A year ago, I joined a team mid-transformation. The focus was clear: revamp the app, deliver features, hit targets. Accessibility hadn't made the priority list yet, and most of us didn't know how to approach it. Then the European Accessibility Act 2025 became very real, very fast. With two of our three apps being EU-based, the business urgency was obvious: avoid potential fines for non-compliance. For me, it was the opportunity to bring the team on an accessibility journey together.
But here's the challenge: I was new, hadn't built relationships yet, and wasn't hired to push accessibility. Filing bugs and being the "accessibility police" would have damaged trust before I'd earned it.
So I took a different approach. I worked with developers, designers, product owners, and QEs to build an integrated accessibility framework: checkpoints, tools, and collaborative practices that fit how we actually work, not how some outdated ideal process says we should.
We've come a long way fast: from a standing start to proactive progress. Accessibility is now embedded across our development lifecycle, and the team owns it alongside me instead of seeing it as "that QE thing."
Want to know how we did it without burning bridges or slowing delivery? Come hear the honest story of transforming accessibility culture in a team that had 12 months to get it right!