Accessibility is teamwork!

It is time: The German Accessibility Improvement Act (Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz or BFSG) is in force. Accessibility in digital spaces is thus gaining in importance - especially for private companies - and increasingly common in work and project environments. Rightly so! But who is responsible for (digital) accessibility within a company? Is it enough to hire an expert and strike the topic off a checklist?

Imagining an inclusive future together

Even if one could find that person who combines all knowledge on accessibility, resting such an important topic on just one set of shoulders can be disastrous. Everyone else will come to rely on their expertise and not give any of it a second thought; the expert, on the other hand, will have to constantly explain and highlight the rules of a more inclusive working world, which poses a Sisyphean task.

Thinking in silos should be avoided. As with any other specialization, there are countless subtopics and areas of expertise in the accessibility field waiting to be discovered and applied! A broadly skilled, interdisciplinary team is needed to tackle this challenge.

Introducing: Our Service Unit Accessibility

We’ve had reason to set up our own task force dedicated to digital accessibility for a while. Several rounds of internal trainings on the topic had sparked momentary attention and interest. That kind of knowledge tends to stay in the heads of individuals and concentrated in the design department, however. In exchange with the whole D-LABS team, we realized the question “What is digital accessibility really about?” needs a proper answer. The more we talked about it, the more team members wanted to delve deeper on a regular basis.

We founded our Service Unit Accessibility in February 2024. As its lead, I’ve since immersed myself in the accessibility bubble and sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the things there are to read, listen to or try out in this space. So many perspectives to get to know, and tools to use! Fortunately, I have gathered a dedicated group of colleagues to spar with and stay on track with our goals. They come from our fields of expertise Digital Experience Design, User Research and Software Engineering.

Collaborative learning

The Miro board of our Service Unit has become our central touchpoint and treasure trove of knowledge on the topic. It’s a collection of information on national and international laws and guidelines, test reports, specialist tools and specific topics such as Easy Read (Leichte Sprache in German) or the WCAG criteria. Useful texts and best practices, open questions, interesting finds and valuable links have their home there as well and are thus not forgotten or misplaced when other topics are prioritized.

At the heart of our doing sit our exchange meetings, however. Accessibility thrives on sharing experiences with each other! In the beginning, we got together weekly to quickly build up a lot of knowledge, share practical experience and new aspects we hadn’t considered before, and thus derive actionable steps for ourselves and our clients. Now, our team of experts is so well-versed and implemented that a deep dive every two weeks is enough to achieve our goals. The long-term commitment is phenomenal; we rarely finish these meetings on time because there is simply so much to discuss.

Sharing knowledge

To ensure this mindset spreads across the whole D-LABS team, we reserved a slot in our team meeting for updates on this and other Service Units. There we provide sneak previews on current measures, share which topics or projects we are currently working on and report on successful implementations. Any knowledge gained is documented and presented to everyone to make it as easy to consume as possible.

We can make the digital world accessible to everyone by joining forces and creating an inclusive user experience without barriers - because accessibility is and remains teamwork!