Work Completes Accessible Goals.

Because shipping without accessibility isn’t delivering — it’s defecting.

The old WCAG:
(and where that left us)

WCAG is great. It’s the (case) law for conformance policy, but isn’t written in plain language for the non-WCAG experts who actually make stuff.

But…

WCAG isn’t agile. Modern software is built using story acceptance criteria. When these criteria are in the story, it gets built right. Try converting the 30+ WCAG rules you could apply to a checkbox into something everyone can agree on, understand and reliably test repeatably.

WCAG isn’t clear. Some WCAG rules are vague and open to interpretation and abuse.

It tells us what software should be
…but not how it should act.

Nowhere in its 87 success criterion does it describe the keyboard actions for checkboxes or radio buttons. Nothing describes the role screen readers must declare for a switch.

It shows us principles
…but not processes.

POUR is easy to remember, but nobody architecting a React component asks themslves, “How do I make this perceivable, operable, understandable and robust?”

It shows us success criterion,
…but not a definition of done.

How many criterion does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Just one, but first you’ll need a VPAT, an accessibility statement for EAA, and three rounds of audits and remediation while everyone argues about the difference between meaningful and logical sequence.

It can’t be replaced,
…but that doesn’t mean we have to use it

WCAG informs good conformance decisions and gives experts a legally deterministic backstop to describe what minimum compliance means.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to communicate accessibility to the people who actually make stuff.

The new WCAG:
Work Completes Accessible Goals

Let’s define how work must behave to produce accessible experiences.

If accessibility isn’t integral to the work — it won’t be part of the outcome.

You can’t change how people think.
All you can do is give them a tool, the use of which will change their thinking.

— Buckminster Fuller

Teams are already using your enterprise’s working methodology.

We just have to give teams tools they can use as they complete their work. Often, we just need to help them use their exisitng tools in the right way.

The problem we all — no, some of us see

Too many accessibility experts chase WCAG training, culture change or mindset shifts and ignore the way people work.

All we need is a complete mindset and culture shift across all industries to see accessibility and inclusion as a human right.

— Every accessibility expert

At the same time…

I don’t really understand all that agile Kanban scrum stuff… with all its meetings.

— Also every accessibility expert

When accessibility is communicated as culture shift, a change in mindset, a human rights issue — what really happens is that inclusion and equity gets placed on a high intellectual pedestal, making experts feel superior — with no need to grow their own understanding of how software is actually made.

Meanwhile, the people who make stuff are alienated. They didn’t come to work to commit human rights violations. They didn’t come to work to culture. They didn’t come to work to mindset. But we talk to thenm like they did.

They come there to WORK, and they work toward goals. None of their goals contained human rights violations — but they also didn’t include accessibility either.

Goals that ignore accessibility produce inaccessible experiences.

Most software goals are written like this:

Improve onboarding to reduce calls to customer service.

— Every app backlog right now

With a bias toward action that is expressed like this:

Yeah, accessibility is important, but we’re on a tight deadline.

— Every product manager ever

What’s missing is any reference to people’s needs.

Teams meet goals they’re measured against — and exclude anything else.

So, when the goals are missing accessibility, here’s what happens:

  • Accessibility experts are stuck begging for accessibility in late stage deliverables that can’t possibly support accessible goals now.
  • Fire drills. Burnout. Blame. Repeat.

This isn’t a compliance failure. It’s a delivery system failure.

The New WCAG core concepts

How does work complete accessible goals?

1. Work’s existing methodologies must be used.

Yes, it does matter if a team is agile, KanBan, waterfall, cross functional or whatever. Accessibility experts must become experts in the ways, methods and ceremonies of how teams work and use them.

What if software goals looked like this:

Accessibly improve all people’s onboarding to reduce calls to customer service.

2. Complete is demonstrable.

Done doesn’t mean shipped. Done means accessibility acceptance criteria can be demonstrated before deployment.

GIVEN THAT I am on a page with a checkbox

  • WHEN I use the tab key to move focus to a checkbox I SEE focus is strongly visually indicated
  • THEN when I use the spacebar to activate the checkbox I SEE the state is changed

3. Accessible is definable.

Product and feature goals must include accessibility up front as a spoken and written goal, just like “improving conversions” or “decreasing bounce rates”.

If you don’t write it down, it won’t get done.

So let it be written, so let it be done.
— Pharaoh Rameses II (played by Yul Brynner)

4. Goals are non-negotiable.

Accessibility isn’t a phase or a review.

It’s part of every definition of done, every backlog, every QA test.

We’re committed to accessibility as a feature goal; it’s defined in acceptance criteria and demonstrated before release.

— Future product owners

The shift we need

Old WCAG:

Ship it. Test it. Fix errors. Repeat forever.

New WCAG: Write accessible feature goals, complete accessible criteria. Ship it.

For accessibility leaders who are ready

If you’ve been stuck enforcing broken work, there’s a better way.

  • Shift from enforcer to advisor.
  • Stop chasing teams.
  • Start embedding accessibility in the work itself.

The Book on Accessibility shows you how. Learn more or Get the framework.

Declare your support for the new WCAG

Final word

Work Completes Accessible Goals.

If your teams can’t meet accessible goals, it’s not their mindset. It’s the way they work.

Let’s change that.