Writing about WCAG 3 updates and anxiety-based disabilities

Hello fellow AGWG and WCAG 3 / Silver folks,
I’d like to raise a topic for consideration.
BLUF:
When we write about WCAG 3, might we recommend / provide a disclaimer or note of emphasis at the outset that we expect a lot more work to be done and the material in the article / post should not be viewed as indicative of the final state?
For example, the recent working draft is still expected to undergo many revisions.
The reason I raise this is many people in the tech community with disabilities who do not participate in the W3C are expressing stress and overwhelm at the 174 new outcomes. People have expressed distress, hopelessness, and a lack of confidence at the communicated direction, only because it isn’t communicated clearly that the 174 new outcomes are not necessarily representative of the final output.
There are a variety of cognitive / neuro / trauma disabilities that hear this news and experience a state of hyper-arousal, panic, and reactivity. I know AGWG hopes to be inclusive of the range of disability and this is an area that was not well-known in past work. This disability community is especially distressed at the idea of 174 new outcomes, so communicating that this is expected to undergo more revision will help to alleviate that anxiety.
Thank you,
Jen
Jennifer Strickland (they/them, she/her)
Senior Human Centered Accessibility Engineer
Collaboration Solutions (L178)
The MITRE Corporation
Email: jstrickland@mitre.org<mailto:jstrickland@mitre.org>
Cell: 571-319-2230

Received on Wednesday, 22 May 2024 14:31:32 UTC