folio

I regularly train managers on the best practices of creating accessible and inclusive content, and yet every time I seek to refresh their memories — usually after discovering they’ve carried on regardless — they respond, “This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this.”

I could point to emails I’ve sent, documentation I’ve provided or appeal to training once delivered, but in the end I must join in this game of pretend in which we unceasingly make excuses for our mediocrity.

I think I am beyond getting wound up by the lack of professionalism. I can advise and guide as much as I like, but if their hearts are not in it, there’s little I can do to bring about change, other than surreptitiously tidying up after them.

My job nowadays is mostly about being a pragmatist. It involves a lot of compromise, and quite a lot of doing other people’s work for them. If I set out a bold vision for a new way forward a year ago, imagining a talented multi-disciplinary team dedicated to applying expertise, I now realise humility is the best approach.

In short, reinforcing the same notions repeatedly, until it finally begins to sink in, pretending once more that this is all new, never mentioned before and certainly not a core component of their role, fundamental to the work we do. In short, just keep on keeping on.