What I learnt from Charlie Riggle?

Charlotte Riggle (a.k.a. Charli to us) ruined me forever!

In the best possible way, of course. She showed me a different way to look at people, processes and parity. She is an accessibility trailblazer. I have never met a more effective campaigner and tech guru than her. A leader extraordinaire. She is one of the role models, I work hard to emulate. As we celebrate this International Women’s Day, here are a few things I learnt from her.

Passion isn’t enough

How often have you heard someone say - I am passionate about DEI?

Well, great.

Then what?

Well, nothing much else!

Passion sadly is not enough. To make an impact we need solutions. That requires a commitment to learn about the subject matter, learn about the best practices, benchmark against the best and last but not the least raise the bar.

A person using a wheelchair is unable to get into a building as there is no ramp. This begs the question, what is a disability? The lack of accessible solution, i.e., a ramp for wheelchair access is disabling an individual from entering the building. The individual is able to show up and capable to achieve the task assigned. They are unable to perform as they are blocked access to the opportunity. So, the disability is caused the building not the individual.

This is a key distinction that gets lost in translation. Disability vs a condition. The individual has a condition that is permanent (maybe a spinal injury) or  temporary (like a broken leg). The condition requires an accessible solution such as a wheelchair.  In short, there is no abled or disabled, or differently abled or normal. We are all unique with individual strengthen and areas of opportunities. Each one of us require different accommodations for success.

We need to have uncomfortable conversations

Charlie starts all conversations saying, “…between my family members and I, we have every disability from a to z…” I have a traumatic brain injury (TBI) resulting from an accident in 1998. Throughout my life and even now, I have been encouraged not to talk about it by well-meaning family and friends. They say that it creates an automatic bias for me. What will people say? That too for a woman? Think of the repercussions, they warn. All true. But one cannot bring change without meaningful conversations. And those conversations are often uncomfortable. Passion has to be backed by action.

In December 2021, I was talking to one of Amazon’s Director of software development. I mentioned my accident and the complications that I have for a lifetime in its aftermath. I do not claim disability status but doesn’t mean that I do not have one. And it is invisible. The word disability conjures up mental models with wheelchairs, hearing aids and others. However, the vast majority of disabilities are hidden, like mine. Individuals may have one or more conditions that require accommodations. This triggered an ah-ha moment for the Director. He recalled that one of his Operation Managers struggles to review documents that we love to write so much. Constantly. This team member is unable to keep up with the pace. Our Director was humble enough to acknowledge that he never understood why this individual found such a simple task so challenging. He never associated learning disability when talking about disability. He vowed to reflect and change working styles in his teams.

Disability is Common

According to the United Nations, over 1bn people in the world have one or more disability. Just like learning disability, there are others like color blindness, ADHD, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and so on. Albert Einstein was dyslexic. Michael Jordan has been diagnosed with ADHD. Lady Gaga suffers from fibromyalgia. Disability is more common than perceived. Accommodations is just not for a select few. It is actually for all. People do not talk about it due to the associated stigma and bias. Silence needs to be heard.

Solutions over Sentiments

More than products and services, people interaction is where we all face our Waterloo moments. I am sure you know a “weird” team member who can’t seem to remember simple instructions. They probably have a short-term memory loss due to a head injury. Or the “non-performancer” who is always unwell. They are probably dealing with a terminal illness like cancer or lupus. Managers/leaders do not want to hear one more problem on top of all that they are dealing with. It is also an exhausting experience for team members to repeat their accommodation requests with each and every person, in every interaction, every day.

So, what does Charlie advice? Add three key points below your email signature.

Example:  

1.  I have ADHD and not inattentive.

2.  It takes me a few additional minutes to catch up on a discussion. Going slow helps me a lot.

3.  I may reach out to you for more questions than others.

For more detailed accommodations, Charlie recommends to create an intranet page and add the link to your email. She personally also added a link for Hyperbole fonts to help others.

Now, it’s up to a Manager/leader to reflect. How do they assess this team member? Do they have biases that they need to work on to be an effective Manager or Leader? How do they help the team member in their career progression?

