Sounds like we have a research project in our future @debraruh.bsky.social ! #AXSchat

Thank you for including me. Happy to come back and chat anytime! #AXSchat

Thank you for the opportunity to join this conversation, and for this great resource you've created! #AXSchat

I am so grateful to the accessibility community. Our research at Forrester is strong thanks to the willingness of those leading accessibility work in organizations. Thanks to all that have been willing to speak with me and share your insights, learnings, and best practices. #AXSchat

I would also love to do research that correlates an organization's level of accessibility maturity (as measured by a maturity framework) with the accessibility of its products. And also to gather more benchmark data around the maturity of different industry verticals. #AXSchat

A6 I’d love to prove how including people with disabilities in all phases of product design improves business results. Case studies exist, but to quantify why this is the critical ingredient will prompt more orgs to invest in hiring and doing research with people with disabilities. #AXSChat

Accessibility Is Getting Its GDPR Moment Most development shops think about accessibility later in the development process. Get three tips on how to improve accessibility testing.

On that topic, my colleague, analyst Chris Condo, and I wrote a blog recently comparing what needs to happen with accessibility to DevSecOps #AXSchat

I often use the persona spectrum visual from Microsoft's inclusive design toolkit to illustrate how everyone benefits from an accessible experience #AXSChat

A5 I like to pair data with human impact stories. For example, I’ll help leaders understand the number of people actually impacted by accessibility (more than they think) and then share stories of customers and employees who have been shut out because their products aren’t accessible today. #AXSChat

Love it! I've learned a new word today. #AXSchat

100%. AI will help transform the overall state of digital accessibility. Responsible design of AI-powered features will be key and transparent messaging around what AI can and cannot do.

I keep a pulse on what’s happening by attending vendor briefings, interviewing accessibility experts, attending analyst events, following the community on LinkedIn, and of course listening to podcasts like @AXSchat! #AXSchat

A4 Some tech companies are very strong – they embed accessibility features in their products and include people with disabilities in their process. Others are not. We still see a significant gap between commitment and action in many organizations. #AXSChat

I get excited about some of the new design tools that suggestion remediations that align to the company's design system. They help designers get to a more accessible design choice faster. #AXSchat

Blog link is here: www.forrester.com/blogs/author...

We have other analysts at Forrester thinking about accessibility in the context of their coverage areas - it's not just me! Listeners can follow my blog on the Forrester site. I have some recent posts co-authored with analysts that cover development and that cover voice of the customer. #AXSchat

A3 (1) It helps buyers create a shortlist of vendors in a particular market that meet a minimum bar for accessibility. (2) Including accessibility as a criterion puts pressure on the vendors to do better. Buyers and analyst firms asking more questions about accessibility drives real change. #AXSChat

I love talking about accessibility as a dimension of quality. It's not a quality experience if it's not effective, easy to use, emotionally positive, and accessible. #AXSChat

From Compliance to Advantage: The Hidden ROI of Accessibility What happens when accessibility transcends from a legal obligation to a strategic business advantage? That's exactly what Gina Bhawalkar, Principal Analyst…

What happens when accessibility transcends from a legal obligation to a strategic business advantage? This week on #AXSChat, we talk with @ginabhawalkar.bsky.social, Principal Analyst for Digital Accessibility at Forrester, about the evolving digital accessibility landscape
vimeo.com/1081454634?s...

So well put, @debraruh.bsky.social. A recent Forrester survey we ran found that less than a third of design teams working on accessibility include people with disabilities in design research. That needs to change.

I have high hopes too. I'm heading to Figma's user conference #Config tommorrow and am excited to talk to a lot of designers and get a pulse on what they're doing to ensure accessibility.

A2: There are a lot of great, free, plug-ins for Figma that enable designers to test their work, add accessibility annotations for developers, and more. Many design teams I speak to for my research are using these. I'd love to see more doing user testing with people with disabilities too #AXSChat

A2 Based on my research, yes. The design community is particularly passionate about accessibility. The design team is often the team championing acessibility in an organization. Design software vendors such as Figma have stepped up their efforts recently but can do even more. #AXSChat

A1: During grad school I conducted usability tests with people with disabilities at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. I tested consumer packaged goods, printers, websites, you name it. It opened by eyes to how poorly designed most products are, and I wanted to be part of changing that. #AXSChat

Hi everyone! Excited to be the guest on this week's #AXSChat. I'm joining from San Francisco, California. Looking forward to this conversation.