12 minutes

Immediate fix, systemic fix, and the canvas

Complete the barrier analysis canvas, separate what you can do this week from the redesign that ends the problem, and write a proposal a decision maker can act on.

What you’ll be able to do

Complete a barrier analysis canvas for one finding, with an immediate fix and a systemic fix, a named owner for each and a measure of success, and turn it into a short improvement proposal.
Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: What does closing the loop mean here?
Draft Barrier analysis canvas for your work, including who is trying to participate?, what are they trying to do?, what barrier occurs?.

Two fixes, always

An audit that produces only immediate fixes is a help desk. An audit that produces only systemic fixes is a report that people wait on. The method requires both, side by side, for every finding that matters. The immediate fix restores access for the person in front of you now: an alternative route, a staff member who completes the form with them, an interpreter booked today, an extension granted, a document sent in the format they asked for. It is not a favor and it is not a workaround to be quietly repeated; it is the organization meeting its duty while the design is corrected. The systemic fix changes the design so nobody is stopped at that touchpoint again: the form is remediated or replaced, the template is rewritten, the procedure is changed, the room is moved, the contract includes accessibility acceptance testing.

Both fixes need an owner, meaning a person or office with the authority to make the change, and a date. “IT” is not an owner; the named system owner in technology is. “Procurement should require accessibility” is not a fix; the named contract manager adding acceptance criteria to a specific renewal is. Where the systemic fix needs authority you do not have, the canvas says whose authority it needs, and your proposal asks for it.

Finally, success is a test, not an installation. A form is fixed when a person using a keyboard alone and a person using a screen reader can complete it without help in a reasonable time. A notice template is fixed when people who rely on paratransit make their interviews at the same rate as everyone else. Write the test before the fix begins, and have the people the barrier affected run it, paid, when the fix is done.

Barrier analysis canvas

Eight questions on one page. Complete it for each finding that stops or seriously burdens a person. The example entries describe a job applicant who uses a screen reader and could not complete an online application.

Who is trying to participate? Name the person or group by what they are doing and how, not by diagnosis. Example: a job applicant who uses a screen reader and keyboard navigation.

What are they trying to do? The task in the person’s terms. Example: complete and submit the online application for a posted position before the closing date.

What barrier occurs? The exact defect, rule or behavior, and where in the journey. Example: form fields are unlabeled, so the screen reader does not announce them, and the session times out with no warning and no way to extend.

What is the impact? Stop or burden, and what is at stake. Example: the applicant cannot complete the application independently and risks missing the closing date; other screen-reader users are likely stopped the same way and may not report it.

What is the immediate fix? How access is restored now, by whom, by when. Example: human resources takes the application by phone or accessible document today, confirms receipt in writing, and extends the deadline for anyone affected by the defect.

What is the systemic fix? The design change that ends the barrier. Example: remediate the form’s labels and timing behavior or replace the platform, with keyboard and screen-reader acceptance testing required before release and written into the next contract.

Who owns the fix? A named person or office with authority, for each fix, with a date. Example: immediate fix, the human resources recruiter, today; systemic fix, the application system owner in technology and the contract manager in procurement, with the accessibility lead advising, decision date within 30 days.

How will success be measured? A test a person can pass. Example: applicants using a keyboard alone and a screen reader complete a live application without assistance in comparable time; the test is run by paid disabled testers before release and after each major change.

Complete the canvas for your highest-ranked finding and attach it to a one-page proposal to the owner of the systemic fix.

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From canvas to proposal

One page, five parts

The finding in one sentence, with location and impact. The evidence: what you observed, who walked the journey, what lenses were used, what people with lived experience said. The two fixes, each with owner, date and cost in time and money as far as you know. The cost of doing nothing: what is lost each month the barrier stands, in people stopped, cases closed, complaints, staff time spent on workarounds and duty unmet. The decision requested: exactly what you are asking the reader to approve, by when.

Write for the person who can say yes

Lead with impact and the decision requested, not with the method. A director does not need the eight categories; they need to know who is being stopped, what it costs, what you propose and what you need from them. Put the canvas behind the page as the detail.

Keep the record

Date the audit, the proposal and the decision. When the fix is made, run the success test and record the result next to the canvas. An audit trail that shows a barrier found, a fix made and a test passed is what turns individual effort into organizational memory.

No fix without an owner and a test

What you can change

You control whether every fix in your report has a named owner with authority, a date and a test a person can pass.

What to watch for

Do not let “IT will look into it” or “procurement should require accessibility” stand as a fix. Name the person, the date and the test, or the finding will still be there next year.

Your next step

Review your last three recommendations. For each, write the owner’s name, the decision date and the test. If you cannot, the recommendation is not finished.

Finishing the audit

Immediate fix

Restores access for the person now, by a named person, today or this week. It is the duty being met while the design is corrected, not a permanent workaround.

Systemic fix

Changes the design, rule, template, room or contract so nobody is stopped at that touchpoint again. Needs an owner with authority and a date.

Owner

A named person or office with the authority to make the change. Not a department name, not a hope.

Success measure

A test a person can pass, run by the people the barrier affected, paid, before release and after each major change.

Cost of doing nothing

People stopped, cases closed, appeal rights lost, staff time on workarounds, complaints and unmet duty, per month. The number that makes a proposal real.

Which improvement proposal is most likely to produce a real change?

“The lobby kiosk is inaccessible and should be fixed. IT has been notified.”

“The lobby kiosk has no audio output or keyboard access, so people who are blind cannot check in independently and wait longer. Interim: staff greet and check in on request, starting today, owner the lobby lead. Systemic: replace the kiosk with one that meets the state standard, owner the facilities system manager, decision requested within 30 days. Success: a blind tester checks in independently.”

“Kiosk accessibility should be considered in future procurement.”

Try a situation

A job applicant who uses a screen reader tells human resources that the state application form has unlabeled fields and a timed session she could not extend, so she could not finish. Human resources offers to take her application by phone and asks you to “close the loop.”

What does closing the loop mean here?

Confirm the phone application was taken and mark the issue resolved.

Record the phone application as the immediate fix, complete the canvas with the systemic fix, remediation or replacement of the form with keyboard and screen-reader testing before release, name the owners in human resources, technology and procurement, and set a success test.

Ask the applicant to document the defects in detail so the vendor can fix them.

Carry this forward

The immediate fix restores access for the person now; the systemic fix changes the design so nobody is stopped there again. Both are required; neither substitutes for the other.
A fix has an owner with authority and a date, or it is a wish.
Success is measured by a test a person can pass, not by the fix being installed.

One completed canvas for a real finding; a knowledge check about an improvement proposal.

Complete the canvas for the highest-ranked finding in your audit and send it, with a one-page proposal, to the owner of the systemic fix. Ask for a decision date.

Your next step

Which finding in your audit is ready for a canvas today?

Complete the eight canvas questions for it in one sitting

Name the owner of the systemic fix and the authority they need

Write the test a person will pass when the fix has worked

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Mark this lesson complete

Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.