I recently wrapped up an awesome training with my friends at Percolator Consulting all about web accessibility. They wrote up a great summary of their experience with links to some of the favorite tools and resources I shared with them.
Over two 2-hour sessions, I worked with their staff of excellent Salesforce experts with diverse skills and job responsibilities. We started at the beginning by establishing a shared foundation of knowledge on how inaccessible web experiences negatively impact folks with disabilities. By the end of the training, we were actively testing projects they had built and were planning out fixes and key next steps.
There’s always more to learn, but we were able to cover and begin testing heading outlines, keyboard navigation, color contrast, alt text, form label accessibility, and other issues encountered through exploring testing tools and checklists.
It was awesome to see how quickly this team of professionals latched onto the information and quickly started applying it to their work. Web accessibility is a specialized field full of both conceptual and technical information that isn’t always obvious without training and experience. When I do accessibility trainings and presentations, I often get the feedback that “I would have never known this unless someone told me.”
For consultants that work with nonprofits, understanding web accessibility is about more than just making websites that work. It’s about aligning our work with our own values and the values of our clients. And of course, websites that are accessible work better for everyone too!
We live in an ableist society that often pushes the experiences of people with disabilities to the periphery. When we ask, “how do we make this experience accessible?” we are actively fighting ableism, centering the needs of people with disabilities, and making sure that websites provide equitable access to information and services.
If your web agency, Salesforce consultancy, or nonprofit organization would benefit from highly tailored and hands-on web accessibility training, reach out to learn more!