Building muscle memory for accessibility

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Just as musicians develop muscle memory through hours of practicing rudimentary techniques until complex mechanics become second nature, we have to build our own muscle memory with assistive technologies by using them regularly. This hands-on experience transforms accessibility from an abstract checklist into an intuitive understanding that naturally informs every product decision.

Tight shot of me in a tank top playing drums, looking away from the camera
Punk band on stage with guitars pointing upward, me playing drums in the background

Photos from between 2000 and 2001. Playing drums with my band at the time, Standard Issue

Before I had a career in tech, I was a drummer in punk band. I was good too, or so I was told. But before I was good, I was very bad. Then at some point, there was a progression. That progression, from very bad to very good, happens to every drummer. Buddy Rich, Keith Moon, Neil Peart, Dave Grohl, anyone you’d consider to be a great drummer was at one point a completely terrible drummer.

Through practice, hours of repetition, and learning core rudiments, each of those once terrible drummers became great drummers. Each arm and leg, seemingly acting independently of one another, yet somehow on rhythm, is an amazing thing to behold. Even when it comes to simple beats, they hit the snares in the right spot, the hi-hats are kept at the right tension, all in a way that so clearly distinguishes them from the novices… the novices they used to be.

I’m talking about drums, but this analogy applies to any musical instrument. Or any craft, such as building digital products.

None of us were born knowing how to use a computer. We didn’t know to type on a keyboard. We didn’t have the vocabulary to describe what exactly is in on the screens in front of us. We didn’t have the hand/eye coordination to use a use mouse. Chances are that you are reading on the internet in a web browser and all of these things are now second nature to you.

In drumming, we have what are called rudiments. These are relatively small patterns that form the foundation for more extended and complex drumming patterns. There are several dozen of them, common ones including various types of rolls, flams, diddles, drags, etc. We’d practice these rudiments for hours, going from very slow to fast to slow again, reaching further extremes of speed… fast or slow, smoothing out transitions between them. We’d do this on a single drum, then we’d transition around the kit, building crucial mechanics over time.

When it comes to creating digital products, you’ve mastered those rudiments by the time you’re in a senior-level position, if not before. You can bang out navigation patterns, complex forms, content design, and software architectural solutions with the best of them. And you’ve mastered the tools and the hardware that you use to create all that stuff as well. This is all in your muscle memory.

Accessibility can be challenging because it’s not part of how we build our skills. Mouse and cursor and keyboard? Yes, yes, and yes. Screen reader? No. So what we’re left with is this huge delta between what we can do: create a great UX with non-assistive technology; and what we haven’t yet learned: delivering that same quality of UX for assistive technology users. The muscle memory isn’t there.

The good news is that these too are skills that can be learned. Like playing a musical instrument, there will be that misalignment between capability and taste, but it’s temporary. Through practice, the gap will close. And it will close sooner than you think because of that muscle memory you’ve already built!

Start learning how to use assistive technology with hands-on experience. MacOS is already packaged with VoiceOver and NVDA is a free download for Windows. Then start playing with keyboard-only navigation, then voice input. And I mean play. Attempt very basic interactions on different websites, though preferably start with ones you know offer good accessibility and move on from there. Learn to spot some of the differences and develop a sense of what makes certain patterns easier to use and what can make them more frustrating. Try doing any of the following:

Understanding how to perform these common tasks—or let’s say interaction rudiments—with both non-assistive and assistive technology is fundamental to making accessible design part of your muscle memory. It’s how you can move beyond checklists and get to a place where accessibility is imbued in every product decision.

It bears saying that learning to use assistive technology is never a substitute for doing research with users who have lived experience. But not having lived experience doesn’t mean you should avoid decisions about UX where assistive technology is concerned. You’re making those decisions regardless every time you put something on the web. A more achievable goal is building a product that assistive technology users can actually use because it has baseline functionality. If you get that far, you can do usability research without getting derailed by situations where, for example, users are unable to find any buttons because all the buttons are made with clickable divs instead of semantic HTML.

If you’re ready to rock, there are plenty of resources to help get you started. Here are a few that might be helpful.

And if you’re interested in what my friends and former band mates are up to these days, they’re still doing cool stuff.