Sometimes awareness months struggle to make an impact. On the other hand, on occasion, an awareness month can create the impetus for one of the largest software brands in the world to commission a survey to inform access industry-wide.
Adobe believes that that’s exactly what they’ve done. The company commissioned a survey in October 2021 (National Disability Employment Awareness Month), to learn more about how the pandemic has shifted workplace environments and accessibility priorities. The survey results, released last week, came after a third-party company polled 1000 people – half of whom identified with a disability. Adobe public relations lead Carly Listman, who was part of the process throughout, says that the ethos of the project was to hear from those affected by the pandemic, particularly those with disabilities, at a time that rang true with the organizers.
“It was National Disability Employment Awareness Month and it kind of inspired us to say, ‘Hey, what can we learn from this community, especially since the pandemic, so that's where a lot of the questions focused.”
Adobe’s Director of Accessibility, Andrew Kirkpatrick, agrees. He says that one of the most interesting pieces of data to come out of the survey relates to just how much benefits connected to access impact employees’ choice of where to work.
“I think a compelling piece of information that came out of this survey is that almost 75% of the people who identify as having a disability cite the accessibility and inclusivity benefits offered by an employer as a key factor that helps them make their decision around a different job opportunity. . . [it] really underscores that this is something that employers need to sit up and pay close attention to.”
In the blog post accompanying the survey’s results, Kirkpatrick also pointed to mental health – Adobe found that 73% of disabled respondents chose mental health as a major concern, more than double those without disabilities. The survey also found that those respondents asked to find work from home arrangements more accessible and preferable. In their words: “At Adobe, we set out to gain a deeper understanding of how work environments have changed since the pandemic and how accessibility and inclusivity have evolved with these new ways of working.”
According to Kirkpatrick, the survey doesn’t just serve as another data point to put on the pandemic pile. From his point of view, the survey impacts the way he presents accessibility to various teams at the company.
“I think that this data is extremely useful as part of a larger package of how we make the business case for accessibility. Some part of the business case for accessibility is based on, for government sales, section 508; some cases of the business case is because our customers are concerned about being sued; some part of the business case is around doing the right thing and supporting all users.
Kirkpatrick is no stranger to the importance of accessibility and the various projects in the tech industry that have moved access forward over the last decade-plus. He’s worked at Adobe since 2005, but was also co-chair and editor of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working group until 2020. That group publishes documents like WCAG 2.1, User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG), and Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATA), key standards for website accessibility for those with disabilities.
Kirkpatrick says that the results of the survey reaffirm within Adobe that “it’s not just the accessibility team that wants accessibility.”
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