Changing the Priority Framework
Authors note: This post is intended to focus on how we can adjust our own prioritization frameworks, and the inherent value we place on things, through the lens of disability. But I would be remiss if I didn’t call attention to the fact that these techniques can apply well beyond the specific focus of this post. Discrimination exists in many areas of our world today. The ability to expand our viewpoint beyond the things we know best, see most, and understand at depth is a critical skill everyone needs to acquire if we want to truly lean into what it will take the build a society that fosters systemic equality and inclusion in all areas.
In my previous post, I introduced the concept of The Severity Gap in Accessibility. This gap occurs when businesses make different investment decisions around resolving blocking defects for different segments of customers. As I said in that article, assessment of severity is generally a combination of two elements: impact (how bad customers believe the issue to be) and priority (how important it is to resolve). Impact can typically be assessed objectively, but priority is a more subjective assessment based on who the business believes to be their most valuable customers. One of the reasons the severity gap in accessibility exists is because people with disabilities are often left out of the prioritization framework businesses use to make decisions. Today…
