A11Y (Accessibility) Slack Community Code of Conduct

Welcome!

A11y is a Slack community of individuals passionate about accessibility who voice their opinions. It is a space to ask questions, help other people figure stuff out or chat about accessibility in general.

The current admins are:

• Marcy Sutton Todd (lead) - @marcysutton
• Alex Umstead
• Cassey Lottman
• Bianca Zanardi - @zbianca
• Jon Farrell - @jonmfarrell
• James Sheasby Thomas - @rightsaidjames

We want this to be a friendly, pleasant, and harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or place of employment.

We do not tolerate harassment or intimidation of participants in any form. Nor do we allow ad hominem attacks, meaning attacks on a person's character rather than the substance of their argument. While disagreements do happen, we expect our community to be kind and professional.

A core tenet of accessibility and disability rights is "Nothing About Us Without Us". This is one area that is non-negotiable in our community. Therefore, it is accepted that someone may be asked to stop promoting a product, service, or idea that dismisses gathering of feedback from people with disabilities.

Key Points

Do contribute to a friendly, encouraging atmosphere with your participation.

Do ensure all content is accessible.

Do ensure that statements, articles, and recommendations are factually accurate and supported by evidence.

Don’t send Direct Messages (DMs) without clear consent.

Do not make product announcements (solicitations) in channels other than #announcements, even if they are open source. You are still welcome to have accessibility discussions in content channels as long as they are not product or service advertisements. See our full solicitation policy below.

Participants asked to stop any harassing or inappropriate behavior are expected to comply immediately.

Enforcement

We follow a 3-strikes-you're-out rule where admins provide feedback on problematic behavior in a private DM with the hope that a person can improve their conduct. Sometimes this is appropriate when the issue is a difference in communication style or disagreements about group policy. We also keep in mind that we are an accessibility group with many neurodivergent members.

That said, sometimes conduct can be severe or harmful enough that we reserve the right to ban someone immediately (an "insta-ban").

As an admin group, we do our best to resolve disagreements with fairness and understanding. We strive to uphold our Code of Conduct rules as peacefully as possible.

Accessibility of Posted Content

Ensure all content shared in Slack is accessible. This includes:

• Providing alternative text for images and graphics.
• Providing captions and/or transcripts for media content.
• Warning users about flashing or moving screens.
• Using inclusive, plain language.

Content Recommendations

While A11y is a community to share one’s thoughts on accessibility, it is not a fully private space. Members may represent themselves as well as companies. For a member looking to limit their own liability in this space, it is recommended to clearly delineate facts from opinions.

Do ensure that statements, articles, and recommendations are factually accurate and supported by evidence and testing. Cite your sources when posting in the workspace and to be mindful of the language you use when criticizing companies or individuals.

If you find yourself at the center of a lawsuit stemming from content in this group, please let the admins know. You can also contact the Electronic Frontier Foundation or legal groups such as Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic.

Solicitation Policy

It is important to recognize that accessibility professionals in this Slack community are providing their time and expertise for free. For this reason, we ask that participants follow these guidelines when **requesting labor or promoting a product or service**:

• Advertisements for a product or service, as well as requests for community feedback on a product or service, should only be posted in the #announcements channel. This applies equally to commercial products and services, as well as those that are fully or partially open-source.
• Discussions about _doing the work_ as accessibility practicioners is still appropriate in other channels, as long as members' motivations and interests are clear. **Provide transparency by keeping your company and role updated in your profile and including disclaimers when you work on a given tool or at a given company.**
• Note: Whether something could be considered advertising or education depends on who benefits. Education will benefit learners (e.g. developers, designers, etc.), while advertising largely benefits the advertisers.
• Surveys should only be posted in the #surveys channel. When posting a survey, please respect participants' desire for transparency around how their personal information will be used, by including all of the following:
  • The individual(s) and/or organization(s) running the survey.
  • How the responses will be used.
  • Whether anonymized data will be available to individuals who participated in the survey.

We have dedicated channels for individuals who are looking for work and individuals or organizations who are hiring:

• If you are looking for work, post in #job-career-chat.
• If you are hiring for one or more roles, post in #job-board.

Failure to adhere to our solicitation policies after 3 notices will result in a permanent ban.

Direct Message (DM) Policy

We have a contact preferences field on user profiles in the A11y Slack, where members can state how or if they can be contacted in Slack. Please respect members' contact preferences and keep these additional guidelines in mind:

• Unsolicited DMs are generally frowned upon, so think very carefully before sending.
• Requests for product reviews / feedback should not be sent in DMs at all without prior consent or expressed interest.
• Requests for free labor are an absolute no-no.
• Repeated, unwanted requests are considered harassment and will not be tolerated.

Harassment

Harassment includes:

• Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion
• Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.
• Deliberate misgendering or use of ‘dead’ or rejected names
• Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behavior in spaces where they’re not appropriate
• Simulated physical contact (e.g. textual descriptions like “hug” or “backrub”) without consent or after a request to stop.
• Threats of violence
• Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm
• Deliberate intimidation
• Sustained disruption of discussion
• Unwelcome sexual attention
• Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease
• Publication of non-harassing private communication
• Calling and/or emailing members without their prior consent

Reporting

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact the lead admin in a DM (@marcysutton). They'll respond as promptly as they can.

We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse. At our discretion, we may publicly name a person about whom we’ve received harassment complaints, or privately warn third parties about them. We will not name harassment victims without their affirmative consent.

Consequences

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the admins may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including deactivation from this Slack and identifying the participant publicly as someone about whom we've received complaints.

Participants should not change their handle or create a new one to avoid accountability for past actions. Also, if someone has been banned from the group they are not allowed to rejoin under a different email address, name, etc.

Logs and Records

Please be mindful that things you say here may at some point become public. We cannot prevent people from screencapping or otherwise logging this Slack. We also can't guarantee that every member's login credentials and logged-in devices are secure. Files uploaded here can be downloaded by anyone with a login. Please exercise caution and refrain from sharing sensitive information that could harm you or others if it became public.

We ask that members not repeatedly delete messages from Slack channels, either, as it affects the search history and creates gaps when users have commented.

If you have issues with a shared channel or any other related matter, contact Marcy Sutton for assistance.

Credits and License

This code of conduct is based on Annalee Flower Horne's Sample Slack Code of Conduct, which is in turn based on Geek Feminism's Community Anti-Harassment Policy. We have adapted the Sample Slack Code of Conduct for our own use under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Contributing

This Code of Conduct can be found on GitHub! Suggestions and contributions are welcome: https://github.com/accessibility/a11yslack