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Inclusion sounds better together
Published about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Issue #19 • 07 October 2025
Hi Reader.
Lately, I’ve been reminded how much stronger our ideas become when we build them together. Whether it’s creating an accessible video campaign with fellow disabled creatives or sharing stories on stage with others who’ve lived the experience, the whole truly becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
This month’s Pedalpointer celebrates that spirit of collaboration—with a behind-the-scenes look at a set of inclusive marketing videos developed for a client, upcoming community events, and fresh resources to help make digital spaces more inclusive for everyone.
Feature Story: Making a Case for Vision
What began as a simple product demo turned into a full-scale collaboration among musicians, actors, audio/video pros, and accessibility advocates, all connected through lived experience of disability. See how we turned an assistive tech ad campaign into a joyful, creative showcase for inclusion, and watch the videos that resulted from this project.
Disabled Storytellers Collective: Tales of Disability at Work
Stories change cultures, especially when we tell them together. Join me and 10 other great presenters at Hire Diversity: Tales of Disability at Work on Sunday, October 19, 4–6 PM at The Foundry, 101 Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA. You’ll hear real workplace experiences from disabled professionals, celebrate the 80th anniversary of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and leave with practical insight for building more inclusive teams.
On Wednesday, October 22, I’m leading a free, hands-on workshop at the Woburn Community Resource Center on how accessibility lifts usability and conversions. We’ll practice identifying and fixing common barriers across websites, Word docs, and PowerPoint files, with examples that reflect blind, deaf, neurodiverse, and physically disabled users.
Accessibility doesn’t shrink your palette, it expands it. This myth-busting piece shows how bold pairs like yellow and purple can pass WCAG 2.2 with style—featuring six WCAG-tested palettes you can reuse, light and dark mode examples, a ready-to-use Figma file with variables, plus a clear, step-by-step process and video to build your own. Designing accessibly isn’t a limit on creativity, it’s a shortcut to better color decisions.
Misusing a button or link isn’t just a code quirk—it can derail accessibility and frustrate users. This guide from the A11Y Collective explains the golden rule (“links go places, buttons do things”), why keyboard interactions differ (links use Enter, buttons use Enter and Space), and common pitfalls like using anchors for actions or buttons for navigation. It also covers best practices for semantics, styling, and assistive tech support.
A new poll shows subtitles aren’t just for hearing loss—young viewers use them to keep up in noisy rooms, while multitasking, or when dialogue is unclear. It’s a reminder that accessibility features often become everyday essentials.
Have an outstanding October!
Simon Miner Pedal Point Solutions
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Web designers, developers, and content creators, get the latest in web accessibility news, tools, and techniques delivered to your inbox to help make your websites accessible and inclusive to visitors with disabilities.
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