Most accessibility reviews look at an object: a building, a website, a document. Objects are easy to scope and easy to certify. People, though, do not experience objects; they experience journeys. A person hears about a service, finds the information, decides whether to try, makes contact, waits, is interviewed, gets a decision, appeals or accepts, and then lives with the result. A barrier at any one of those points ends the journey, and it is often a point no object review would cover: the voicemail with no text alternative, the parking lot, the wait, the letter.
A basic audit therefore starts by naming the journey and its edges. Where does it begin for the person? Usually earlier than staff think, at the moment they learn the thing exists. Where does it end? Usually later, when they have what they came for and understand what happens next. Between the edges are touchpoints: each moment a person must do something, know something or have something. Write them in the order a person meets them, not the order your process chart shows.
Then walk the journey with access lenses. A lens is a deliberate constraint that shows you what a group of people already sees: keyboard only, a screen reader, captions on with sound off, screen magnified, plain-reading level, no car, no phone minutes, limited energy and pain, a support person present who is not allowed to answer for you. You cannot walk with every lens on the first pass; pick three that match the people your program serves and note the rest for later. And walk it, do not review it. Sit in the lobby. Call the number. Open the letter. Start the form at the point a person would, not from an internal link.
