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Accessibility & AI Day • Aug 26, 2025

Shift Left On Accessibility - Geri Reid

Geri Reid

Geri Reid proves that accessibility doesn't kill sprints—surprise accessibility does. Learn to shift left, embed inclusivity early, and break the cycle of expensive post-release remediation.

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#1 about 5 min

Financial and organizational costs of late stage accessibility testing

Relying on post-release accessibility audits creates expensive friction for agile teams.

#2 about 3 min

Cognitive biases that block accessibility in product planning

Team leaders often deprioritize accessibility due to framing effects and loss aversion.

#3 about 3 min

Adopting technical benchmarks and language models during sprint planning

Agreeing on a baseline standard and prompting language models helps overcome initial knowledge gaps.

#4 about 3 min

Moving beyond traditional business metrics to measure accessibility value

The true return on investment for inclusivity encompasses brand reputation and legal risk mitigation.

#5 about 3 min

Generating proactive accessibility acceptance criteria to unblock sprint development

Writing inclusion criteria during planning prevents surprise technical blockers just before shipping.

#6 about 7 min

Querying legal frameworks like the European Accessibility Act using AI

Organizations operating in European jurisdictions face enforcement penalties for neglecting digital inclusivity mandates.

#7 about 4 min

Creating automated color ramps and foundational tokens for accessible designs

Defining contrast stops at the system level makes accessible color palette choices automatic.

#8 about 4 min

Annotating design inputs to capture frontend developer accessibility requirements

Training designers to specify semantic roles and focus orders eliminates guesswork during development.

#9 about 5 min

Defining engineering readiness criteria using mandatory frontend accessibility inputs

Developers need explicit instructions on zoom reflow, keyboard state, and reduced motion before beginning implementation.

#10 about 3 min

Combining automated frontend linting with basic manual accessibility checks

Automated coverage tracking must be supplemented with a basic keyboard and screen reader verification.

#11 about 2 min

Making digital accessibility a shared responsibility across agile product teams

Implementing small process checks ensures product usability does not fall completely on specialist engineers.

Matching moments

1:23 min

Integrating robust accessibility practices into agile development workflows

Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

1:48 min

Distributing accessibility responsibilities across the product teams

Konstantin Tieber · WWC 2022

4:30 min

Addressing web accessibility challenges in development teams

Anuradha Kumari · WWC 2023

5:27 min

Integrating accessibility early in the software development lifecycle

Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

1:17 min

Treating accessibility as a collaborative product team effort

Emma Dawson Emma Dawson · WWC 2025

3:46 min

Business case for shifting accessibility to the left

Dirk Ginader · LIVE

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