12 minutes
Spot the barrier Walk through a meeting invitation, a web form, a PDF, a training video and a community event; find the barriers, pair each with a fix, and decide what you own and what to route.
What you’ll be able to do Walk through five everyday artifacts, identify at least five barriers, pair each with a corrective action at the source, and distinguish what you can fix from what to route to the responsible office. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: How do you use the hour? Document a next step for Spot the barrier: Do the same walkthrough on five real items from your own unit this month and fix or route each one. How to look Spotting barriers is a habit of looking, not a technical skill. For each item, ask who could be stopped and where. Try to use it the way someone else would: select the text in the PDF, tab through the form without a mouse, watch the video with the sound off and then with your eyes closed, read the invitation as someone who uses a wheelchair or a screen reader, and picture the event from the parking lot to the restroom to the fire exit. Where you get stuck, someone else gets excluded.
Then pair each barrier with a corrective action at the source . The test of a real fix is simple: after it, is the barrier gone for everyone, or is it still there with a workaround taped to it? “Ask readers who need it to call” leaves the image PDF unreadable. “Rebuild it from the source document with real text and headings” removes the barrier. Finally, sort the list: what you own, fix now; what someone else owns, send to them with the barrier named, the fix suggested and the date it is needed by; what needs a specialist, such as a form platform or a building, route to the accessibility team or facilities with the same specifics. A barrier that is written down with an owner gets fixed. A barrier that is mentioned in a hallway does not.
The walkthrough: five items, the barriers, the fixes Meeting invitation Barriers: no access-needs line or contact; agenda attached as a scanned image; materials promised “on the day”; captions not mentioned; a room named but no route or restroom information.
Fixes: add the access-needs line with a named contact and a date; replace the scan with a real text agenda; commit to materials three working days ahead; state that captions are on and interpretation is available on request; describe the step-free route and nearest accessible restroom.
Online registration form Barriers: fields with placeholder text but no labels; a five-minute timeout; required fields shown only in red; a drag-and-drop file upload; an error message that says only “invalid entry.”
Fixes: add visible labels to every field; remove or extend the timeout with a warning; mark required fields with text; provide a standard file-selection button; write error messages that say which field and what to change. Route platform limits to the accessibility team.
PDF handout Barriers: scanned image with no text layer; no headings; no alt text on a chart; links pasted as bare addresses; a two-column layout that reads out of order.
Fixes: return to the source document; apply heading styles; write alt text for the chart; name the links; use a single column or check reading order; export as a tagged PDF and run the checker; post the source document too.
Training video Barriers: automatic captions never reviewed; no transcript; presenter refers to “this box here” on a slide that is never described; background music under narration; flashing transition effects.
Fixes: correct the captions; add a transcript; re-record or supplement so on-screen content is described; lower or remove the music; remove flashing effects, which can trigger seizures.
Community event Barriers: second-floor room reached by stairs; sign-in sheet in small type on a high table; no quiet space; no plan for an evacuation alarm that Deaf attendees cannot hear; parking two blocks away with no accessible spaces near the entrance.
Fixes: move to a ground-floor room with step-free egress; provide a large-print sign-in and a lowered table, or have a greeter sign people in; designate a quiet room; confirm visual alarms and an assisted evacuation plan with the venue; arrange accessible parking or drop-off at the entrance.
Write the barrier down with an owner What you can change You control whether a barrier you noticed becomes a note with an owner and a date or a comment that evaporates.
What to watch for Do not say “the form is a bit hard to use” in a hallway. Say “the upload is drag-and-drop only and the timeout is five minutes; both need to change before the session on the date we agreed,” in writing, to the owner.
Your next step For every barrier you find this month, write one line: what, where, the fix, the owner, the date.
Immediate fix, source fix Name the barrier specifically: what stops whom, where.
Provide an immediate path if someone is waiting: an accessible copy, a phone option, a different room today.
Fix the source if you own it: the template, the setting, the booking default.
If you do not own it, send the owner the barrier, the fix and the date, and copy the responsible office when a standard or a building is involved.
Check back on the date. A fix that was promised is not a fix.
Barrier, fix Image PDF
Fix: rebuild from the source with real text and heading styles; export tagged; post the source too. Not a fix: “call us for another format.”
Unlabeled form fields
Fix: visible labels on every field, text marking for required fields, clear error messages. Not a fix: a help line for people who cannot complete it.
Five-minute timeout
Fix: remove it, or extend it with a warning and a way to continue. Not a fix: advising people to prepare their answers in advance.
Uncaptioned video
Fix: accurate captions, a transcript, description of meaningful visuals. Not a fix: “best experienced with sound.”
Second-floor room
Fix: a ground-floor room with step-free egress, kept as the default. Not a fix: an escort at the elevator.
Alarm nobody can hear
Fix: visual alarms and an assisted evacuation plan confirmed with the venue. Not a fix: asking Deaf attendees to sit near staff.
Accessibility is mostly a habit of looking at your own work the way someone else has to use it, and fixing what you find at the source. Do it for five real items this month, and change the template so the fix stays.
Carry this forward Barriers cluster in predictable places: images posing as text, missing labels and captions, time limits, rooms without a step-free path, and plans that assume everyone can hear and climb.
A corrective action changes the thing that creates the barrier; anything that leaves the barrier in place and moves the cost to the person is not a fix.
Most barriers in a workday can be fixed by the person who created them. The rest have an owner and a responsible office, and both deserve a specific, written note.
A completed walkthrough with at least five barriers and a corrective action for each, and the final knowledge check for the course.
Do the same walkthrough on five real items from your own unit this month and fix or route each one.
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Reset this lesson
Previous lesson Back to course Carry this into practice Find the barriers hiding in rooms, documents, meetings, videos and emergency plans, and fix the ones you own before anyone has to ask.
Return to the experience: What did you notice or try, whose perspective informed it, and what would you keep or adjust?
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.
