Our Chief Weapon Is Governance: Digital Accessibility at University Scale

Val Trullinger

Accessibility programs look tidy on a slide. From the front line, it's a Monty Python sketch: just when you think you've got it handled, something bursts through the door that nobody expected.

Our chief weapon is governance. Governance and platform. Our two chief weapons are governance and platform... and a team that actually ships the fixes. Amongst our weapons:
 

  • Governance: turning UC policy into standards and ownership people can act on.
  • Platform: building accessibility into the distribution so every site inherits it.
  • People: leading a team through fixing its own code while supporting everyone else's.

I play two roles in this sketch. As co-lead of the program team for UCLA's Digital Accessibility Steering Committee, I help put campus standards into practice across 1000+ websites. As manager of the team behind SiteDen, UCLA's Drupal distribution, I'm also first in line to meet them, in our own code, on our own sites, on deadline.

You'll leave with a view from both sides of the table: how to set standards that survive contact with real code, and how to lead a team through the surprises. No comfy chairs or soft cushions required.