This document discusses Intuit's Accessibility Champion program, which aims to increase accessibility engagement and knowledge across the company. It outlines three levels of the program - Getting Started, Build Empathy, and Subject Matter Expert. Level 1 focuses on basic awareness training. Level 2 trains on empathy and auditing. Level 3 develops expertise through documentation, training, and certification. The program provides recognition, resources, and rewards to champions at each level to encourage participation and accessibility leadership across teams.

1. Expand Your Outreach
with an Accessibility
Champions Program
Ted Drake, Global Accessibility Leader
at Intuit.
CSUN ATC March 11, 2020

2. Today’s Goals
Explore Accessibility Champion styles
Intuit’s 3 Levels
How to increase engagement
Metrics
What does success mean?
Get started

3. Why Create an Accessibility Program?
“Does anyone here face serious burnout over the fight to
build inclusive services? Getting buy-in and creating a culture
of accessibility can be exhausting. I don’t want to be the
resident expert. I want to facilitate knowledge and growth my
having people in the teams around me champion
accessibility.”
-Anonymous, December 2, 2018
Web-A11y Slack Channel

4. Intuit's Accessibility Champion program recognizes a
commitment to building exceptional customer
experiences for all Intuit customers, regardless of
physical, cognitive, mental, and sensory abilities.
The awards include education, awareness, and
customer outreach.

5. Evolution of a
Centralized
Accessibility Team

8. Types of Champion Programs
Choose the structure that best fits your company
● Distributed Leaders
● Allies
● Mixed

9. Distributed leadership
Common structure for large companies
● Subject Matter Experts distributed across
company
● Centralized accessibility leadership
● High barrier to entry
● Great for solving difficult problems
Good examples: Google and BBC

10. Accessibility Allies
● Low barrier to entry
● High level of empathy
● Commonly used with Diversity and
Inclusion
● Awareness training
Good example: Kindness Ambassadors at
Magical Bridge, Cornell University

11. Mixed: Distributed Leaders + Allies
● Low barrier to entry
● Path to become a leader
● Distributed leaders
● Centralized leadership
● Increased empathy
● Expanded ownership and
conversation
Good example: ING and Intuit

12. Who are
our
champions

13. Level 1 - Getting Started
● Watch short videos on Disability
Etiquette and Accessible Design
● Join Accessibility Slack Channel
● Bookmark Intuit’s Accessibility
Web Site
● Create a Commitment
Statement
Vijay Anand
SVP Product Development

14. Level 1 - Optional for everyone
● Update Disability Self-
Disclosure Form
● Visit an Inclusive Playground
● Visit an Empathy Station
● Attend a training session
Alysha Love
Senior Marketing Mgr

15. Level 1 - Required for UX
● Keyboard Configuration (Mac)
● Install Chrome Plugins
● Run Audit of Web or Mobile App
● Create first issue
Mo Hamilton
Service Desk Analyst 2

16. Level 1 Completion
575 Level 1 Champions in 18 months.
17 Locations
60+ Roles
Rewards
● Stickers and T-Shirt
● Thank You Letter
● Badge on Profile
● Spotlight to Manager
● Inclusion in Champion Slack Channel Michael Webb
Service and Support Specialist

17. Level 2 - Build Empathy
● Complete Online Training
● Extended Disability Etiquette course
● Study Intuit’s Accessibility Guidelines
● Learn to use a Screen Reader
● Audit Project for Accessibility
● Go Home Interview
● Volunteer
● Create Closed Captions and Audio
Description Poonam Tathavadkar
SW Engineer 2
TurboTax Leader

18. Level 2 Champions
•11 Level 2 Champions
•6+ are close to completion
•Rewards
● Monetary Spotlight
● Jacket
● Level 2 Badge, Stickers, and Sign
● Recognition message sent to managers, VP,
and Intuit’s CEO
● 10% time officially allocated towards
accessibility across product/location
● Freedom to drive accessibility initiatives
● Conference and Travel Support
Kendall Gassner
Software Engineer 2
Component Gallery Lead

19. Level 3 - Subject Matter Experts
● Create Documentation for Project
● Deliver Accessibility Training
● Coordinate Team Go-Home and
Volunteer Activity
● Join Intuit’s Ability Network
● Participate in Online Forums
● Conference Participation/Speaking
● IAAP Certification
Sagar Barbhaya Staff SW
Engineer/ Accessibility Engineer

20. Level 3 Developers
● Implement Automated Testing
Frameworks in Product
● Monthly Product Audits
● Track Voice of Customer
● Manage Accessibility Tickets
for Product
Josh Harrison
Senior Software Engineer
TSheets Lead

21. Level 3 - Design
● Complete Microsoft’s Inclusive Design
Toolkit and Activities
● Audit Color Usage and Readability
● Create Design Documentation
● Develop Design Patterns for User
Preferences
● Integrate with Central Design Strategy
Ted Drake
Global Accessibility Leader

22. Level 3 - Customer Experience
● Complete Disability Etiquette
Program
● Provide Customer Care Training
● Monitor and Escalate Call
Summaries
● Create Product Documentation
● Learn Sign Language

23. Level 3 Champions
2 Level 3 Champions
4 Level 2 Champions close to promotion
Rewards
● Accessibility is core to job description
● International travel
● Independence to choose projects
● Global impact

24. Increase Champion Engagement
● Workshops and Classes
● Active community on Slack
● Recognition for progress
● Linked In recommendations
● Donuts
● Lunch and Learn Sessions
● Swag!

25. Swag
Champion specific stickers Champion only shirts

26. Recognition
● Introduction to Champion slack channel
● Badge on internal profile for recognition
● Spotlight sent to the champion and manager
● Thank you note to new champions
● Level 2 and 3 Champions celebrated with manager to
CEO
● Sign for Level 2 and 3 Champions’ desks

27. Resources
● Creating an accessibility champions network - AbilityNet
● Intuit’s Accessibility Champion Program - Blog post with details
● Coaching and celebrating champions - Slideshare