Speaking At #WP WordPress Accessibility Day 2022

Hello again, I hope you are safe and warm and spending time with the people you care about the most.

This post is mainly to share a recent talk I gave for the WordPress International Accessibility Day.

It’s also to remind us all to always be open to new interests, challenges, or opportunities.

My talk is titled Accessibility Is A Partnership That Requires Communication.

For those of you who are familiar with my talks on inter-dependence or asking for help, just think about applying those lessons to making the internet more inclusive.

I’ve always preferred to get my way with a smile, a handshake or hug, and asking nicely.

Which is why I firmly believe that compliance is only going to get us so far.

Talk Topics

I started off by telling them that making sites, blogs, or content accessible to the disabled is a hard job, and I enumerated the reasons focusing on the challenges from screen reader users alone.

Then I shared some examples of where I had worked with site owners to find short-term work arounds while we addressed making their sites completely accessible.

Then I discussed how we really have to have conversations about whether a problem with access by a disabled person is an accessibility issue or a work flow problem.

Since many of the people that see this will be hoping to use automation instead of manually updating their sites, I told them how to choose the right kind of automated accessibility option.

I explained that they don’t have to do the work all alone. Encouraging them to leverage existing advocacy groups, reach out to social media communities, and making it easier for interested individuals to get involved.

Finally, I challenged them to take action. And as I often do, I encouraged them to reach out to me to help them get started.

I closed by taking questions. I really love the question and answer session of a talk.

I got a good laugh when the moderator told me that she kept planning to stop me to pose one of the questions she had received in the chats, but I kept answering them before she could ask them.

This was my first talk where my primary topic was accessibility, and I think I did a really good job.

Below the video you can read more about my accepting myself as an expert in online accessibility and deciding to pitch this particular talk.

If you enjoyed my talk, or if you learned something from it; then please click that like button and share with your friends.

Having My Eyes Opened

Until very recently I didn’t think of myself as an accessibility expert.

Like many things in my life it took encouragement from great friends to help me understand it.

One of the first was my friend Alex Sanfilippo who has been accepting my advice on the accessibility of his site podmatch.com since he started it.

It blew me away when he told me I had done so much for his understanding of accessibility and his website that I should tell people I am his accessibility advisor.

Another was Chris Cownden who had complimented me greatly on my knowledge about online accessibility that I shared on his podcast called Talking With Experts.

He recently booked me to speak to his podcast launch students on the topic of accessibility for podcast hosts.

Another was Alisa Smith from Audio Eye Who talked me into applying for a job and later talked me into taking a position writing about accessibility for their blog.

It’s been great for my confidence to have such a respected team value my knowledge, experience, thoughts, and opinions on accessibility.

Perfect Timing From WP

So, I’m trying to decide whether to listen to my friends and accept yet another new occupation as accessibility expert or advisor.

And I run across this call for speakers for the WordPress Accessibility Day event.

It was going to be a virtual event, and there was even the promise that we might all make a little money from appearing.

I thought if I am going to do this, I am going to do it my way.

So, I pitched them on the idea that accessibility is going to have to be a partnership. We are going to have to communicate and collaborate in order to accomplish such a huge task.

And they said yes!

Creating My Talk

Of course, that meant I had to prepare a talk I have never given before.

At first, I was nervous thinking what the heck did I get myself in to.

But then I remembered one of my favorite quotes.

In Star Wars Yoda tells Luke “There is no big or small, there only is.”

Once I thought about it, I realized that I had spoken about these issues many times before on podcast interviews or during friendly conversations.

I just had to take my beliefs, knowledge, and experience and organize them into a coherent talk.

And that’s what I did.

In a future post you will hear about a second accessibility talk for the school kids on the Nepris platform.

In that one I focused on careers in accessibility and inclusion and what kinds of skills the students should be gaining to be part of that future.

As I write this I am reminded of attending the Word Camp event in New York City in 2018.

I sat through a talk on accessibility, and I thought wow there is so much technical stuff that goes into properly preparing people to make their websites accessible.

It’s probably why I was reluctant to see myself as an expert in this field.

it’s rewarding to see how I have come full circle.

Embracing My Expert Status

If you want some advice on making your website more accessible, I’d love to talk.

If you are open to articles in your magazine or posts for you blog on the subject; I’m interested.

And if you have a group or event needing a speaker who will talk about accessibility without making your attendees feel bad; then I’m your man.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this takes me now that I’ve decided to climb on for the ride.

Now To You

Are there things you have been thinking of trying but haven’t out of feeling of inadequacy?

Are there areas of work your friends have suggested, but you don’t feel fully qualified?

Would love to hear your stories of overcoming those negative voices in your head and moving on to something new, different, fun, and challenging.

Thanks and take care out there, Max