“There is an accessibility problem” is a sentence that goes nowhere. “There is a procedural barrier at the document-upload step: the system accepts only one file format and rejects photographs taken on a phone” goes to a system owner with a fix attached. Naming the kind of barrier does three things at once: it locates the barrier in the design rather than in the person, it identifies who is responsible, and it suggests the kind of remedy that will work.
Eight categories cover most audit findings. Physical: the built environment, from door force to counter height to where the accessible parking actually is. Communication: how information is exchanged, including interpreters, captions, alternative formats, reading level and whether staff talk to the person or their companion. Digital: forms, documents, websites, platforms and kiosks. Attitudinal: assumptions, impatience, low expectations, treating a request as a favor. Policy: written rules that dictate a single method or add an unnecessary requirement. Financial: costs that fall on the person, including unpaid time off, printing, notarization, copays and the cost of a support person. Transportation: how a person gets there, including paratransit windows, rural distance and where the bus stops relative to the entrance. Procedural: the unwritten way things are done, such as timed sessions, the order of steps, who is allowed to help, and what happens when a step fails.
Many findings belong to two categories. A letter written at a college reading level in a small font is a communication barrier; the rule that only the letter counts as notice is a policy barrier. The second category is usually the one that keeps the problem alive after the first is fixed, so record both.
