Too many teams rely on one passionate person to carry the work. They fight. They educate. They chase tickets. They rewrite the same guidance in ten different places. And then, eventually…they burn out.
Culture change can’t depend on a single champion. It needs systems, habits, and expectations that make accessibility part of how work gets done, not a side hustle for whoever cares the most.
Don’t make it one person’s job to care
You probably know who it is already. The one who always catches the issues. The one who rewrites the link text, reminds everyone about contrast, flags the forms, and logs the tickets nobody asked for.
That person might be you.
When accessibility depends on one person – one voice – it’s not a culture. It’s a risk. Because the moment that person gets sick, burned out, or moves on, the work stalls. Worse, the team tells themselves it’s fine, because they always catch that stuff anyway.
Accessibility isn’t a personality trait. It’s not a “passion project.” It’s a shared responsibility. So spread it out. Make it part of QA. Add it to retros. Give people time to care.
And when someone new flags a problem? That means they noticed. They spoke up. Listen to them. (And fix it.) That’s what progress looks like.
Accessibility isn’t extra. It’s embedded.
Stop treating accessibility like a bonus task.
If it’s not in the sprint, it won’t get done.
If it’s not in the definition of “done,” it won’t be tested.
If it’s not in the backlog, it doesn’t exist.
Accessibility needs to show up in your workflows, not just in your values. Give it a ticket. Assign it an owner. Make it visible.
Create a rhythm, not a rescue mission.
You don’t need a full-day workshop to start building culture. You just need something that repeats.
Try this: set a meeting to block off one hour a week in the calendar. Spend the first ten minutes sharing something small, like an accessibility tip, a bug that taught you something, or a question someone asked. Then use the rest of the time to work on real stuff. Fix a contrast issue. Clean up form labels. Check your headings.
One hour a week, every week.
That’s not a sprint.
That’s a drumbeat.
Time is the real budget.
Most teams don’t reject accessibility out loud. They just say: “We don’t have time.”
But you’ll spend more time fixing it later. Or fielding angry support tickets. Or dealing with legal panic. Or rebuilding broken trust.
Give accessibility time now, or you’ll pay for it later, with interest. Make it part of your estimates. Scope it like it matters – because it does.
Make it safe to care.
Culture doesn’t grow in fear. It grows in safety.
Make room for people to say “I don’t know.” Encourage questions. Share resources. Let people try, fail, and try again – without shame. Recognize progress, even when it’s small.
The first time someone builds a component that passes color contrast without being asked? That’s a win. The first time someone rewrites link text because “it just felt wrong”? That’s a win, too.
Don’t wait for perfect. Celebrate momentum.
You’re building habits, not just features.
The kind that shape what gets fixed, what gets flagged, and what gets quietly ignored.
Culture doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from what you prioritize. From what you repeat. And from how you treat the people doing the work.