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Re: is digital accessibility the right path for me?

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From: Christine Hogenkamp
Date: Dec 5, 2023 11:07AM

Hi Victoria,

You have my sympathies trying to get into accessibility testing because it
can become complicated quite quickly, and some of the tech aspects are
difficult to avoid because it's precisely the tech that can be causing a
lot of problems, i.e. a conflict between browser and operating system, or a
particular assistive tech app has bugs unique to that app that we've just
learned to work around, etc. It does help to have a particular aptitude for
problem-solving in relation to computers, which not everyone has.

What caught my eye about your question is that you mentioned that you
thought you could do testing as a "passive" income, I assume you had a
thought that it would be a "no-brainer" type of job where you just had to
test a bunch of websites by going through them with a screen reader, which
on the surface sounds simple enough. But I can speak from my own
experiences trying to learn how to use different screen readers, even just
using a screen reader when you don't use one regularly can be a tall
order. And I've read enough forum posts for regular screen reader users to
see they too can run into problems with getting a screen reader to interact
with certain elements or the announcement wasn't what they expected. It's
something that people just learn to deal with and persist with, especially
if you are using that screen reader software to help you use your computer
or go on the Internet. In some ways, we all struggle the same way to get
computers to do what we want them to do, everyone has that struggle! LOL

I think what might be missing from your skill set isn't the technical
abilities but that drive to try to learn how to find and fix these
problems, for a lot of us on this mailing list, we are here because we are
driven to try to come up with solutions or improvements, for me it's
definitely not in my nature to notice a problem and NOT want to solve it.
To me, it sounds like your passions lie elsewhere in a different area of
problem-solving, in terms of being a sexual health and wellness coach.
Without that drive to keep you going on a path towards improving your
accessibility user testing skills, I do think the challenges can feel far
more daunting and harder to overcome without motivation.

If you ARE passionate but more about the social issues of accessibility,
rather than technical problem solving, there may still be a place for you
to act as an advocate for implementing change in workplaces and other group
settings. But that would be a commitment in its own way as large as doin
the technical work, as trying to change people's minds and bring them
around to incorporating accessibility into their daily practices is just as
laborious, in its own way.

But accessibility work is definitely not the kind of work where you can
just log on and turn your brain off to churn out results for a paycheck,
it's usually at minimum highly contextual work that requires your full
attention.

Goodluck!

*x*
*Christine Hogenkamp (She, Her)*
Front-end Developer
Context Creative – a Mod Op company
416.972.1439 | contextcreative.com


On Mon, Dec 4, 2023 at 2:00 PM < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Victoria Chan < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> To: < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2023 09:20:24 -0500
> Subject: [WebAIM] is digital accessibility the right path for me?
> Hi there.
>
> Could someone be honest with me and tell me if I'm trying to fit a square
> peg into a round hole? I think I need a reality check and some help
> contemplating life. LOL
>
> For those of you who work in the digital accessibility field, is it
> important to have a background in web design and development?
>
> I've been trying to freelance as a digital accessibility consultant for the
> last year, but I'm not sure if this is working for me. I thought my
> personal
> experience and the courses that I took through Deque University were
> enough,
> but after talking to some people who have worked in digital accessibility
> for some time, I recognize that I don't have the knowledge and skills that
> is needed in order to perform proper accessibility audits and
> implementation. I have never been tech savvy to begin with. I mean I can
> easily tell if a platform is accessible based on my own personal needs and
> experiences with screen readers, but I could not for the life of me explain
> the problem, nor could I offer a solution. If you asked me a question about
> html and css, I would be totally lost. I honestly don't remember much from
> the Deque University courses, other than how different screen readers work.
> I also tried to take the section 508 trusted tester certification course
> through DHS, but I was completely out of my element and found it way too
> overwhelming, thus I was unable to complete the program. My friend's
> brother
> who is a business coach suggested that perhaps I could go on Upwork and try
> to find somebody who knows how to implement accessibility, and I have
> actually looked into it, but still... If I'm being completely honest with
> myself, a tech career is not for me. I just needed something to tie me over
> so that I could generate some passive income while studying to pursue my
> dream career as a certified sexual health and wellness coach. What are
> y'all's thoughts? I will admit that my decision to freelance as a digital
> accessibility consultant was rather impulsive. I went into this with the
> mindset that I'd be able to make money quickly as I've had a hard time
> finding steady employment.
>
> Thanks
> Victoria
>
>