accessibility-debt-tracking

Name: accessibility-debt-tracking
Author: Owl-Listener

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How to install accessibility-debt-tracking?

owl-listener/inclusive-design-skills/accessibility-debt-tracking

$npx -y skills add Owl-Listener/inclusive-design-skills --skill accessibility-debt-tracking

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Track and manage accessibility debt — known accessibility issues that have been deferred. Use when managing a backlog of accessibility issues, planning remediation, or when accessibility problems are accumulating faster than they're being fixed. Triggers on: accessibility debt, t

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SKILL.md

1	# Accessibility Debt Tracking
2
3	Track accessibility debt the way you'd track technical debt — as a
4	known liability with a cost that compounds over time.
5
6	## What Is Accessibility Debt
7
8	Accessibility debt is every known accessibility issue that exists
9	in your product but hasn't been fixed. It includes:
10	- Issues found in audits that were deprioritised
11	- Tradeoffs where accessibility was deferred
12	- New features shipped without full accessibility
13	- Regressions introduced by updates or redesigns
14	- Known gaps in assistive technology support
15
16	## Why It Compounds
17
18	Unlike a feature request that just waits, accessibility debt
19	grows:
20	- Each new feature built on top of an inaccessible foundation
21	inherits the inaccessibility
22	- Users with disabilities develop workarounds that break when
23	you eventually fix things differently than they expect
24	- Legal exposure increases with time and awareness
25	- The longer an issue persists, the more expensive it becomes
26	to fix (code has grown around it)
27	- