From Accessibility Tester to Accessibility Evangelist
As a screen reader user, rapid growth and exponential change are something that I’ve been dealing with all my life. I’m old enough to remember the change from DOS line commands to the Windows GUI. I’ve seen things change from specialty devices built exclusively for blind people, to computers coming with many of the things I need built in. Even from a web without any accessibility standards via 28.8 K dial-up, to working with companies to ensure the latest interaction is accessible over my gigabit broadband connection. My point is that I’m used to change and am learning to thrive on it.
Before I started working at Fable back in April of 2018, I was involved in the emerging cryptocurrency market. I often joke about how much I relish the stability of working at a start-up, as compared to my earlier career in bitcoin.
Coming to work at Fable hasn’t meant my journey has slowed down at all. From starting off as Fable’s first and only tester just a couple of short years ago, Fable’s community quickly grew to a small number of screen reader only testers, and then continued expanding to a diverse range of assistive technology users. The pace at Fable has been rapid – and my personal pace has had to keep up. Thanks to the inclusivity, diversity, and openness that is built right into the heart of Fable, I’ve been able to advance from Tester to QA Analyst, to Community Manager.
From Accessibility Tester to Accessibility Evangelist
As a screen reader user, rapid growth and exponential change are something that I’ve been dealing with all my life. I’m old enough to remember the change from DOS line commands to the Windows GUI. I’ve seen things change from specialty devices built exclusively for blind people, to computers coming with many of the things I need built in. Even from a web without any accessibility standards via 28.8 K dial-up, to working with companies to ensure the latest interaction is accessible over my gigabit broadband connection. My point is that I’m used to change and am learning to thrive on it.
Before I started working at Fable back in April of 2018, I was involved in the emerging cryptocurrency market. I often joke about how much I relish the stability of working at a start-up, as compared to my earlier career in bitcoin.
Coming to work at Fable hasn’t meant my journey has slowed down at all. From starting off as Fable’s first and only tester just a couple of short years ago, Fable’s community quickly grew to a small number of screen reader only testers, and then continued expanding to a diverse range of assistive technology users. The pace at Fable has been rapid – and my personal pace has had to keep up. Thanks to the inclusivity, diversity, and openness that is built right into the heart of Fable, I’ve been able to advance from Tester to QA Analyst, to Community Manager.
A journey of change
However, now it’s time for change, once again. As Fable continues to grow, we feel strongly that it’s critical to keep the voices of people with disabilities front and center in everything we do. From before Fable even existed, our founders worked closely with people with disabilities to learn about the pain points of online accessibility, employment, research, and testing. Fable’s core idea and methodologies were created with the direct involvement of assistive technology users from day one. As Fable has grown, we’ve had the opportunity to highlight the talents of our testing community, from having members attend conferences with us, to speaking on panels, to taking part in customer training. We’ve also been able to hire several community members as full-time employees, in multiple roles across Fable.
The mission of placing the voices of people with disabilities front and centre is core to Fable’s beliefs and is at the centre of our vision for a more accessible and inclusive world. That’s why, starting today, I’ll be moving into a new role at Fable as our Accessibility Evangelist.
What is an Accessibility Evangelist?
What exactly is an accessibility evangelist? The job of an accessibility evangelist is to promote the importance of accessibility, teach its core principles, and help the world understand why it matters and how it should be done. As I look forward to telling this story, through writing, interviews, presentations, and every other possible medium, I’m overflowing with excitement that I’ll have the opportunity to tell the world about what we’ve built at Fable, and the ability to help surface the voices of others who live with a disability, voices that too often go unheard.
This is just the beginning of the journey. The accessibility landscape is quickly evolving, challenges are ever shifting, and there are still too few people aware of what accessibility is and how to do it. There is so much I’m looking forward to sharing with all of you. I can’t wait to find out where we’ll go from here, and I’m thrilled to be helping Fable drive meaningful change in so many ways.
