UX designers, researchers, and content writers frequently find themselves left out of accessibility strategies that emphasize code and testing over actual user experience and best practices. Even in the best scenarios, accessibility work can still feel like it's about meeting laws and standards first and helping people actually use our products and services last. This often makes accessibility work feel brittle, reactive, and compliance-focused.

So how can we change that? Instead, we can aim to make our accessibility work everything it's usually not: sustainable, proactive, and people-focused. And a way to do that is through accessibility operations, which puts people and process in the spotlight.

In this workshop, with group discussion, journaling, sorting, and mapping exercises, you'll:

• Assess where your team or organization is in its accessibility journey
• Clearly identify real challenges to accessibility work in your organization
• Identify ways to foster a healthy, diverse accessibility community to counter those challenges
• Prioritize and operationalize next steps for your accessibility strategy

By the end of the workshop, you'll have:

• An understanding of the accessibility operations model
• Actionable next steps for creating or furthering your team's or organization's accessibility strategy
• Tools for continuing to identify needs and measure success in your accessibility work

Requirements:

• A laptop, pen and paper, or any preferred way to take notes
• A real desire for change in your accessibility strategy
• A collaborative outlook and an open mind

Worksheets, other tools for activities, and presentation slides will all be provided.