Accessibility Engineering

---
name: accessibility-engineering
description: "Turn an accessibility barrier into an engineering fix with a test, without claiming a conformance certificate. Use when the user mentions accessibility bug, a11y fix, keyboard trap, screen reader bug, or asks for a accessibility engineering note. Engineering skill by Yasir Jilani."
license: MIT
compatibility: Agent Skills standard. No network access, extra packages, or credentials required.
metadata:
  author: Yasir Jilani
  version: "1.0.0"
  domain: engineering
---

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     Edit the 'accessibility-engineering' entry in source/, then run:
       python3 scripts/generate.py && python3 scripts/validate.py
     See CONTRIBUTING.md. -->

# Accessibility Engineering

Turn an accessibility barrier into an engineering fix with a test, without claiming a conformance certificate.

## When to use this skill

Use this skill when the user:

- accessibility bug
- a11y fix
- keyboard trap
- screen reader bug

## When not to use this skill

- The user wants a different domain's specialist skill.
- The task requires a licensed professional to decide, and the user only needs a referral note rather than a draft.
- The request asks you to deceive, evade a control, or hide material facts.

## Professional boundary

Prefer the repository's existing patterns. Do not disable security controls, invent credentials, or introduce network calls the user did not ask for.

## Operating boundaries

- Use only information the user provides or files they explicitly ask you to read. Do not invent metrics, laws, citations, prices, credentials, or clinical facts.
- Do not ask for passwords, API keys, tokens, seed phrases, one-time codes, or payment card data.
- Do not send data to an external service, install packages, or add network calls as part of this skill.
- Separate facts, assumptions, and recommendations. If a required input is missing, state the assumption or ask one focused question.
- If the user asks you to deceive a person, evade a control, forge a record, or cause harm, stop. Offer a legitimate alternative.
- Work product that affects money, employment, health, safety, or legal rights is a draft for a qualified human to review before it is used.

## Inputs to collect

- The barrier
- The user impact
- The code or component involved
- The team's stated target

## Workflow


### 1. Reproduce

The exact barrier, such as a keyboard trap or a missing name. Do not claim you ran an assistive technology you did not run.
### 2. Fix

The specific code or component change. Prefer the platform's accessible primitive over a custom widget.
### 3. Test

A check the team can repeat, automated where it fits and manual where it does not.
### 4. Regression

Where this should live so it does not return.
### 5. Limits

What this fix does not prove. No blanket WCAG certificate.
### 6. Priority

Blockers to completing a task outrank cosmetic contrast issues, unless their policy says otherwise.

## Output

Deliver a **accessibility engineering note**.

- Purpose of this accessibility engineering note, in two sentences.
- Facts the user supplied, listed separately from assumptions.
- The work itself, in the structure the workflow names.
- Open questions, risks, and the single next action with an owner.
- What a qualified reviewer still needs to confirm, if the domain is regulated.

## Quality bar

- Every number, date, name, and citation came from the user or is marked as an assumption.
- The artifact can be used without reading this skill again.
- Recommendations are specific enough that someone could accept or reject them.
- Boundaries were respected: no credentials requested, no unsupported professional claim, no deception.

## Example

### Scenario

Aisha Rahman, engineering lead at Fieldnote in Edmonton, needs an accessibility engineering note by 30 September 2026. A modal traps keyboard focus, and the proposed fix is a README badge that says 'accessible'.

### Example data

```text
From: Aisha Rahman, engineering lead
Organization: Fieldnote, Edmonton
Date: 14 September 2026
Needed by: 30 September 2026

A modal traps keyboard focus, and the proposed fix is a README badge that says 'accessible'.

The barrier: Checkout service is open. Invoice job was raised verbally and never logged
The user impact: Checkout service, recorded 14 September 2026. No supporting file attached
The code or component involved: Checkout service, recorded 14 September 2026. No supporting file attached
The team's stated target: 140
```

### Example outcome

**Accessibility engineering note**
To: Aisha Rahman, engineering lead, Fieldnote
Date: 14 September 2026 · Needed by: 30 September 2026

**Decision**
Specifies the focus fix and a keyboard test, and rejects the badge as proof.

**What the file supports**

| Input | Value | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The barrier | Checkout service is open. Invoice job was raised verbally and never logged | Needs confirmation |
| The user impact | Checkout service, recorded 14 September 2026. No supporting file attached | Carried into the draft |
| The code or component involved | Checkout service, recorded 14 September 2026. No supporting file attached | Carried into the draft |
| The team's stated target | 140 | Needs confirmation |

**How this draft was built**

**1. Reproduce**  
The exact barrier, such as a keyboard trap or a missing name. Do not claim you ran an assistive technology you did not run.

**2. Fix**  
The specific code or component change. Prefer the platform's accessible primitive over a custom widget.

**3. Test**  
A check the team can repeat, automated where it fits and manual where it does not.

**4. Regression**  
Where this should live so it does not return.

**5. Limits**  
What this fix does not prove. No blanket WCAG certificate.

**Deliberately not done**
- A conformance certificate from a guess.
- A custom widget when a native control would do.
- Closing the bug with no regression check.

**Open items for a human**
- Confirm every row marked *Needs confirmation* above before this leaves draft.
- Anything absent from the file stayed absent. No figure, date, or name was supplied from outside it.

Next: Aisha Rahman by 30 September 2026. This is a draft, not a sign-off.

## Anti-patterns

- A conformance certificate from a guess.
- A custom widget when a native control would do.
- Closing the bug with no regression check.

## Related skills

- `accessibility-review`
- `test-strategy`