As I move into my new position at Fable, Lynette Frison will be taking over the role of community manager. She, like me, started off as a tester, and has grown into her new role. It’s proof that when you embrace accessibility and inclusion, the way Fable always has, you end up with amazing people who can do amazing things. However, I’ll let her tell her own story.
A journey of change
However, now it’s time for change, once again. As Fable continues to grow, we feel strongly that it’s critical to keep the voices of people with disabilities front and center in everything we do. From before Fable even existed, our founders worked closely with people with disabilities to learn about the pain points of online accessibility, employment, research, and testing. Fable’s core idea and methodologies were created with the direct involvement of assistive technology users from day one. As Fable has grown, we’ve had the opportunity to highlight the talents of our testing community, from having members attend conferences with us, to speaking on panels, to taking part in customer training. We’ve also been able to hire several community members as full-time employees, in multiple roles across Fable.
The mission of placing the voices of people with disabilities front and centre is core to Fable’s beliefs and is at the centre of our vision for a more accessible and inclusive world. That’s why, starting today, I’ll be moving into a new role at Fable as our Accessibility Evangelist.
What is an Accessibility Evangelist?
What exactly is an accessibility evangelist? The job of an accessibility evangelist is to promote the importance of accessibility, teach its core principles, and help the world understand why it matters and how it should be done. As I look forward to telling this story, through writing, interviews, presentations, and every other possible medium, I’m overflowing with excitement that I’ll have the opportunity to tell the world about what we’ve built at Fable, and the ability to help surface the voices of others who live with a disability, voices that too often go unheard.
This is just the beginning of the journey. The accessibility landscape is quickly evolving, challenges are ever shifting, and there are still too few people aware of what accessibility is and how to do it. There is so much I’m looking forward to sharing with all of you. I can’t wait to find out where we’ll go from here, and I’m thrilled to be helping Fable drive meaningful change in so many ways.
As I move into my new position at Fable, Lynette Frison will be taking over the role of community manager. She, like me, started off as a tester, and has grown into her new role. It’s proof that when you embrace accessibility and inclusion, the way Fable always has, you end up with amazing people who can do amazing things. However, I’ll let her tell her own story.
An Introduction from Lynette
As a long-time tester, moderator, and recent Fable employee, the team at Fable is already quite familiar with who I am. But I haven’t yet spoken much in public about myself, the experience I bring to my position at Fable, and my goals in growing our community.
I grew up in a small town in rural Nova Scotia. I was the first totally blind person to attend public school in that province. “You are paving the way for other people like you,” my parents told me. “You’re going to make life better and easier for them.”
From a very young age, I learned to advocate for myself with a mix of blunt humour and sheer determination. I’m naturally an introvert, so this wasn’t always an easy thing for me to do, but I knew that I was my best advocate. I’ve always enjoyed educating people. From the person who is waiting at the bus stop with me, to the administrator of disability services at the college I attended, educating people about accessibility allows you to connect with them on a personal level.
While I have worked in several jobs that were centered around accessibility, I’ve also worked in government and the private sector where I was the only blind employee on a large team. Self-advocacy was crucial in those jobs as much as it was in my elementary school, and it could be as difficult as it was rewarding.
An Introduction from Lynette
As a long-time tester, moderator, and recent Fable employee, the team at Fable is already quite familiar with who I am. But I haven’t yet spoken much in public about myself, the experience I bring to my position at Fable, and my goals in growing our community.
I grew up in a small town in rural Nova Scotia. I was the first totally blind person to attend public school in that province. “You are paving the way for other people like you,” my parents told me. “You’re going to make life better and easier for them.”
From a very young age, I learned to advocate for myself with a mix of blunt humour and sheer determination. I’m naturally an introvert, so this wasn’t always an easy thing for me to do, but I knew that I was my best advocate. I’ve always enjoyed educating people. From the person who is waiting at the bus stop with me, to the administrator of disability services at the college I attended, educating people about accessibility allows you to connect with them on a personal level.
