Accessibility is something we all need to address – and for most of us, we’re already behind.
Ever opened the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)? Tried to make sense of it? If yes, let me ask you this: Did you find it confusing and overwhelming?

Don’t worry – you’re not alone! We’ve been there, struggling to figure out where to begin, how to test our software, and how to prioritize what felt like 1000 new tests.

We got help from an A11y consultancy. They had been working with WCAG for 10 years and still didn’t fully understand it. Instead of teaching us the wording of the guideline, they gave us a simple, four-rule checklist to kick-start our A11y testing. They told us that if we follow this checklist, we will discover 80-90% of all A11y issues.

From the checklist we created a gap analysis and oh my, were we surprised!  We uncovered tangible issues, like contrast problems, text disappearing when enlarged, and content that wasn´t read aloud by a screen reader. More interestingly with these “new glasses,” we found inconveniences that would make our solution hard to use for anyone who doesn’t share our assumptions and biases. These are interesting because fixing these issues will make the solution much better for everyone.

We realized that the checklist was a game-changer, and I want to share how we got started – along with concrete examples of our findings – so you’ll know how to begin your own journey and won’t drown in guidelines and standards like we almost did.

Main statement: A11y isn’t just about inclusivity; it’s about creating better solutions for everyone. Let’s make it manageable together!

I have been working with QA since 2007 and even though I tried to sneak away from the role, I always end up back in it. My heart truly beats for creating good quality products for our end-users. Quality in the broadest sense, from cradle to grave.

I have worked in waterfall-, agile- and SAFe projects in many QA roles with test execution, test design, test automation, test process/strategy, and test management. In my current role as Lead QA, I use my experience from all these roles as well as my time as a project manager with people responsibility.

My QA philosophy is that “it’s all about the people!”. This goes in all directions from QA professionals to end-users.

Fun fact: I am genuinely addicted to salty licorice with ammonium chloride.