Once I made myself a promise about what I was willing to ship, my approach to testing changed almost immediately.
I stopped rushing toward outcomes and started paying attention to signals.
Not just whether something worked — but how much it asked of the person using it.
From Pass/Fail to Pay Attention
Most accessibility testing frameworks focus on detection. That matters. But it’s incomplete.
I now look for:
- Hesitation before action
- Repeated navigation
- Unexpected pauses
- Workarounds that technically succeed
Those are signs of effort. And effort is a cost.
Nothing Changed — Except Focus
I didn’t adopt new tools. I changed where I paid attention.
Accessibility testing became less about catching failures and more about respecting the person on the other side of the interface.
Effort is invisible in reports — but very real in lived experience.