Design team's advocate for Web team's efforts to improve accessibility

Advocacy

Initiated kick-off meeting between Design/Product/Engineering to represent our clients who have articulated their need for a more accessible interface
Showed scenarios of how clients would interact with our product across web+mobile platforms to increase empathy
Provided reading and design resources (e.g. Stark) for the group to continue engaging and designing more holistically

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/6869d299-7877-4e0a-a3d9-20667841e927/DesignProductAccessibility.pdf

Impact

Web team finished ~90% of their intended tasks to improve accessibility
- Personnel turnover and life events prevented full completion
- Still considered a company-level success
Design team did not tangibly follow-through with accessible designs
- Not a high priority given how fast products and features were being built at that time
- Resources provided to leadership were not acted on
- Possibly: perception that respective engineering teams have already leveraged their platform's accessibility functionality in their testing, so they would advise if designs were not accessible
- If done differently:
  - Accessibility should've been more tightly integrated into the Pattern Library System group meetings where it would have the most sustained impact via a regular cross-functional dialogue
  - Additionally: continuing the conversation during weekly Design team meetings so that strategies for designing for accessibility have more grassroots-level buy-in