Issue #486
Featured: Accessible design is digital infrastructure
“Accessibility is where infrastructure failure shows up first. It rarely disappears through dramatic rollbacks; it erodes quietly when institutions treat it as optional instead of foundational. America by Design illustrates how removing accessibility from public platforms produces fragile infrastructure that excludes people and regresses over time.”
Read more of Accessible design is digital infrastructure.
Sponsored: This Wednesday: Can AI build an accessible modal?
Happening: Wed, Feb 11th at 1pm PT on YouTube. Modals are notoriously tricky with focus trapping, returning focus on close, keeping background content inert, proper screen reader announcements. Even experienced developers get these wrong. So how do AI coding tools handle it? Join us for Part 2 of our “Vibe Coding Meets Accessibility” series, where we’ll put Codex, Claude Code, and Lovable to the test. We’ll test everything with keyboard navigation and NVDA/Firefox. This is real-time testing so you can see exactly what each tool gets right and where it falls short.
Watch the Can AI build an accessible modal livestream.
News, resources, tools and tutorials
- Beyond parity: The case for true accessibility affordances (blog post - devinprater.micro.blog)
- Floating Action Buttons are bad, and what to do instead (blog post - erikkroes.nl)
- Barriers from links with ARIA (blog post - adrianroselli.com)
- Testing methods: Focus appearance (blog post - dennisdeacon.com)
- What is an “accumulated text bucket”? (blog post – maxdesign.com.au)
- Design in code, get praise (blog post – adamsilver.io)
- The Scaled Accessibility Model (SAM) (blog post – inklusivo.nl)
- Be a digital ally: Creating accessible PDF forms (video – knowbility.org)
- The accessibility manager moment no one warns you about (blog post - buttondown.com/access-ability)
- People with disabilities are more likely than those without to have court experience (research - pew.org)
- Understanding ADA Title II and digital accessibility requirements (blog post - vispero.com)
Sponsored classifieds
Making digital documents accessible: Practical steps for inclusive design with Samantha Merrett - Captioned on Zoom Feb 17, 2026 10:00 AM Central. Register for free.
Accelerate your entire portfolio’s digital accessibility with Accessible Web RAMP, from WCAG audit checklists to long-term automated violation monitoring. Start your free 14-day trial today!
Test your apps accessibility automatically with Abra Desktop. Test any app that is on your device or simulator. #SeriousAboutAccessibility
New to A11y
Laura Kalbag has made the book, Accessibility for Everyone, free and available online. First published in 2017, it still has pratical and useful guidance.
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