Meetings everyone can take part in
2026-10-05 · The Scrums team
Three years ago today, WCAG 2.2 became a web standard, and October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month in the US. A good moment to ask whether everyone on your team can really take part in your meetings.
On October 5, 2023, the W3C published WCAG 2.2, the current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. October is also National Disability Employment Awareness Month in the US. Together they're a good prompt for a plain question: can everyone on your team take a full part in your team's meetings?
Team rituals are full of small barriers. A retro board that only works by dragging with a mouse. Pale sticky notes on a pale background. A timer that only beeps. An estimation deck you can't reach with the keyboard. Each one quietly turns a teammate into a spectator.
What we do about it
- Every screen, every theme, every release. Before any change reaches scru.ms, an automated check scans the app's screens against WCAG 2.1 AA, the level most accessibility rules point to, in each of its ten themes. A serious problem stops the release.
- The keyboard works. In sprint poker you play a card with the number keys or the arrow keys, as well as with a mouse or a tap. In pages, a toolbar does everything the
/ menu does, for keyboard and screen-reader users. - Changes are announced. Screen readers hear form errors as they happen, not just a red outline.
- Writing, as well as talking. Standups in Scrums are written, so people answer in their own time and their own way. Our how-to videos have captions.
- Time you can see. The meeting timer counts down on screen and chimes at the end, so nobody depends on hearing it.
Small habits that help, whatever tool you use
- Share the agenda and the board before the meeting, so people can prepare.
- Give writing time before talking time. People who process by writing, or who are working in a second language, get their ideas in.
- Ask, privately, what gets in the way. The answers are usually simple to fix.
Accessibility isn't a feature you add at the end; it's a way of building. Try a retro with just your keyboard, no account needed, and tell us what we've missed.