WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: How do you make a someone understand the necessity of accessibility?

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From: Shawn Henry
Date: Jun 11, 2013 10:57AM

Nice to get different perspectives on this. It would be great to have them in one place, rather than various e-mail threads.

Would you consider adding your perspectives to the WAI-Engage wiki page on promoting web accessibility at:
<http://www.w3.org/community/wai-engage/wiki/Promoting_web_accessibility>;

WAI-Engage is a W3C Community Group. Anyone can join the group and edit the wiki. Info at: <http://www.w3.org/community/wai-engage/>;
If you have any questions about joining the group or the editing wiki, please call me or e-mail me directly.

Thanks!
~Shawn
http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/


On 6/11/2013 10:55 AM, Tim Harshbarger wrote:
> Give me a lever and a place to stand and I'll move the world.
>
> You all offer great ideas for persuading others to take accessibility seriously. I did notice a couple common themes.
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> First, it sounds like you all found the right lever or motivation to persuade the other person. Second, your standing, your relationship to the people you wanted to convince helped make the lever more effective--sometimes it is easier to convince people if they see you as a colleague and other times it can be easier if they see you as an accessibility professional.
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> My thought is that, if you want to convince people to take accessibility seriously, start by understanding them as well as work to develop the most effective relationship possible for the situation. And if you fail to move them, take a breather and then try to figure out why your persuasion did not work.
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> Persuading people to take accessibility seriously is a major decision. You are most likely asking them to make a commitment to changing how they work and think. That takes a lot of effort, so it might take a lot of persuasion.
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