axe-con 2025: day one

It's that time of year again! Since last year resulted in a barrage of event recap articles from the three of use that attended (nine articles, whew!), this year we decided to strive for brevity and go for three articles and shorter write-ups. So you'll hear from three RDG ladies over the next few days as we collectively attend over 75% of axe-con talks! Here we go!

Combating Ableism and Driving Positive Change

Speakers:
Alice Wong, Disabled Activist, Writer, Media Maker, and Consultant
Glenda Sims, Chief Information Accessibibility Officer, Deque Systems

Summary/Insights: Ashley Helminiak

The opening keynote was certainly powerful. Alice Wong is an activist against ableism, founder of Disability Visibility Project (DVP), and has a progressive neuromuscular disability. She quoted the definition of ableism according to Talila Lewis: "A system that places value on people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, intelligence and excellence." Ableism in and of itself is a form of discrimination and oppression, and, what's more, it's built into just about every part of our society, culture, and technology.

Digital accessibility is affected by ablesim as it is still largely viewed as something special, an extra cost, a legal obligation, or something to think about after the fact, instead of being part of the process from start to finish. Alice talked about "techno-ableism," and how even if people are trying to design technology for people with disabilities, if they don't actually seek guidance and expertise from people with disabilities, they easily end up designing something that doesn't work for disabled people, and can in fact further confine them.

I definitely felt affected by her words. Not to get into today's political landscape, but it's a scary time right now. Human bias and ableism is more public and prevalent these days, and without people raising their voices, people won't get the support, protection, and justice that they deserve. We work hard at RDG to incorporate accessibility into every step of our process, but there's always more we can do!

A Solution for the Visual and Source Order Disconnect

Speaker: Rachel Andrew, Staff Technical Writer, Google

Summary/Insights: Ashley Helminiak

I actually attended a talk by Rachel at a previous axe-con, in which she spent some time warning us of the dangers of the CSS grid and flexbox. The reason? It can make the visual flow of content drastically different than the source order in the DOM. Why does that matter? Keyboard users follow the DOM, not the visual flow.

Rachel has helped out with the CSS working group to come up with new rules for the language. This talk centered around reading-flow, a proposed CSS rule for CSS4. It is not meant to replace having quality code logically laid out. Rather, it is scoped to work only with particular layout methods, such as with grid and flex. Here are some values for the new proposed reading-flow CSS rule:

• normal; The default value, which matches the order of the DOM
• flex-visual; Follows the visual flow of flex-direction property
• flex-flow; follows the DOM order within a flex container
• grid-rows; follows horizontal visual order
• grid-columns; follows vertical visual order
• grid-order; follows the "order-modified document order"

After developing the reading-flow rule, they realized that, similar to the fact that sometimes people need to change the order of a flex container, they needed to have a rule to apply to children to allow an override to the reading-flow. So another new rule for children elements is reading-order, which works much the same way as order for flex containers by declaring an integer value if the reading order for a particular element needs to be changed.

I for one think these new proposed rules are awesome. Sometimes building an accessible website means there are perceived drawbacks on design, such as masonry or fancy grid compositions. This rule would allow us build some cool responsive layouts without having to use javascript to rip the page apart and put it back together in the correct DOM order for logical reading. Or worse, to just use CSS and introduce the disconnect between source and visual order that we want to avoid. In short, Rachel and the CSS Working Group are great! Looking forward to these new rules launching and becoming well supported.

Journey from Idea to Impact: Cultivating A11yCode Champions

Speakers:
Gouri Khanvilkar, Lead Accessibility Engineer, ADP
Julia Cotton, Sr. Web Accessibility Specialist, ADP

Summary/Insights: Ashley Helminiak

This talk consisted of Gouri and Julia sharing their own journeys in the accessibility space, and relating the path to becoming a champion of accessibility to that of an expedition. In preparing for the "expedition," we can start by looking for people who already have passion and/or knowledge in the space and gathering them together. With building accessibility culture we can build influence, which in turn has a cascading affect of spreading the culture and participation.

