Accessibility roles and hiring survey 2022 basic data

24 Feb 2023

Introduction

In July and August of 2022, I conducted a brief, anonymous survey using Google Forms. My goal was to collect employment data from people who currently work in digital accessibility, as well as those looking to enter the field. I shared this survey with my network via a Tweet and a LinkedIn post. I also reported some initial findings during a talk at A11yTO Conf in October 2022.

In this blog post, I will share the basic quantitative data I collected.

In total, I heard from 505 respondents. I discarded one for lack of valid data. Of the remaining 504 responses, 442 were from individuals who currently do or recently did accessibility work as part of their job. 62 were not in the field. These respondents reported being interested in the field, or studying an adjacent field.

I did not collect email addresses, IP addresses, or any other identifying information from participants. To help avoid situations where participants might feel uncomfortable about providing demographic data, I made some questions, such as those about race/ethnicity and country, optional and open answer. On required questions, I provided a "prefer not to say" option.

Job roles, organizations, and scope

I asked participants to respond to questions about employment, roles, compensation, and organizations. All questions were asked in relation to their most recent work experience.

Did you (like many people) quit a job in 2020, 2021, or 2022?

This question was required and respondents could make a single choice from a list. There were 504 respondents.

Do you do accessibility work?

This question was required and respondents could make a single choice from a list. There were 504 respondents.

The remaining questions in this section were asked of respondents who answered some variation of "Yes" to the question about working in the field.

What categories best describe your role?

This question was required and respondents could make multiple choices from a list, so the percentages do not equal 100%. Respondents could also add their own descriptors. There were 895 total responses from 442 respondents, meaning an average of approximately 2 roles per respondent.

After you began the job, did the scope of the role change?

This question was required and respondents could make a single choice from a list. There were 442 respondents.

What type of organization do you work in?

This question was required and respondents could make a single choice from a list. Respondents could add their own description, which I took into account. There were 442 respondents.

Do you feel you have the resources and support you need to do your accessibility work effectively?

This question was required and respondents could make a single choice from a list. There were 442 respondents.

What resources and supports are missing?

Respondents could make multiple choices from a list and also add their own descriptors, so the percentages do not equal 100%. There were 1357 responses total from 442 respondents, meaning each participant included an average of about 3 responses.

How are you compensated compared to colleagues in similar roles who don't have accessibility expertise?

This question was required and respondents could make a single choice from a list. There were 442 respondents.

Demographics

For full disclosure, I did intend to include a question about gender in the survey, but I missed it in the final product. Any followup surveys I do will include questions about gender and other facets of personal identity.

Why is accessibility important to you?

This question was required for all respondents and respondents could make a single choice from a list. There were 504 respondents.

Do you identify as disabled or having a disability?

This question was required and respondents could make a single choice from a list. There were 504 respondents.

Do you identify as neurodivergent?

This question was required and respondents could make a single choice from a list. There were 504 respondents.

In what region do you live?

This question was required and open answer, and actually asked respondents to enter their country or countries. There were 502 valid responses, with 2 of those respondents listing multiple countries.

To help protect the anonymity of the survey, I have grouped responses into regions, using the United Nations geoscheme. I'm no geography expert, so I am very open to suggestions for other systems. In total, there were 503 regions from 502 respondents. (Of the 2 respondents who listed multiple countries, one resided in a single region, while another resided in two regions.)

I should also note that I am based in the United States and have worked extensively in the US and Canada, so this is reflected in my network.

How would you describe your race and/or ethnicity?

This question was optional and open answer. There were responses from 287 respondents.

Responses varied widely based on respondents' personal identities and culture, and some participants provided multiple responses, so percentages do not add up to 100%.

Since this data was international, I've grouped responses with the intention of providing information about the racial and ethnic makeup of the participant pool without publishing potentially identifying information. I'm very open to recommendations for how to better organize this data.

• 232 (80.8%) respondents identified as White, White-European, Caucasian, Caucasian-European, etc.
• 30 (10.5%) respondents identified as Asian, East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Chinese-American, Korean-American, Vietnamese-American, or as a specific Asian nationality (Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Pakistani).
• 20 (7.0%) respondents identified as biracial, multiracial, mixed, or multiethnic, or listed multiple races and/or ethnicities in their responses.
• 17 (5.9%) respondents identified as Black, Black-American, African-American, of African descent, Caribbean, or Haitian.
• 11 (3.8%) respondents identified as Hispanic/Latin.
• 4 (1.4%) respondents identified as native, indigenous, or a member of a specific native or indigenous group.
• 4 (1.4%) respondents identified as Jewish.
• 3 (1.0%) respondents identified as Middle Eastern.

What is your age?

This question was required and respondents could make a single choice from a list. I used the same age buckets that have been used in WebAIM's surveys of web accessibility practitioners, to help with comparison.

What you can do with this data

Feel free to cite and remix this data in presentations, posts, and other research. I simply ask that you link back to this post. If you can, make your own research and analysis public.

Here's a citation you can use in APA format:

Persing, Devon. (2023, February, 24). Accessibility roles and hiring survey 2022 basic data. dpersing.com. https://dpersing.com/posts/survey2022part1

Next steps

In a follow up post, I will provide deeper analysis on the quantitative data and how it was supported by long-form answers and overall sentiment in the survey. I also want to share my thoughts on what the results mean for our field, and how I would improve the survey for next time.