When Accessibility Work Becomes Personal

The Work of Being Seen

I took a break from blogging, but I’m back this week. I had something ready to go, more technical, focused on WCAG and auditing, which is where I usually live. But I decided to share something different. Something personal.

It wasn’t until I started working in accessibility that I really began to understand my own experience with depression, anxiety, and trauma as a form of disability.

I didn’t grow up with the language for that. I just knew I felt different. I knew things felt harder for me in ways I couldn’t name. I didn’t see myself in how disability was defined, and no one around me talked about it in a way that made space for what I was going through.

But this work, helping instructional designers and content creators build accessible, inclusive learning, has helped me name it. It has helped me realize how many people are left out of spaces, not because they don’t belong, but because those spaces were never built with them in mind. And that includes people like me.

This is what drives my accessibility work. The belief that no one should be excluded. That everyone deserves to be part of the conversation, the classroom, the community. It’s not just about checklists or compliance. It’s about humanity.

I’ve been writing a book. Or maybe the book has been writing itself through me, slowly and steadily. I’m still figuring out the title. One phrase that keeps coming back is The Work of Being Seen.

Because for me, that’s what this has been. The work of trying to be understood. Of trying to show up fully, even when that feels risky. Of building a life and a business where people don’t have to justify their needs or prove they belong.

As Brené Brown says, “Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self‑acceptance.”

That quote resonates with me. Because this is emotional work. It’s systems work. It’s the work I do for others and the work I continue to do for myself.

Honestly, even after writing this, I hesitated to post it. I worried it might be too much, too vulnerable, too far from what I usually share. But maybe this is exactly what needs to be shared. Maybe this is the heart of it all.

So this week, I’m stepping away from the audits and the technical guides to say, accessibility isn’t just something I do. It’s something that changed how I see myself. And that’s why I keep going. That’s why I keep showing up to do the work.

If this resonates with you, I’d love for you to subscribe. I’ll be sharing more as I write the book, pieces that are still taking shape. I’m stepping out of the shadows and into the light. And I hope you’ll join me.

More soon.