Gouri also shared some details of their teaching methods once they gained buy-in and breadth to their accessibility program, which involved flipping the classroom method from active class with followup homework to having pre-class preparation and active learning in class. I like the idea of that myself, since it allows people to get exposure of content in advance and at their own pace, and come to class for a productive workshop with any questions they have instead of trying to master a concept at the pace of the class. The curriculum built a foundation and added complexity in later lessons, all through a helpful learning portal that assisted with hands-on exercises.

Overall, I enjoyed hearing about the organizational success of their program, though it sounded very familiar by comparison to other programs I've heard about. Now to think about how to apply it to our agency, which operates quite differently. Perhaps the first step is to investigate worthwhile accessibility courses created by others that provide value for RDG team members in their different roles.

The Future of the axe Platform

Speaker: Dylan Barrell, CTO and Author, Deque Systems

Summary/Insights: Ashley Helminiak

After a heck of an opening Deque talk, Dylan went into more detail on what's new with the axe platform during this talk. And oh my goodness, is it a lot! While previous years showcased new tools or innovations on existing tools, they were smaller and less drastic than what this year seems to be.

Dylan briefly went over the history of Deque's tools, but this time with emphasis on the way they've utilized AI thus far. This provided basis for the changes made in the last year, including:

• axe Assistant (AI assistant)
• User Flow Analysis (AI workflow analyzation)
• @axe-core watcher
• Advanced Rules

Deque's 10-year goal set in 2023 was to make 100% of accessibility development, testing and fixing that can be done with zero specialized accessibility knowledge with Deque solutions. Somehow, I missed that at previous axe-cons. It is certainly an ambitious goal, and some of the strides that Deque has made with AI, such as using it to determine what alt text should be on an image without an alt attribute (or without meaningful alt text). That sounds great, but I for one wouldn't feel comfortable trusting that AI gets it right, every time. Because images are all about context, right? The same image could have many different versions of alt text, depending on how it's being used. Just one example of how relying on automation and potentially removing human feedback from the loop could be problematic.

Do I think Deque's goal is achievable? Maybe. Do I think it's dangerous? Definitely. Having a goal of development, testing, and fixing being solely reliant on tools both takes accountability away from builders and stakeholders, but it also doesn't encourage the development community at large to learn about and keep up to date with accessibility. While these tools have great potential, they also carry great risk if we don't use them correctly. Since the technology landscape continues to grow and change, this goal is, at best, a moving target that is perhaps only achievable at a small moment in time.

Current trends at the Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Blindness and Low Vision

Speaker: Sarahelizabeth Baguhn, Research Specialist, American Foundation for the Blind

Summary/Insights: Ashley Helminiak

This talk was a great overview of a study the American Foundation for the Blind conducted to determine opportunities and challenges with AI people with disabilities faced in areas of transportation, education, employment, healthcare, and assistive technology. This involved people discussing the issues on a platform where everyone was anonymous, so that the bias of job titles or years in the field was removed. They also interviewed 32 experts to generate statements to evaluate for accuracy. Below are some of the insights that were agreed upon by the community:

Benefits of AI

• On-device text recognition is very beneficial for blind and low-vision users, and is considered more private than relying on a human reader.
• AI can improve wayfinding support and sidewalk accessibility for pedestrians (ex. why are people crossing the street for a block?)

Concerns of AI

• Mainstream AI systems aren't fully accessible for students with disabilities. Software used to teach users how to use AI also has accessibility limitations.
• Image-generating tools aren't usable to blind users, because they can't check the accuracy of the image.
• Automation carries bias just like humans, but it's more difficult to see.
• AI can show bias against people with "non-average" characteristics.
  • ex. AI may deny healthcare to people with disabilities who have unusual or complex care needs.

Key findings

• There is need for human oversight, especially in sensitive areas such as hiring, education, medical decisioning, and employer screening.
• Disability community needs to be involved development cycle of AI and AI models, as well as with acquisition and review.
• There is need for proactive regulation led by the disability community that specifically protects the rights and privacy of disabled people.
• Inclusion should be expanded in the realm of AI, not simply working to "avoid harm."

I also found their differing opinions interesting, such as how quickly autonomous vehicles will become mainstream, or how quickly AI will be widely adopted. AI could be a double-edged sword as well, benefitting some while hindering others. Overall, the call to action remains the same: AI output needs evaluation by humans, people in the disability community need a seat at the table in its development, and we need to be proactive and intentional in terms of trying to remove bias/prevent AI from learning bias.

