Is there such a thing as practical accessibility magic?

Inspired by October, Practical Magic, and a “Lime in the Coconut” Milkshake Sour DIPA from Blue Owl Brewing, Amber, Chris, and Steve open their "spellbooks" and dive in... They’re looking for the changes that can make a real difference to a website's accessibility conformance.

Speaking of conformance levels, the conversation begins with the latest WCAG 3 draft. What might replace the familiar A, AA, and AAA conformance levels? How could reporting change? Listen, or read, to find out.

Then, our hosts put accessibility overlays under the “spell or curse?” test. The conversation draws on recent overlay research, accessibility guidance, and lawsuit data, but it also makes room for the people who installed a widget because they genuinely thought it would help.

And it isn't all about overlays, we talk about 5+ fixes that you can start implementing right now that are so impactful, the usability improvements can feel a bit like practical magic. Finally, the team discusses AI-assisted captions, translations, accessibility testing, and development, because these days what conversation is complete without a mini AI-related side tangent?

For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/186.

• (00:00:00) - Introduction
• (00:01:24) - Today's Beverage
• (00:08:53) - WCAG 3 Latest Draft: Our Reactions
• (00:18:18) - Practical Accessibility Magic Overview
• (00:18:49) - Brought to you by Accessibility Checker
• (00:20:03) - Spell, or Curse? We Talk About Overlays!
• (00:28:19) - Better Ingredients for Your "Magic" Accessibility Potions
• (00:33:06) - Can AI Help Us Cast Our Accessibility "Spells" Faster, Better?

This episode is a recording of an October 2026 WordPress Accessibility Meetup, brought to you by Equalize Digital. In this presentation, Deneb Pulsipher uses a real-world case study—the open-source plugin Polly Alt—to explore how we can ethically leverage generative AI as an accessibility aid by intentionally keeping a human in the loop. WordPress Accessibility Meetups are a 100% free and virtual community resource that takes place via Zoom webinars twice a month.

For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/185.

What does it actually take to design a modern, accessible website from the ground up?

In this episode of Accessibility Craft, we’re pulling back the curtain on the Equalize Digital website redesign. We talk about how we selected a design partner, why our original design budget nearly doubled, and how accessibility requirements were built into the process before the first Figma designs ever arrived. We also dig into accessibility QA during the design phase, and Steve shares some early thoughts on how the designs will become a modular, performant WordPress build.

Before all that, we preview WordPress Accessibility Day 2026 and taste Spindrift Tea in Blood Orange, a still brewed iced tea with real fruit juice that inspires some surprisingly strong opinions.

For show notes and a full transcript, go to AccessibilityCraft.com/184.

• (00:00:00) - Introduction
• (00:02:05) - Today’s Beverage: Spindrift Blood Orange Tea
• (00:08:31) - WordPress Accessibility Day 2026
• (00:13:15) - Our Website Redesign Update
• (00:13:39) - Sponsor: Accessibility Checker
• (00:14:46) - Choosing a Design Partner With Accessibility in Mind
• (00:19:38) - The Design Budget: Before and After
• (00:21:43) - Documenting Accessibility Requirements
• (00:28:34) - Reviewing Designs for Accessibility
• (00:35:28) - Accessible Designs Aren’t Boring!