10 minutes
Present the decision request and sustain the change Make a clear, accessible decision request to leadership, review your work against the capstone rubric, and set up the ownership and review that keep the barrier from returning.
What you’ll be able to do Present a clear, accessible decision request to leadership, self-review the project against the capstone rubric, and establish the ownership and review points that sustain the change. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: What does the team change? Document a next step for Present the decision request and sustain the change: Present the plan, record the decisions made, and put the 30-day check on the operating owner’s calendar before you leave the room. Ask for decisions, pass your own test, plan the after A decision request is short and specific. It opens with what the team is asking leadership to decide: approve the plan, fund the ongoing line from a named budget, confirm the operating owner, adopt the standard for the unit or beyond. It gives the problem statement, the people affected, the co-designed solution, the owner, the cost, the risks and the three sets of measures, each in a sentence or two, with the full plan sent ahead. The story of the team’s journey is two slides at most. Leaders should leave knowing what they decided, not how the team felt.
The presentation has to pass the test it is proposing. Materials go out at least three working days ahead as accessible documents; the deck uses real text, headings, alt text and sufficient contrast; captions are on; the presenter describes what is on each slide; and there is a private way to request access to the meeting. A capstone about accessibility delivered inaccessibly has failed on its own terms, and the people it is for will notice.
Sustainment starts in the room. Before the meeting ends, the operating owner is confirmed, the 30-day check is on that owner’s calendar, and the item is placed on a review agenda at the 90 and 180 day points. The old templates, settings and processes have a removal date. The co-design participants are told what was decided and credited as they chose. The capstone rubric below is for the team’s own self-review; it awards no credit or credential, and it is most useful when the team scores itself honestly before presenting and fixes the weakest criterion first.
The capstone rubric, for self-review Clearly identifies a real access barrier · 15% The problem statement names a recurring, specific barrier within the team’s authority, the people who meet it and what it costs them. Strong work here reads as obvious in hindsight; weak work reads as a theme.
Centers lived experience and co-design · 20% People who meet the barrier shaped the options before they were narrowed, were compensated or given protected time, and the plan records what changed because of them. The largest weight, because it most distinguishes work done with people from work done for them.
Proposes feasible, sustainable solutions · 20% The solution addresses the root causes across functions, fits the authority and budget available, removes the old way, and names an operating owner. A solution that depends on reminders or goodwill scores low here.
Includes accessibility and equity considerations · 15% The impact assessment asks who could be left out by the fix itself, by tool, language, connectivity, geography or income, and adjusts. The presentation and materials are themselves accessible.
Defines accountable owners and measurable outcomes · 15% One accountable owner by role who has agreed; measures at 30, 90 and 180 days that can be sourced, describe the process and the aggregate experience, and never rate an individual.
Communicates clearly and accessibly · 15% The decision request is specific and brief, the plan was sent ahead in an accessible format, the deck passes a keyboard and screen-reader check, and the presenter describes visuals. Plain language throughout.
Leave with decisions and a calendar entry What you can change The team controls whether the meeting ends with decisions recorded and the 30-day check scheduled, or with thanks.
What to watch for Do not end on “Questions?” without having asked for anything. Do not present an accessibility plan as a scanned image or an undescribed slide.
Your next step Write the decision sentences now, send the accessible plan three working days ahead, and book the 30-day check before you present.
The decision request, in order The decisions requested, one sentence each: approve, fund, confirm the owner, adopt the standard.
The barrier and the people it affects, from the problem statement.
The solution as co-designed, with what changed because of the people involved.
Owner, timeline, budget and the line it comes from.
Risks with responses, and the impact check.
Measures at 30, 90 and 180 days, with sources.
The decisions, restated, and the date of the 30-day check.
Sustaining the change Operating owner
A role, not a person, in the function that lives with the change, confirmed in the room and reflected in that role’s responsibilities.
Removal date
The day the old templates, settings and processes leave circulation. Until then, people will revert to what is easiest to find.
Review points
The 30, 90 and 180 day checks on a named agenda, with the measures and their sources agreed in advance.
Closing the loop
Co-design participants and the people who first named the barrier are told what was decided and what happens next, and credited as they chose.
Carry this forward A decision request asks for specific decisions: approve, fund, assign, adopt. A presentation that ends in “thank you” asked for nothing.
The presentation itself must be accessible; a capstone on access delivered with an image-only deck has failed its own test.
Sustainment is designed, not hoped for: an operating owner, the old way removed, and a review point on someone’s agenda.
One knowledge check; a drafted decision request and a completed self-review against the rubric.
Present the plan, record the decisions made, and put the 30-day check on the operating owner’s calendar before you leave the room.
Browse and download only. Course notes are not typed or saved on this page.
Reset this lesson
Previous lesson Back to course 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.
