other peoples advice too (please comment), but here's some things I've said to people.

Ps - this is not meant as a one-size fits all article, it's just some of my thoughts whilst pushing a sandwich into my face...

Learn some WCAG foundations

For this I'd recommend looking at the WCAG but in a translated piece so it doesn't overwhelm you.

• Martin Underhill has written an awesome blog post about the WCAG in a language he understands
• Stark have a wonderful set of guides about WCAG explained
• The WCAG quickref is the guides in a raw but digestible format

Learn about people

• Volunteer. I personally did some volunteering with BlindAid back in 2018 (before I had kids and thus had spare time) and it was the best experience of my life. I recieved sight-guide training and was assigned to a lovely person who I helped every week including socials or appointments.
• Seek lived experiences. Whilst volunteering, I learnt that multiuse pavements are terrible for guide dogs (no pavement edge to follow). I learnt that people with complete blindness don't have the light on at home and thus can put themselves at risk of burglary as the house can look empty. I learnt that London's ever changing shops can be confusing for someone so used to walking a certain path and counting on smells and sounds at certain points/stops of a journey. It's these things you can't learn online. If you don't have lived experience, talk to those that do.
• Join user research. If you have any opportunities at work, join user research sessions. Accessibility is essentially a subset of usability.
• Learn about people. Disability isn't something only permanently disabled people have. It can be temporary or situational and that can show in user sessions. Learn about people.
• Don't assume that the things you've learnt now make you the expert, you'll never be the expert. The Dunning-Kruger effect (Donald Trump effect) is real.

Don't always look for an accessibility role right away

• Build on what you already have. If you're in a role you enjoy, stick with it an bring accessibility-lead thinking into that role, advocacy is hard and can make you feel burnt out sometimes.
• Be the champion of accessibility in your team, then ask your boss to expense something, then write a letter a week to a stakeholder to give you some budget (Remember Andy in Shawshank?). Make a bit of a nuisance of yourself but do it in a way that you can show the value of good accessibility - Not everyone will see it like you do.
• Habit stacking makes it a little easier. Bring an accessibility thing you solved to your show and tell as often as you can.
• Be persistent. Be the person in your team who makes those that don't care or perhaps understand accessibility, roll their eyes at you. (I'm happy to say that doesn't often happen though).
• Question social constructs. Be that person who always says, "Yeah but what about someone who can't see your beautiful visual, what is beauty to them?" This shows a deeper empathetic understanding of why we do accessible design.
• Be the person who champions user centred design.

Sign up for some communities

• There's a Web-a11y Slack channel
• The Champions of Accessibility network run by awesome people like Heather Hepburn
• The Dead-bird app also has some nice A11y communities if you're able to wade through the Elon induced facism to find them. (I'm not linking to that site here).

Find a mentor

• I have an awesome mentor. Having someone to speak to about accessibility lead topics and development is so valuable. I need to make more this resource to be honest. But it's been so good. Find a mentor you click with.

Learn a screen reader

• Don't assume that how you learn to use a screen reader is how everyone uses one. Your volunteering and user research participation will teach you that.
• A few years old now, but Rob Dodson 's A11ycasts are precious bookmark I refer back to time and time again.
• I personally use VoiceOver on a Mac/iPhone and I use NVDA (free) on a PC.
• Don't forget other types of assistive tech!
• Visit accessibility empathy labs, such as the GOV empathy lab, NHS empathy lab or Christopher Patnoe 's Google Accessibility Discovery Centre (ADC) - I've been with my colleague Zoe Coles (Portlock) and it's absolutely fantastic.

Avoid quick fixes

• Don't get sucked in by the accessibility vendors selling you Overlays or overnight courses.
• Bootcamps are rubbish, and expensive. Everything you need is out there for the cost of your own time.
• Speak to people and learn at your own pace.
• Find something you're passionate about and hit it like a steam train. Don't worry about what others are blogging about or what's 'Trending'. I hate those things, because they're normally suggested by companies or people that have some sort of underlying financial gain.

Connect with accessibility folk

• Ask for an IRL or virtual coffee, people might have some time if you ask nicely.
• Some design people I follow and hugely respect are Shaun Conner , Martin Underhill , Craig Abbott , Heather Hepburn , 🦞 Todd Libby (thanks for the stickers Todd), Joel Strohmeier , Zoe Coles (Portlock) , Eric Eggert , Gareth Ford Williams , Alistair Duggin , Anna Cook, M.S. , Molly Watt , Chris Bush - But this isn't everyone, just those who dropped out of my brain right now.
• There's a Webring club with loads more awesome people on it

If anyone is actually still reading this, (my own short attention span is telling me to go and watch a road rage video on Youtube). Then please add a comment. I'd love to know what others are finding useful, or advising other people on.