Accessibility Craft

Hosted by Amber Hinds, Chris Hinds, and Steve Jones

Technology Arts Food

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Episodes

179

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

Accessibility Craft is a podcast exploring the art of creating accessible websites and craft beverages from the team at Equalize Digital, a WordPress accessibility company and maker of the Accessibility Checker plugin.

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60 recent

September 21, 202649 min

WP Accessibility Day 2026 Preview with Guest Ryan Bracey | Fast Friends Beer Co Vienna Style Lager

WordPress Accessibility Day 2026 is coming October 7–8, and this episode takes you behind the scenes of how its speakers, sessions, and keynote came together. Ryan Bracey, Director of Web Development and User Experience at Second Melody and Speaker Team Lead for WordPress Accessibility Day, joins Amber and Chris to talk about the hidden work that goes into reviewing 88 speaker submissions, anonymizing proposals to reduce bias, building a diverse schedule, and balancing technical, business, design, and lived-experience perspectives. Ryan also previews some of the sessions he is most excited about, including this year’s keynote from GitHub Head of Accessibility Ed Summers. And everyone previews what excites them personally, with a wide range of upcoming talks covering AI, accessible development workflows, WooCommerce onboarding, remediation pushback, and accessibility ownership after launch. For the craft portion of Accessibility Craft, the group gets into the fall spirit with a Vienna-style lager from Austin’s Fast Friends Beer Company. The beer earns a rare unanimous two-thumbs-up and sparks a surprisingly nostalgic conversation about Oktoberfest, bonfires, beach cookouts, and questionable college beer choices. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/182 . Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:40) - Meet Ryan Bracey (00:04:50) - Craft Beverage Pick (00:08:26) - Fall Vibes and Tasting Notes (00:13:27) - Ratings and Conference Tease (00:14:11) - WordPress Accessibility Day Overview (00:15:10) - Sponsor Break (00:16:24) - Speaker Selection Process (00:19:15) - Anonymized Reviews and Fairness (00:22:03) - Diversity Stats Snapshot (00:23:07) - Diversity by Merit (00:26:05) - Balancing Talk Ratings (00:27:21) - Perfect Score Spotlight (00:31:21) - Keynote: Ed Summers (00:37:21) - Schedule Picks Roundup (00:43:06) - Team Talks Shoutout (00:45:41) - Where to Find Ryan (00:47:51) - Register and Support (00:48:41) - Podcast Wrap and Credits

September 14, 20261 hr 20 min

How to Learn WCAG with Cam Coulter

This episode is a recording of a September 2026 WordPress Accessibility Meetup, brought to you by Equalize Digital . In this presentation, Cam will provide foundational context about WCAG and explain how to slowly and seriously learn WCAG like a professional. WordPress Accessibility Meetups are a 100% free and virtual community resource that take place via Zoom webinars twice a month. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/181 .

September 8, 20261 hr 0 min

All About Accessibility Lab with Joe and Anne | Save the World Brewing TX Cerveza

Special guests Joe Dolson, WordPress core committer and accessibility consultant, and Anne McCarthy, Architecture and Open Source Director at Automattic, join Amber and Steve to talk through the vision behind Accessibility Lab, a new canonical accessibility plugin concept for WordPress core. We learn what Accessibility Lab is, what it is not, and try to understand what the practical use case is in the dizzying context of one of the world's largest open source projects. The conversation gets into some genuinely difficult technical territory, including why some accessibility optimizations in WordPress core are particularly difficult to solve, challenges related to getting enough real-world testing, and the organizational hurdles around collecting bulk data that's detailed enough to shape decisions. There is also healthy disagreement about whether a single canonical plugin can successfully juggle both persistent, stable features and early-stage experiments that in some cases may jeopardize the stability of production WordPress websites. And because this is Accessibility Craft, the group tackles all of that over Cerveza, a Mexican-style lager from Save The World Brewing Company in Marble Falls, Texas. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/180 . Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:00:41) - Introducing Special Guests Joe Dolson and Anne McCarthy (00:02:11) - Today's Beverage (00:10:26) - What is the Accessibility Lab plugin? (00:13:09) - Brought to you by Accessibility Checker (00:14:23) - Why create this? How did we get here? (00:18:19) - Anne and Joe Share Their Visions for Accessibility Lab (00:24:29) - Can persistent, helpful features coexist with experimental features that could break some WordPress configurations? (00:35:53) - The Technical and Organizational Challenges Behind Data Collection (00:38:40) - What is the Accessibility Lab not going to do? Where is the line? (00:45:14) - What belongs in Core versus Accessibility Lab? (00:47:56) - Does Accessibility Lab belong on live sites? Opinions are divided. (00:57:10) - How to Help Shape Accessibility Lab

August 31, 202659 min

What Automated Accessibility Tools Will Never Catch with Tanveer Khan

This episode is a recording of an August 2026 WordPress Accessibility Meetup, brought to you by Equalize Digital . In this session, Tanveer Khan explored critical accessibility problems that automated tools often miss, including keyboard navigation issues, focus management problems, screen reader usability challenges, dynamic content announcements, and interaction patterns that require human judgment and manual testing. WordPress Accessibility Meetups are a 100% free and virtual community resource that take place via Zoom webinars twice a month. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/179 .