Inspiration porn

Charlie created the accessibility learning program and is the driving force behind the alliance for accessibility at Amazon. This is a training program I wish was available to all. It is relevant for engineers all the way to graphics designers to HR and more. One aspect of the training is on accessible language. Inspiration porn is a key section here. As the late Stella Young said, let’s avoid the inspiration porn! Disabled individuals do not wake up each day and give themselves a pep talk. They do not think they are super humans nor do they expect such acknowledgement from others. They do expect to be given a shot to prove their caliber and desire accolades from their achievements only. Not achievement despite a disability. Just their calibre. Period.

This YouTube video is a must see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxrS7-I_sMQ

PwD vs Accessibility

People with Disabilities (PwD) is a term we are familiar with. Accessibility is a googly for most. In simple terms PwD matters relate to supporting the PwD community as allies or members. Accessibility on the other hand is the way one creates products or services that all can use and have the same experience. PwD is advocacy, accessibility is the how-to.

Person in the Empty Chair

Product Development teams love the empty chair. But who is the person sitting in it? Is that person a reflection of the individuals in the room or does it represent a wide customer profile. Like one who has color blindness and would require the development team to take color contract ratios into consideration. Or another who will use only keyboard to access the app or website. So, the development team needs to be mindful of focus and avoid floating menus. Are there accessibility tests in the pipeline?

As a technical writer, Charlie is a keen observer when it comes to developing solutions. She understands the structural issues and teaches how to fix them. Very few leaders are capable of both aspects – the problem statement and the solution. Be it designing GAAM (Global Accessibility Awareness Month) events or a product, she sets the highest standards. Everywhere. All the time.

Accessibility is not limited to PwD

Did you know that SMS was developed by Matti Makkonen as an accessible tool for deaf individuals. Can you imagine your life without SMS? Even our ubiquitous keyword came from the first type writer built by in 1808 by Pellegrino Turri. He made it for his friend, Countess Carolina Fantoni da Fivizzano. The countess was blind and found it uncomfortable to dictate her private/intimate thoughts to someone else when she wanted to write letters. Can you envision a world without a type writer? Even the humble spectacle we wear (or sun glasses if you are a Ray Ban fan) is an accessible solution.

The biggest misnomer when discussing accessibility is that it is necessary for the members of the PwD community only. As mentioned earlier, it is not. And do you know who uses accessible solutions more than the PwD community… the old age community. One that you and I will join soon enough. Accessible products and services support all customers. And every time, we miss these milestones, we alienate 30% or more of our target customer base.

Different ideas motivate different individuals. If DEI is not your cup of tea. That’s ok. P&L definitely is. Imagine the bottom-line if the product or service captures an additional 30% or more with little to no additional effort.  

Starting is easy

The word “accessible solution” throws everyone – from coders to CEOs into a panic attack. The irony being that it’s easy to start. There are no additional costs or trainings or skilled personal required for it. All one has to do is just implement.

What you mean, you ask?

Well, let’s say you are developing a website or upgrading an existing one… write the HTML code the way it is mean to be. Like use header tags instead of creating false headers by using bigger and bold fonts for one. This allows the screen readers to read the content a header as a header and a paragraph as such. Design a robust UAT. It is easy to benchmark existing product or service with little changes. For innovation gluttons, accessibility opens up the frontier like nothing else.

I used to ask the question – are we benchmarking our products and processes as a Process Engineer. I drive teams to understand the difference between real innovation and benchmarking masquerading as an innovation. Charlie went on to help me redefined the world of innovation in a whole new way.

It begins with the E and ends with D & I

As I took a step back to reflect on my lessons from Charlie, I realized that it all begins with the E for Equity. These equitable processes result in recruitment of a diverse workforce and they enable this diverse workforce to feel included as well. Equity is an action. Diversity and Inclusion are outcomes of the efforts put into creating equitable processes. To fix diversity and inclusion issues, we need to look at our way of working and accessible solutions is the way to do it. Be it including pronounces for the team member when sending an appreciation email or a promotional email to a org or adding alt text to images or making your SaaS accessible, its about balancing the highest standards against bias for action. It’s about impact over intentions.

Let’s relook at our orgs, teams and most importantly within ourselves. Let’s #EmbraceEquity.

Thank you, Charlie!