Tag: criticism

I’ve been in the tech industry for over two decades. I’ve worked with Java, PHP, Ruby, JavaScript. I have really strong HTML and CSS skills. I know accessibility and how to manage an accessibility program. I talk weekly with executives and attorneys about their legal risks under ADA, EAA, Section 508, and other standards. I guide them on how to make their program robust to mitigate future legal action. And I’m wrong. Often. And I’m willing to admit it every time.

We are human, we make mistakes

You will make a mistake. Hopefully it is small. But no matter what, it is OK to make mistakes. What matters is how you respond to your mistake. Take ownership. Review your thinking to see what you missed. If you can’t figure it out easily, ask for help.

Sometimes the only way to learn something is to fail at it first, or for the 10,000 time. If you fail, own it and work it out. Feel free to fail.

I am not an expert

I’m highly trained. I’m highly observant. I think outside the box. Throw whatever corps-speak you want my way, I don’t care. I learn something every day or I try to. The number of things I don’t know about in the accessibility space is tremendous. I’m not a writer, so I’m still learning about content creation. I’m trying to expand my knowledge and I’m sure I’ll never understand it all. And this is good. It drives me. It gives me space to fail. So when I do fail, I can learn, fix, and grow. And the more work you do, the less you will fail in that field.

Don’t believe the experts

If someone claims to be an expert and knows all the the things, make a tinfoil hat. This person may be highly skilled, but they have a superiority issue and will be hard to work with. They have hardened opinions on techniques. Even if the best advice has moved on, they stick to the old approaches. You have valid questions and ideas. Changing the “expert’s” mind will be challenging if your ideas and feedback challenges their idea of perfect. They will be less willing to look at new research. They’ll take offense to your opinion and suggestions.

How to challenge someone

This isn’t mine, I just learned it Thursday night and love it. Thank Kai Wong for it. The first thing is not call someone out. You call them in. If you see someone make a mistake, take them to the side and let them know. Give them the chance to fix it.

But there are some places we don’t get to call them in. Some platforms have a code of conduct that only allows direct, private messages if you get permission publicly first. In those cases, you may have to call them out.

Like I was the other day. I made a mistake and left part of my thinking out of a response. Someone else in the community asked for clarification. This made me revisit the comment. Turns out they were right. I made a mistake. I admitted it, corrected my meaning and thanked them for challenging me.

Time to get back to work

Keep learning. Challenge the experts. Your input and feedback is important to grow this community. It enhances our understanding of standards. It helps us know where to create new standards and when to throw others out.

Have comments or thoughts on this post, let’s talk about it on LinkedIn or BlueSky.