Inclusive Design, Open Source and Life.
The year ticked over to 2026, and one newer constant has carried through for me: Playing guitar. Yes, 2025 turned into a doozy for me, like many of you. Working in government last year meant dealing with a lot of changes and lack of information all at once. But I’m thankful to have a job and one that matters. My mom suffered a stroke, but has recovered quicker than we thought. I’m thankful she’s…
A decade ago , I started a newsletter called Accessibility Weekly to help people learn about web accessibility. It continues, and I sent out the 478th issue on December 15, 2025. I’d call that a success. It may be one of the most impactful things I’ve made during my career. Ten years on the web is ancient. After starting Accessibility Weekly, I struggled to keep it weekly. I couldn’t pivot because…
In my last post on the same topic , I touched on many soft skills that a designer should know working in accessibility. If you want to go deeper on foundational aspects of accessibility for a designer, start here. Working in accessibility means you’re diving into one of the most complex, challenging spaces for a designer. Buckle up. Design with Disabled People I made a glaring omission in the last…
I want you to be a good link. You have a site that: provides useful information in whatever topic you’re writing about. What’s useful can change, depending on the site or its goal, but aim for accuracy. brings a perspective to your readers. Tell me a story with a point of view. Demonstrate how you’re changing as you learn something new or go through your life. lives at its own domain. Sites die or…
Someone asked me recently what skills a designer needs. Since I work in the accessibility space, I started thinking about how the question translates to designers who tackle accessibility every day. Here’s what I came up with that covers both designers and accessibility designers. Each skill builds on the previous one. For any designer: Be Curious A designer solves problems. To do that, you need…
Over the years, family members and friends learned something that put a big smile on my face. Buying me a Jeep Wrangler. I got a few of them. Except these weren’t real-life Jeep Wranglers. One friend gave me a Hot Wheels version. A few years ago, my family gifted me a Lego version for the holidays. I even bought myself a photo of a vintage Wrangler. I get it. Wranglers are expensive and…
Offer someone kind words and they might feel better or move in a positive direction. That’s all it takes. A few words of encouragement makes them feel seen, appreciated or even courageous. One example from my professional life: Launching Accessibility Weekly and turning it into a regular newsletter. When I posted about the possibility on Twitter years ago , Marcy Sutton Todd, a frontend engineer I…
Kettlebells appeal to me because of their simplicity and scalability. They take up little space and you can do easy or grueling workouts with them. They limit you to functional movements that mimic ones you’d do in life. More importantly for me, I’ve stuck with kettlebells for more than a year and my health and fitness has improved. I first started using kettlebells in 2018 after purchasing Simple…
Every year we find out basic accessibility errors litter the web . Many companies, product managers, designers and engineers say they want to release accessible work, but their choices prove otherwise. Some of that comes down to ableism and the rest tracks back to priorities. Luke Plant made a similar argument about simplicity in web development . I haven’t been able to get the post out of my head…
No one has nailed the minimal blogging platform yet. A few recent entires have sprung up, and I’m watching the space to see how they develop. I can’t help it, as I love seeing how web publishing tools evolve. It takes a lot to make an easy website possible . I appreciate the speed, simplicity and customizability of static site generators, but miss typing into a simple text editor on the web. I…