Strategy Accessibility is a Team Effort! Don’t Put it all on One Person’s Shoulders Elizabeth Holloway Strategy 6 mins read May 12, 2025 Blog Strategy Accessibility is a Team Effort! Don’t Put it all on One Person’s Shoulders Accessibility is a Team Effort! Don't Put is all on One Person's Shoulders - Table of Contents Why the lone champion model fails Accessibility succeeds when it’s baked in, not bolted on 5 ways to start building your accessibility culture What happens when you get this right What’s the takeaway? Share This Article Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email May is a big month for accessibility awareness. From Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on the 16th to AccessAbility Week during the last week of May, this is an important time to take stock of your business’s accessibility practices. Something that we wanted to touch on is the unfortunate tendency many companies fall into by appointing one singular person to be responsible for company-wide accessibility initiatives. The reality is that accessibility isn’t a one-and-done accommodation, it’s something that takes on-going, collaborative work. But there is a better way to approach creating a more equitable and inclusive brand. So, let’s talk about it. Why the lone champion model fails Appointing an accessibility advocate sounds like a good idea on paper. You’ve got someone who will make it their mission to ensure projects meet accessibility standards. In practice, this role often lacks the authority, resources, or cross-team support needed to drive systemic change. Over time, advocacy gets reduced to “reminders” during project reviews, or to friction when last-minute fixes are flagged without time or budget to implement them properly. Eventually, this leads to burnout because even with the best intentions, siloed ownership results in missed or inconsistent implementation. One page meets contrast ratios, another doesn’t. Buttons are accessible on new features but not legacy ones. And while the website might pass automated scans, the experience still falls short for real users. This patchwork approach leaves organizations exposed—not just to legal risks under AODA or ADA, but to reputational harm among the very audiences they aim to serve. Without shared standards embedded across content, design, and development workflows, accessibility becomes a reactive task instead of a proactive value. Accessibility succeeds when it’s baked in, not bolted on Creating a true culture of accessibility starts when you move away from the idea of inclusion as an add-on and instead treat it as the default. When everyone on your team, from content strategist to developers, understands that accessibility impacts every user, not just those with visible disabilities, inclusion becomes part of how they define quality. Here’s the important part: that change in mindset only happens when there are structures in place to support it. That means setting shared standards that are documented clearly and applied across platforms, and above all, making sure everyone knows what they own. Designers own contrast and motion; writers own alt text and clarity; developers own keyboard nav and semantic markup. No one’s left guessing. 5 ways to start building your accessibility culture Creating a culture of accessibility doesn’t require a massive overhaul—it starts with intentional, incremental changes that compound over time. We’re put together five practical steps any digital team can take, regardless of size or budget. It’s about making inclusion part of the everyday, not a separate initiative that only gets attention when a deadline or lawsuit looms. 1. Set shared standards Start by establishing clear, internal accessibility guidelines that everyone can follow. Centralize them in a living document with real-world examples, colour contrast ratios, form patterns, and writing checklists. This isn’t about perfection, it’s about creating a single source of truth that reflects your organization’s commitment and gives your team a consistent foundation to build from. 2. Train teams where they are Accessibility looks different depending on your role. Developers need to know how to write semantic HTML and ensure keyboard navigation. Designers should understand font sizing, colour spacing, and how to reduce motion for sensitive users. Content creators are responsible for things like alt text, clear link language, and plain writing. Tailor your training accordingly: short, practical, and relevant beats a one-size-fits-all workshop every time. 3. Embed accessibility into existing processes Rather than reinventing your workflow, thread accessibility into what’s already working. Add prompts to your design review template. Include a quick accessibility pass in QA or pre-publish checklists. Use free tools like Axe or WAVE during staging. This turns accessibility from a reactive fix into a proactive habit. 4. Celebrate and reward inclusive work Recognition fuels culture. Highlight wins in team meetings, create an #accessibility-wins chat channel, or gamify efforts with digital badges. When people feel seen for doing the right thing, they’ll keep doing it, and inspire others to do the same. 5. Start small, but start now No need to tackle your entire website. Choose one high-traffic asset: your homepage, donation form, or blog template. Audit it. Fix one barrier. Document the improvement. Then share it with your team as proof that progress is possible. Culture doesn’t shift with one big project, it builds through small wins, repeated often. What happens when you get this right When accessibility becomes a shared responsibility and stops being an afterthought, you avoid the last minute scramble during QA to fix preventable problems. Instead, handoffs between teams become smoother because expectations are aligned from the start. Designers anticipate what developers need. Writers know the constraints of screen readers. And accessibility is built in from the very first wireframe. The impact goes beyond operations. When your digital experiences are inclusive by design, users with disabilities notice, and trust you more. That trust deepens engagement and builds long-term loyalty, especially in communities that have historically been excluded online. Internally, it signals something bigger: that your organization’s values aren’t just words on a wall. You’re walking the talk on DEI by ensuring your digital spaces reflect the inclusion you strive for in every other part of your work. What’s the takeaway? Accessibility isn’t a checkbox, and it’s certainly not a one-person job. It’s a shared responsibility that works best when everyone understands their role, has the right tools, and follows consistent standards. The best part is, you don’t need to overhaul everything at once. Start with one small improvement, then build from there. When accessibility is part of how your team works, not an afterthought or a one-off, it becomes second nature. And that’s when real, lasting inclusion begins. 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