Final Review of What Every Engineer Should Know About Digital Accessibility

Wrapping Up January: A Final Review of This Month’s Read

As we conclude January, it’s time to reflect on our first book of 2025: What Every Engineer Should Know About Digital Accessibility by Sarah Horton and David Sloan. This book offered a structured approach to understanding and implementing digital accessibility, making it a valuable resource for software developers, engineers, and designers alike.

What This Book Does Well

One of the book’s biggest strengths is its clear roadmap for accessibility in engineering. Too often, development teams treat accessibility as an afterthought—something to be fixed in the backlog rather than built into the process. This book challenges that mindset and provides practical strategies for incorporating accessibility from the start.

Key highlights include:

• A strong focus on disability and digital inclusion, reinforcing that accessibility is about people first.
• A deep dive into WCAG and core accessibility principles, making it a great reference for those new to accessibility.
• A technical, engineering-focused approach that positions accessibility as an integral part of product development rather than a separate task.

For students, early-career engineers, or anyone looking to understand how accessibility fits into the software development lifecycle, this book is a must-read.

‍A Challenging but Rewarding Read

‍While the content was extremely valuable, I found the book to be more technical and at a higher reading level than expected. This wasn’t an easy read, but it’s one I wish I had when transitioning from web development to accessibility expertise.

In my experience, development teams tend to categorize accessibility issues as just another batch of technical bugs—this book offers a different approach, showing how accessibility should be woven into the entire product development process.

‍A Lasting Resource (For Now…)

‍This book will remain a relevant accessibility resource for years to come, providing foundational knowledge for developers, designers, and engineers. Of course, once WCAG 3 is released, I fully expect we’ll see an updated edition to reflect new standards and evolving best practices!

‍Your Thoughts?

‍What did you think of this book? Share your insights in the Accessibility Book Club LinkedIn group, and let’s continue the conversation! 📖 Join the discussion here in the club!