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The State of Accessibility

Speakers:
Preety Kumar, CEO, Founder, & Board Member, Deque Systems
Dylan Barrell, CTO & Author, Deque Systems

Summary/Insights: Haley Troyer

In the second keynote of the day, Preety Kumar and Dylan Barrell boldly share Deque’s goal to achieve 100% automation and coverage in accessibility defects found in digital products in 2025. While I, personally, am hesitant to put my full trust in automation, especially so soon, the idea is certainly intriguing.

What gives them the confidence to claim that 100% success in automated testing is possible? The intersection of the European Accessibility Act and the boom in Artificial Intelligence capabilities. 

The European Accessibility Act (EAA)

The EAA will transform digital accessibility the same way that GDPR revolutionized data privacy. The impact will extend far beyond Europe (why would a company choose to maintain two versions of the same product—one accessible, and one inaccessible—for their different markets?) Companies will need to comply in order to avoid fines and reputation damage, and this, in turn, will make accessibility part of every digital product’s DNA.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI has boomed over the past year, and we’ve seen its capabilities grow exponentially. We used to be able to use it to determine if an image has alt text. Now, we can use it to verify the quality of alt text. It is freeing human experts to focus on innovation, rather than repetitive tasks.

In Preety’s words, “The EAA makes accessibility necessary. AI makes it possible.” 

Reception

During the session, the chat was blowing up with people voicing their opinions over the push for total reliance on AI. While some shared Deque’s excitement, many were concerned. Some worried about job security, others highlighted that AI is still biased, especially when it comes to people with disabilities. I will admit that I, too, found myself a bit fearful, especially after seeing these chilling statistics:

• Salesforce not hiring software developers in 2025
• 25% of code by Google is written by AI (Forbes)
• 52% of freelance designers use AI to help them design.
• 92% of US based developers use AI (Github)

No matter how we get there, I look forward to a future where accessibility compliance is the default, not an afterthought in order to avoid litigation.

Inclusive Design Patterns for 2025

Speaker:
Vitaly Friedman, Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Creative Lead, Smashing Magazine

Summary/Insights: Haley Troyer

Wow! This talk was jam packed with wonderful information. In the hopes of keeping this writeup short, I’ll just jump right into some key takeaways that Vitaly Friedman shared.

Colorblindness

300 million people have some sort of color blindness. How do we improve user interfaces for these users?

• Don’t rely on color alone to communicate information (pair it with shapes, icons, patterns, and/or labels)
• Use any 2 colors you like, as long as they vary by lightness
• Don’t design with pastel colors only
• Don’t mix red, green, and brown together
• whocanuse.com - resource for checking color combinations for various forms of color blindness

Motion Sickness

30% of people are highly susceptible to motion sickness (vestibular disorder, migraines, etc.) Here are some way to improve experience for these users:

• For scrolling interactions, ensure the orientation of the navigation matches the movement direction. (i.e. pair vertical arrows with vertical scrolling and horizontal arrows with horizontal scrolling)
• Avoid flashing images
• Add “skip” shortcuts to animated charts
• Respect reduced motion preferences
• Avoid parallax effects

Older Adults

There are over 1 billion people over 60 years old, and age-related changes to senses, cognition, and movement are unpredictable. Don’t lump these users into one giant bucket!

• Use higher contrast
• Increase size of body copy
• Use plain language
• Increase size of interactive elements
• Place error messages above inputs and avoid disappearing messages

Due to time constraints and a brief technical problem, Vitaly wasn’t able to get through the rest of his presentation, but I pulled a few takeaways for improving user experiences for neurodivergent users.

Dyscalculia

• Avoid decimals unless necessary, and simplify fractions (i.e. 14.3% vs. 1 in 7 people)
• Don’t ask to repeat/remember numbers
• Avoid countdowns/frequent lock outs
• Improve sequencing and formatting (i.e. 1 or 2 200mg tablets vs. one or two 200mg tablets)

Dyslexia

• Use images to support text
• Align text to the left and keep a consistent layout
• Provide content in other formats (audio, video, text, etc.)
• Keep content short, clear, and simple

Autism

• Use simple colors
• Write in plain language, use simple sentences and bullets
• Make buttons descriptive
• Build simple and consistent layouts

No, Seriously, F*ck Engagement - Building a More Human Web

Speaker:
David Dylan Thomas, Author of Design for Cognitive Bias

Summary/Insights: Haley Troyer

Anyone who uses social media is aware that the more shocking an image or post is, the more engagement it tends to get. Shareholders are notorious for prioritizing profits over people. They don’t typically care about the harmful effects on mental health that misinformation and hate speech can cause, as long as it drives profits.

