Episode 29
Accessibility Status: Compliant. What happens next?
Brief description of the episode
How can the people who champion accessibility within an organization smoothen the process of implementation? From his vast experience, Cam Beaudoin shares his tips on how to get accessibility conversations going and gain management buy-in.
Key Takeaways:
- You’ve got to get comfortable with the idea that you’re a coach more than anything else and you’re not going to win every single battle.
- You’ve got to create an environment where other people want to join your cause.
- Accept and understand that people may have different places where they start. Start to relate to where they are, mentally, because maybe they have other requirements that they need to care about right now. Don’t try to convert them.
- Focus a little bit further down and you’re gonna get a lot more wins if you do that.
- As accessibility professionals, we don’t document enough. We need to document our processes enough and the way that we’re going to approach a situation because of it.
- Not every problem is the same but our approach to how we solve the problem can be standardized and can be documented.
- This will start to raise the confidence of the people, who are in our organizations, and in our expertise.
- This way, the organization’s department heads are going to receive a response to their request and a recommendation based on all documented evidence every single time.
- We don’t talk enough about how to create a repeatable business that has a process to it. That’s sustainable. Not only for the people that we’re advocating for, not only for the people we’re advocating to but also for ourselves.
- Number 1 is procurement – any type of bringing other services or products into the organization. If you haven’t thought of your procurement policies yet, that is a natural next step.
- Start to learn about who you’re bringing into the organization because if you’re using some kind of third-party widget that’s not accessible, you’re delivering that to your client.
- Number 2 is your HR policies and hiring practices. HR Departments can learn how to build better job descriptions or think about accommodations or provide safe spaces for people to open up and talk.
- They can provide training to managers or directors as to how to manage a team where somebody may have a disability whether it’s disclosed or not.
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