Accessibility experts are farmers, not manure shovelers
As an accessibility subject matter expert (SME) watching another Global Accessibility Awareness Day come and go, sometimes I feel like a manure shoveler. No matter how carefully I shovel (or test), it will always stink. Instead, as SMEs we must remember to be farmers. With patient perseverance, we sow the seeds and nurture the cycles of life – or the lifecycles of digital products. Actually, many analogies are apt... the accessibility job most days :: the accessibility job as it should be manure shoveler :: farmer cop (traditionally gaining respect through fear) :: firefighter (traditionally gaining respect through protection) factory worker :: global logistics consultant number cruncher :: polymath heart surgeon :: nutritionist No analogy is perfect. In reality the manure will always need shoveling, the factory will need greasing, numbers will need crunching, and digital products will need auditing. The power of these analogies is to remind us that the left side is just a ...