In his talk, David Dylan Thomas calls for an end to “driving engagement” for the sake of making money. Instead, asks the question, “What if we measured engagement not by clicks, but by how many people we help?” 

He speaks about the stark differences between our “Thing-focused society” and others who focus more on connection to the land, other people, and our values. He then goes on to prove that companies can (and do) make money without exploiting users. In one example, he praised Duck Duck Go, the search engine that does not collect data from its users, for its ability to generate revenue through contextual advertising as opposed to stored personal data. 

At the end of his presentation, he suggested that we all do these three things to help move in the right direction:

• Identify your values
• Start looking at how your work gets you closer to or further away from those values
• Co-imagine the future with the people hurt by the present state of society

This talk was extremely fascinating and well put together. The way David spoke and wove is talking points kept me fully engaged (ba-dum tsss) the entire time!

Level Up Your Career: How to Become an Accessibility Unicorn

Speaker:
November Champion, Director of A11y Operations, USAA

Summary/Insights: Haley Troyer

When we think of the word “unicorn,” we typically associate it with someone who is a jack of all trades or wears many different hats. Many accessibility job postings highlight this idea, requiring applicants to possess many diverse skills including team management, UX design, development, driving culture change, testing, and more. In her talk, November Champion offers a different perspective to what makes someone a unicorn, provides actionable steps that people can take to advance their careers, and lists common gaps she sees in interviews.

Redefining the unicorn

Being a unicorn isn’t about being everything to everyone. No one can do everything, and trying to do it all will only lead to burnout. November argues that it’s about growing strategically and authentically.  Focusing on skills that align with your interests, career goals, and organizational needs will help you find balance and and increase your adaptability and marketability.

How to develop yourself

• Reflect on who you are: Identify your values, current skills, interests, and goals. Using a personality test like Clifton Strengths or DiSC can help you get started.
• Test the waters: Volunteer for cross-functional projects or shadow colleagues to gain exposure to other disciplines, and take small steps (micro-learning).
• Prioritize skill development: Focus on developing yourself in areas that align with your career goals and interests, and embrace the concept of “T-shaped” skills.
• Leverage mentorship: Find people you trust who can give you advice and help you transition into new roles.

Common skill gaps

• Lack of hands-on assistive technology testing experience
• Limited knowledge of development fundamentals (HTML/CSS/JS/ARIA)
• Weak understanding of risk and compliance management
• Inexperience with change management or project/program management
• Lack of disability awareness and/or exposure to the lived disability experience
• General influencing and leadership skills

I really appreciated November’s clear and thoughtful presentation, and I fully support the shift in the definition of the unicorn from “being everything” to developing within yourself the ability to learn, adapt, and find your authentic truth.

The Usability Gap: Why Accessibility Does Not Always Mean Usable

Speakers:
Seneca Foster, Senior Accessibility Consultant, HCLTech
Ajay Sharma, Technical Manager, HCLTech

Summary/Insights: Haley Troyer

The title says it all! In this talk, Seneca Foster and Ajay Sharma explain the difference between accessibility compliance and usability, and they show several examples of poor experiences to support their argument. One particularly eye-opening demo consisted of two large data tables. 

The first table, which was not built with usability in mind, was clearly very difficult to navigate using keyboard navigation. There were no additional keyboard strokes enabled for table navigation, which forced Ajay to press the tab key once to advance past a single cell in the table. It was easy to see how frustrating this would be to someone who uses keyboard navigation to access the web. 

The second table was specifically designed and built for assistive technologies. Instead of relying on only the tab key for navigation, Ajay was able to use the arrow keys to navigate between cells. Because of this, the tab key was freed to allow quick navigation out of the table (and back into it, remembering where he left off!) Seeing the two side-by-side really highlighted the drastic usability differences between them!

