Blog

I often see feel-good stories about new “disability” cards. I’m not sure I believe in it.

A critical look at the draft Digital Accessibility Standard, proposed to be implemented by the NZ Government Digital Delivery Agency.

Wellington city frequently uses bus stop designs that are virtually impossible for blind and vision impaired people to use. Let’s take a look at the design failure.

NZ’s public health system is one of the most important government services we interact with. So why does the government’s draft accessibility standard exclude health?

The interactive CWAC accessibility loserboard has moved to its own standalone site. Here’s what CWAC is, and where to find the live rankings.

Sadly a trend is sweeping Aotearoa’s web design agencies which makes websites unbelievably difficult to use. Enter the horrors of: the autoplaying homepage video.

New Zealand lacks coherent accessibility standards for disabled people. NZ First MP Jenny Marcroft’s proposed Accessibility Standards Bill aims to change that. These are my high-level first impressions of the Bill.

Recently I’ve noticed a trend, where the government scraps accessibility targets, then claims it will have no impact. I don’t buy it.

I made a short video about the PB/5 pedestrian crossing button and its design.

The government made a move to ban contactless payment surcharges, but they’ve backed down. I explain what this means for disabled people and accessibility.

When we hear computers or AI try to output Māori speech, it usually butchers the pronunciation. This was an issue for my automated blog audio system. So here’s the solution I found.

I asked the government how much each alternate format type costs. Here’s what I found.

I made a short video explaining Tactile Ground Surface Indicators (TGSI).

The NZ Government plans to join other nations in its adoption of the EN 301 549 accessibility standard. I explain why I think that’s a mistake.

Wellington’s central library recently reopened. I was happy about that — but visiting made me realise how much of it simply isn’t designed for people like me.

The ManageMyHealth breach exposes a system-level failure in how Aotearoa governs health IT security — relying on self-attestation, weak procurement controls, and the absence of enforceable standards.

NZ Government has a world-leading web accessibility measurement system, but the government is failing to use the data to create change. In this post, I outline what steps must be taken to complete the system.

Here’s a speech I gave at the Plain Language Awards 2025 at New Zealand Parliament.

I complained to the Public Service Commission about their failure to consider disabled people’s rights while handling the Plain Language Act Repeal Bill. In this article, I lay out all the documents for the public record.

Testing whether common ARIA attributes like `aria-label` are successfully translated by various webpage translation tools.

An exploration of blockquotes in HTML and CSS. Compare simple vs complex markup methods, with screen reader testing results across VoiceOver, NVDA, JAWS, and TalkBack.

Alt text for social media images makes them accessible to blind people, among other benefits. This guide explains how to add alt text to your social media images, and why it’s important.

Analysis of all written submissions to Parliament shows overwhelming public opposition to repealing the Plain Language Act — 96% say keep it.

Budget 2025 brings a range of changes for disabled people. Here’s what’s new — and what’s missing.

In this article, I analyse how the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) applies to the Government’s current plans to repeal the Plain Language Act.

Audio description makes videos accessible for people with low vision or blindness. Does the NZ Govt Web Accessibility Standard require audio description?

Many of us run browser extensions for automated accessibility testing. But how do we make this process easier for developers?

Art should engage all our senses, not just sight. In this post, I share some accessible art from Whakatū (Nelson) — the Braille waiata on the Aratuna Bridge.

The National Party is repealing the Plain Language Act. This Act was intended to ensure government documents are easy to understand.

A multi-sensory logo. A draft ARIA attribute. A story about accessibility, art, and the beauty of inclusive design.

aria-braille* attributes are in the WAI-ARIA 1.3 draft spec. This post shows my assistive technology testing results.

There’s a lot of confusion with automated accessibility testing. Here’s a clear, practical discussion on how automated and manual testing complement each other.

Meet OpenAccess — a new digital accessibility consultancy led by Callum McMenamin. Learn how it started, what OpenAccess stands for, and where it’s heading.