Accessibility to the Face

And from my perspective, accessibility is about giving a crap.> > > > > Accessibility is NOT a checklist.> > > > > Accessibility is about usability.> > > > > Accessibility is a paradigm shift.> > > > > Accessibility is a personal issue.

via northtemple.com and @gruber

One of my very first web design jobs was when the web was young and people were still seeing gophers everywhere. I had to make a website that would be accessible for people with physical handicaps. At the time, there was no real checklist, because people didn’t have time to get around to writing one yet. So I *had* to do it by thinking about usability and placing myself into other people’s shoes, and, yes, doing lots of user testing. Some of the things we tried worked well, some didn’t. For example, I forgot all about colour blindness. Whoops.

Now that we have checklists and regulations to follow, we still need to remember that they’re meant as guides: take their advice, but don’t be limited to it.