When organizations treat WCAG compliance as the end goal, they will miss critical usability issues. And if these same organizations are not involving real users with disabilities in their testing, they may never discover them. Since there are over 1 billion people in the world that have a disability, this oversight will inevitably lead to poor brand reputation, decreased market reach, and lower user satisfaction.

Cyborg Concerns & Disability Services

Speaker:
Dr. Ashley Shew, Associate Professor, Virginia Tech University

Summary/Insights: Riley Rittenhouse

I was looking forward to this session after hearing it mentioned by Alice Wong in the first keynote. Shew talked about her book Against Technoableism and how the push towards new technologies like AI, and the data collected from it can be harmful. Especially in the case of cyborgs because it places them in more vulnerable positions since they are so reliant on technology.

She shared articles about assistive technologies that were supposed to help people (cochlear implants, insulin pumps), that ultimately left the person worse off as companies no longer supported products, or the products failed after a period of time.

I really liked that she talked about how people and companies have been quickly incorporating AI into their products without reflecting on the harm it could cause people with disabilities. The idea that AI can take prompts about disabilities in harmful ways that can push the narrative that they are unfit or not worth caring about/investing in. It definitely makes me think about how I interact with AI and the data that is being collected in our everyday lives.

Practical Strategies for Accessible Design

Speaker:
Eric Zirlinger, Design Leader, Deque Systems, Inc.

Summary/Insights: Riley Rittenhouse

This was more of a basic introduction into some common web design issues such as color contrast, using color to convey meaning, approaching document reading order, and writing meaningful link text. A lot of this was review for me but I did like some of the tests he introduced that I can bring into my own design process, and how he simplified complex WCAG criteria into easier to understand principles.

When talking about color contrast, he mentioned asking whether things were needed (contrast requirement 4.5:1), helpful (contrast requirement 3:1) or not needed (no requirement) for a user to know how to interact with an element and complete their goal. He then showed a mockup in Figma where he applied a luminosity blend mode to it to see the design in grayscale. I’m interested in trying this on my own designs to see if there are areas I can improve.

User Personas: Designing for Users with Disabilities

Speakers:
Madison Russel, Accessibility Specialist, Elsevier
Nicola Richardson, Senior Accessibility Specialist, Elsevier

Summary/Insights: Riley Rittenhouse

Madison and Nicola shared how to create accessibility personas and the importance of using them in the design process. I always find it interesting to hear from those who use user personas in their work because it’s so easy to insert personal bias especially when using imagery as not all disabilities are visible.

I know how important it can be to use user personas, but I often find it difficult because I don’t want to exclude real disabled people and their experience in favor of the idea of a disabled person. I thought they were very considerate in knowing some of the limitations there are in finding people to interview and creating user personas.

Building an Accessible Digital Workplace: Lessons from Salesforce’s Internal Digital Accessibility Program

Speaker:
Crystal Preston-Watson, Senior Digital Accessibility Analyst, Salesforce

Summary/Insights: Riley Rittenhouse

Crystal shared information about Salesforce’s internal programs that support digital accessibility within the company, and the collaboration that it helped foster between different teams. This was more of a broad overview of the process they developed, but I would have loved to hear more about specific issues that were reported and how that fit into the process that was created. I did like hearing about the different ways Crystal made it accessible to report any issues and making people feel comfortable in communicating those.

A Conversation with Senator Duckworth and Former Representative Coelho

Speakers:
Tony Coelho, Former U.S. Representative and ADA Sponsor
Tammy Duckworth, United States Senator, Disability Rights Advocate

Summary/Insights: Riley Rittenhouse

It was great getting to hear both perspectives from Representative Coelho and Senator Duckworth and their efforts in advocating for those with disabilities. Especially in times like these where policies are being questioned, I enjoyed hearing directly from those who are combatting those in the current administration who don't see the value in supporting those with disabilities. I thought it was important that they talked about how anyone can have a disability especially as we get older, and how it’s not only a moral or social aspect of supporting the ADA but also an economic one that everyone should care about. Also a good reminder to everyone that even on a small level each person is helping drive the accessibility initiative forward and creating experiences that include everyone.

Day One Conclusion

What a strong start! Definitely some new topics, and some controversial ones as well. Keep an eye out for our thoughts on the second and third day of the conference too!