Scale Accessibility

Author: Paul

  • Digital Accessibility Plan for Section 508 Compliance

    Purpose: Ensure all digital content and technology meet Section 508 standards, making them accessible to individuals with disabilities and compliant with federal regulations.

    Steps to take:

    • Resource Alignment: Gather the individuals already involved in compliance related activities. Determine and outline any types of resources needed for conducting audits, training, and testing. Develop proposals to help allocate project funding and request additional investments to better support individuals already doing the work.
    • Establish Systematic Documentation Process: Develop a documentation procedure for technical and programmatic layers. Maintain records of compliance efforts and improvements.
    • Policy Communication and Reinforcement: Publicize and reinforce existing policies. Communicate that it is each employee’s responsibility to understand policies and to follow them. Hold management accountable for non-compliance.
    • Establish guidelines: Create accessibility standards that are catered to most widely used systems and platforms and best practices for content creators and developers.
    • Identify your priority assets: Focus on high-traffic and critical systems first.
    • Conduct accessibility audit: Evaluate current websites, applications, and documents to identify compliance gaps using open source tools. Utilize automation to highlight areas that need deeper consideration.
    • Train staff: Provide accessibility training for designers, developers, and content teams
    • Implement testing: Integrate automated and manual accessibility testing into development workflows
    • Remediate issues: Fix identified accessibility barriers in existing content and systems.
    • Monitor compliance: Set up ongoing testing and reporting processes, utilizing automated testing and providing a quick view of compliance health.

    Budget & Resource Constraints:

    • Limited budget: Prioritize free, low-cost tools (Accessibility Insights for Web, WAVE, axe DevTools) and focus on high-impact fixes first.
    • Staff capacity and knowledge sharing: Leverage existing team members with phased training rather than hiring specialists immediately. Develop a train the trainer program for technical leads and group supervisors to support their teams.
    • Timeline: Implement in phases over 6-12 months to spread costs and workload
    • Vendor support: Negotiate accessibility requirements into existing vendor contracts to minimize additional costs

  • Why we chose to start an accessibility cooperative

    We’ve spent years watching digital platforms and the tech industry fail people with disabilities, and we’re done waiting for someone else to fix it. The current system isn’t working, and we need a fundamentally different approach. That’s why we’re building a cooperative centered entirely on digital accessibility.

    A Mission That Can’t Be Compromised

    In a cooperative, we’re not beholden to investors who see accessibility as a compliance checkbox or a nice-to-have, when we have the time feature. Every member has equal ownership, which means our commitment to creating truly accessible digital experiences can never be diluted or pushed aside for short-term profits. This is a personal mission for all of us.

    Filling a Gap That Shouldn’t Exist

    In an age of abundant technology resources, most websites and apps are still unusable for millions of people. Over a billion people worldwide live with disabilities, yet they’re constantly locked out of digital spaces and many times this is simply because of bad decisions. We have the knowledge and technology to change this and collectively we have the will and power to prioritize it.

    Building With, Not For

    We want to create a space where developers, designers, accessibility experts, and people with lived disability experience work side by side as equals. Real accessibility doesn’t come from assumptions. It comes from listening, learning, and centering the voices of those who navigate inaccessible systems every day.

    Proving Another Way Is Possible

    A cooperative lets us invest in ourselves, putting power into each other and into our mission. Our shared resources go toward better services, supporting our members, and pushing the entire industry forward. We’re not just building accessible products but we are helping organizations to shape their workplaces so they can be a model for inclusive design and accessibility.