If you have been in the accessibility digital profession for a while, I am assuming you have heard that we are making positive progress in digital accessibility. Despite this encouraging news there is still a lot that needs to be accomplished to increase accessibility and create an equitable experience for all without causing unneeded stress and medical issues for the people doing this valuable work. If a person attempts to do everything to help increase this goal by themselves, they could work 24/7 which could lead to serious health conditions .
Some people may have even said directly that these practices of pursuing digital accessibility and equity may cause serious medical conditions or even worse death by attempting to do everything themselves.
I have been told this by one person and have heard it from several others. Unfortunately, I have even witnessed a person dying from this work/life imbalance issue (although this cannot be proven).
I will not give up educating others and pursuing digital accessibility for all. When a person thinks about it, changing technology to increase equity and inclusion in concept is much easier than changing people’s thoughts and feelings about it. However in the real world we live with little time and being pressured to do more with less people unfortunately the first thing that sometimes gets lowered on the list of priorities is accessibility for digital technology. Accessibility professionals like me understand that this only compounds the problem because digital accessibility was not planned. This causes accessibility issues which the owner of the technology has to resolve and are much more complicated, time consuming and costly than If properly planned and accessibility was baked into the design and development process.
When procuring accessibility services from vendors a well-documented statement of work with a list of requirements is needed. Without these procurement requirements, goals and deliverables, whoever is managing the project of rolling out these services will more than likely have difficulty delivering services that will be beneficial to the stakeholders. The upfront work of documenting what is required needs to be done before talking with the vendor. If one does not find out what they are going to deliver, more than likely it will not turn out the way it is expected to solve the issue one is procuring the services for.
Tips To Assist at Reducing Stress and Promote Health:
- Get high level support for an accessibility program with enough resources and skilled people in it to allow it to be successful and not overwork the team.
- Avoid working 24/7 since this could lead to long term medical conditions. However, if you are like me and love your profession you might be tempted to do so.
- Do not skip the planning stages of any project when working with vendors that pertains to digital accessibility. It will compound the problem and take longer to implement and potentially result in something that is not effective and will add unneeded stress to the project team.
- Incorporate digital accessibility as early in the process as possible in the design and development phase. Include a diverse set of people in this process including people with a broad range of disabilities and those who use a variety of assistive technologies. This early planning will help avoid unpleasant user experience which can cause more stress for all involved.
- This process should also include evaluating and resolving accessibility issues with automated tools and manual evaluation using people with a broad range of disabilities using a mix of assistive technologies. This will reduce the workload than if left to just a few to do the accessibility evaluation without leveraging tools to assist.
- If giving a presentation to stakeholders or executives about goals for projects for digital accessibility take time to prepare even though some might tell you just talk off the cuff. Do not do this. Spend time crafting your message to maximize the positive outcome from your presentation. Although this will take more time this step will help to reduce stress since you have planned in advance. You will be able to deliver the message succinctly and be more relaxed. In addition you may never get another chance to talk to a potential sponsor therefore give it your best.
- Take breaks from work and take time to visit with family and friends which will reduce stress.
- Read books, listen to music, go on walks and do other things to help relax from a stressful situation which can lead to a better night’s sleep.
- I smile when I can imagine the benefits of my work and I can make another person smile since they are able to use and interact with accessible digital technology effectively which reduces my stress.
I am not a medical expert therefore my recommendations are from my own personal experience. I do, however, recommend seeing a professional if medical assistance is needed.
Does anyone have any tips to help us regarding this topic or any success stories to share? Do you have any other additional ideas regarding the critical project management skill I discussed in this area around procurement?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments. If you do have any comments, please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
X: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
Comments