While I have worked in several jobs that were centered around accessibility, I’ve also worked in government and the private sector where I was the only blind employee on a large team. Self-advocacy was crucial in those jobs as much as it was in my elementary school, and it could be as difficult as it was rewarding.
Joining Fable
After taking some time off to start a family, I was introduced to Fable in 2019. I was intrigued at the prospect of working from home and helping to spread the word about digital accessibility. I started my journey as a tester, and I enjoyed engaging with Fable’s customers and the community of likewise passionate and supportive testers.
Early in 2020, I accepted the position of Community Moderator. In this role, I would train new testers, process feedback, and over the next five months, I learned other aspects of day-to-day community management. These came in handy when Sam had to take some time off last summer, and I was largely responsible for running the community while he was away. I was able to work more closely with Fable team members, and form deeper relationships with testers.
When Sam returned, some things changed, but I never went back to that initial moderator role. I continued to manage the community and added my voice to planning and strategy sessions. Meanwhile, Sam was starting to venture into what would become the Accessibility Evangelist role – advocating for inclusive design and accessibility in the industry. I accompanied him on a few presentations, and the energy and sincerity he displayed was infectious.
The new Community Manager role
As I immerse myself into my role at Fable, I have lots of ideas about how to grow and scale the Fable community. Some of my highest priorities include community mentorship, so that we can help our community of testers empower one another. It’s also important that we continue to upskill our community. Empowering our community enables us to make the changes in accessibility and inclusion that we all want. I’ll also be focused on increasing the diversity of our community, not only by ensuring we have a diversity of disabilities, but also races, ages, genders, and nationalities. Diversity is key to Fable’s success and to the empowerment of the disability community.
Ensuring that disabled people’s voices are heard will always be important to me, as will providing testers with the tools and opportunities to develop professionally and personally. I was introduced to Fable during a time in my life when I was struggling to gain employment. For years, I had faced prejudice from prospective employers despite my earlier extensive work history. I want to set testers up for success not only at Fable, but in the accessibility field and tech industry more as well.
We have a long way to go – but it’s an exciting journey.
Joining Fable
After taking some time off to start a family, I was introduced to Fable in 2019. I was intrigued at the prospect of working from home and helping to spread the word about digital accessibility. I started my journey as a tester, and I enjoyed engaging with Fable’s customers and the community of likewise passionate and supportive testers.
Early in 2020, I accepted the position of Community Moderator. In this role, I would train new testers, process feedback, and over the next five months, I learned other aspects of day-to-day community management. These came in handy when Sam had to take some time off last summer, and I was largely responsible for running the community while he was away. I was able to work more closely with Fable team members, and form deeper relationships with testers.
When Sam returned, some things changed, but I never went back to that initial moderator role. I continued to manage the community and added my voice to planning and strategy sessions. Meanwhile, Sam was starting to venture into what would become the Accessibility Evangelist role – advocating for inclusive design and accessibility in the industry. I accompanied him on a few presentations, and the energy and sincerity he displayed was infectious.
The new Community Manager role
As I immerse myself into my role at Fable, I have lots of ideas about how to grow and scale the Fable community. Some of my highest priorities include community mentorship, so that we can help our community of testers empower one another. It’s also important that we continue to upskill our community. Empowering our community enables us to make the changes in accessibility and inclusion that we all want. I’ll also be focused on increasing the diversity of our community, not only by ensuring we have a diversity of disabilities, but also races, ages, genders, and nationalities. Diversity is key to Fable’s success and to the empowerment of the disability community.
Ensuring that disabled people’s voices are heard will always be important to me, as will providing testers with the tools and opportunities to develop professionally and personally. I was introduced to Fable during a time in my life when I was struggling to gain employment. For years, I had faced prejudice from prospective employers despite my earlier extensive work history. I want to set testers up for success not only at Fable, but in the accessibility field and tech industry more as well.
We have a long way to go – but it’s an exciting journey.