Maybe I don't quite hate it all, but I do hate talking with managers, marketing people, people not in web development about accessibility issues on websites because, usually, the conversations always go something like this.
Me. This complaint checks out. You need to do this and that and this to make it accessible.
Manager. But why isn't our accessible AI tool working?
Me. Because AI doesn’t understand your website and it won’t work anyway if someone is on a shit connection and the javascript won’t load.
Marketer. But then maybe the person needs to upgrade their internet.
Manager. Maybe the screen reader’s broken. Have they added AI to screen readers yet? That will fix everything. why doesn’t NVDA have AI yet? If NVDA had AI, we wouldn't need to worry about this.
Marketer. Did you try tabbing? I noticed you weren't tabbing at all, did you try that?
Me, internally. That's fucking it! You all deserve to be sued.
Today was the first day I thought about turning to the accessibility dark side and actually just becoming a plaintif in all these ADA lawsuits, because this level of, our website isn't the problem, when it clearly is, is getting on my last fucking nerves.
It's always managers and marketing people that are the first to ask, well, why doesn’t JAWS have AI yet? Why doesn’t NVDA just compensate for our shit web design?
Oh don't get me wrong, developers and I have had our share of, why do I need to use HTML? That's so 1980! Battles. You know, HTML can label a button, you don't need to use ARIA for that. Developer. But ARIA is richer! HTML is boomer technology!
Me, screaming internally. I hate you all!
But I'm getting more and more of these kinds of clients and so, like, I can fully understand why you'd join these law firms as a plaintiff and just going to town with demand letters and such, because this shit is maddening!
The best accessibility conversations I've had have been with developers. Not all the time, but more than not, they get it more than the dipshits in marketing and management.
My other alternative is I think everyone in marketing needs to take a mandatory web development class, and pass, and have a certificate.
#Accessibility #Rant #A11y