August 24, 202642 min

Accessible = Faster? What the Research Actually Says | Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout

In this episode, we take a deep dive into a claim that gets repeated surprisingly often: Accessible websites have better performance. We look at what recent research says about accessibility and website performance, why the connection feels so intuitive, where accessibility improvements really can improve page speed, and why correlation between the two does not necessarily mean causation. We also flip the question around and discuss how poor website performance can itself create accessibility barriers, particularly for people on slower connections or using assistive technology. Before that, we unpack the accessibility changes in WordPress 7.1 , including 44 accessibility enhancements and bug fixes, Steve's contributions in this release, high contrast mode fixes, and one controversial accessibility regression: infinite scrolling becoming the default in the Media Library. And because it wouldn't be Accessibility Craft without a drink, Amber and Chris try Dragon's Milk Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout from New Holland Brewing. Steve's bottle didn't survive shipping, so Diet Coke steps in as his designated beverage. Opinions on the stout are... divided. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/178 . Chapters (00:00:00) - Welcome (00:01:07) - Today’s Beverage (00:05:29) - WordPress 7.1 Accessibility: Several Steps Forward, but Then One Step Back? (00:12:34) - Does Accessibility Make Your Website Faster, Actually? (00:13:42) - Brought to You by Accessibility Checker (00:14:56) - Why Does This Claim Sound So Plausible? (00:20:49) - Amber Goes on a Fact-Finding Mission and Learns What, Exactly? (00:25:43) - Accessibility and Performance: Squares and Rectangles, Chickens and Eggs (00:36:04) - Closing Thoughts: Where We Land

August 17, 20261 hr 30 min

Creating a Digital Accessibility Program in Higher Education with Jesse Loesberg

This episode is a recording of an August 2026 WordPress Accessibility Meetup, brought to you by Equalize Digital . In this presentation, Jesse Loesberg will give you an inside look at how the UC Berkeley Library built and implemented a digital accessibility program following a Title II ADA lawsuit and a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice. WordPress Accessibility Meetups are a 100% free and virtual community resource that take place via Zoom webinars twice a month. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/177 .

August 10, 202637 min

AI, Screen Readers, and the Real User Experience | Fentimans Sparking Victorian Lemonade

How is AI actually changing the way people use assistive technology, and what happens when AI lets developers move faster than they can realistically review their own work? In this episode of Accessibility Craft, Chris is joined by DevOps engineer and accessibility consultant Alex Stine, along with returning guest and Equalize Digital team member William, for a wide-ranging conversation about AI, accessibility, screen readers, coding agents, and the growing tension between speed and reliability. Alex shares firsthand examples of using AI to make inaccessible PDFs, charts, weather data, and other visual information more usable in his own day-to-day, while the group digs into the accessibility problems that still exist in many AI interfaces. They also compare how they use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, GitHub Copilot, and other AI tools professionally and personally, including AI-assisted coding, research, automation, and building custom software. They don't shy away from the messy bits: excessive context switching, enormous AI-generated pull requests, production outages, unreliable output, and why "the AI did it" is not a very convincing excuse. For the beverage tasting, Chris and Alex try Fentimans Victorian Lemonade, while William attempts a homemade substitute. Reviews are... mixed. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/176 . Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:00:45) - Welcoming Special Guest Alex Stine, and Also William! (00:02:03) - Today’s Beverage (00:05:10) - How We’re Actually Using AI Personally and Professionally (00:11:51) - Is AI Changing Things for Assistive Technology Users? (00:14:39) - Brought to You by Accessibility Checker (00:15:52) - AI Interfaces and Assistive Technology: All’s Not Well (00:19:50) - Context Switching, Overwhelm, and Consequences of Letting AI Run Wild (00:25:40) - Closing Thoughts and Advice for Heavy AI Users and the AI Curious

August 3, 20261 hr 8 min

A Practical PDF Remediation Demo with Samantha Merrett

This episode is a recording of a July 2026 WordPress Accessibility Meetup, brought to you by Equalize Digital . In this practical session, veteran #WPA11yMeetup presenter Samantha Merrett worked through how to remediate a PDF step by step. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of PDF accessibility and the confidence to start improving your own documents. WordPress Accessibility Meetups are a 100% free and virtual community resource that take place via Zoom webinars twice a month. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/175 .

July 27, 202646 min

Beyond the Scan: 7 Manual Accessibility Tests to do Right Now | Meridian Hive Peach Ginger Wine Cocktail

Automated accessibility testing is important, but it cannot tell you whether real people can successfully use your website. In this episode of Accessibility Craft, Amber, Chris, and Steve explain how manual accessibility testing fills the gaps left by automated tools and share practical tests that anyone can begin performing today. The conversation covers keyboard navigation, browser zoom, screen reader testing, dynamic components, focus management, heading structure, and the accessibility problems that automated scanners frequently miss. The hosts also examine several developments from Converge Accessibility’s June 2026 legal update, including a case that demonstrates why documenting ongoing accessibility work can matter during litigation. Before talking about manual accessibility testing, the team tests Meridian Hive’s Peach Ginger Wine Cocktail, a lightly carbonated mead cocktail that produces surprisingly divided opinions about sweetness, peach flavor, and for one host, a mysterious lingering funk. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/174 . Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:49) - Today’s Beverage (00:10:58) - Converge Accessibility’s Hefty June 2026 Legal Update (00:17:40) - Wait, We’ve Never Talked About This Before? (00:18:35) - Brought to You by Accessibility Checker (00:19:59) - Why Automated Tests Can’t Catch Everything (00:26:22) - If You Have 15 Minutes to Manually Test (00:31:56) - Don’t Forget the Screen Readers (00:36:19) - Common Accessibility Problems Only Manual Testing Identifies (00:43:30) - Whoever You Are, You’ve Got This

July 20, 20261 hr 7 min

Throwback: Six Levels of Accessibility Maturity with Nick Croft

This episode is a throwback recording of a 2024 WordPress Accessibility Meetup, brought to you by Equalize Digital . During this session, senior developer and accessibility advocate Nick Croft explored what he called the six stages of the accessibility journey. WordPress Accessibility Meetups are a 100% free and virtual community resource that take place via Zoom webinars twice a month. For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/173 .