In recent years, major businesses have encouraged more serious efforts toward accessibility in their organization's core processes. The trend has resulted in the designation of Chief Accessibility Officers (CAOs), who are mandated to lead the company to a more accessible culture.
CAOs are responsible for ensuring accessibility for employees, customers, or any other stakeholders with disabilities that interact with the company.
Accessibility plays a factor in many business procedures, making this executive position multifaceted. For this reason, several essential skills are necessary to be an effective CAO. We'll discuss several of those necessary skills here.
History of the role and how it came it be
Though Microsoft is the first known company in the industry to hire a CAO in 2010, many other notable tech companies have since adopted the role as part of their management team.
Other terms for CAO include Chief Information Accessibility Officer, Head of Accessibility and Digital Inclusion, and Global Head of Accessibility. The vast range of requirements for a CAO is one reason for its multiple names.
A CAO must be well-versed in their company's products and services and user experiences concerning those offerings. They also lead in-office accessibility initiatives that may affect hiring processes, employee accommodations, company messaging around accessibility, and making sure the physical office is as accessible as possible.
It's no wonder CAOs are executive jobs for professionals at a senior level of their careers. However, beyond many years of experience, journey's into CAO work vary.
Understanding accessibility policy
CAOs supervise all accessibility initiatives within their organization. Therefore, they must be knowledgeable about ever-evolving accessibility policies.
For example, CAOs should be able to interpret and apply digital accessibility to technological practices in the workplace. This skill may look like the ability to translate digital accessibility standards as understood in WCAG 2.0/2.1 to program managers who will ensure their implementation in digital products and services.
While the difference between the ADA's requirements (broad with the aim to achieve access) and WCAG (specific and technically prescriptive in comparison to the ADA) is vast, both represent legal and technical definitions of what accessibility should be − whether the organization is beholden to a specific standard or not. CAOs must navigate the nuances and ensure legal standards are met and work to find new and innovative ways to exceed expectations in accessibility.
The need for strong leadership skills
It is no coincidence that many CAOs hold masters in fields that require considerable leadership skills like Business or Public Administration. CAOs are essentially accessibility leaders in their organizations, spearheading a bolder stance on accessible hiring, disability inclusion, office culture, products, services, and business practices.
Leadership also plays a role in the project management aspects of a CAO position. Whether leading Project Managers within the company to increase a product's accessibility or facilitating meetings with executives about new accessibility initiatives, CAOs set the accessibility policies the rest of the company follows.
Such leadership skills must appear in board meetings, program management, and − possibly the most transformative — interactions with the public. For example, CAOs often act as the face of a company when discussing all matters of accessibility.
Frequently, CAOs lend their voice to represent their organizations in interviews, speeches, and articles. These accessibility experts must be able to speak in-depth about how their company addresses accessibility and translate distinct initiatives and goals.
Growth in accessibility practices moving forward
CAO work has helped lower hiring gaps by a significant margin, countering the nearly 50 percent disparity between those with and without disabilities.
CAOs helped Microsoft launch their initiative AI for Accessibility and Google and Apple create more accessible products for those with visual impairments.
Still, even companies without Accessibility Officers can learn from the core ideas many CAOs share. CAOs go above the minimum requirements for accessibility, taking a more daring and creative approach to accessibility and inclusion that benefit all people, not just those with disabilities.
A more accessible future is most quickly achieved by actively removing disability barriers in the workplace. The skills required to identify such obstacles are critical for this to happen.
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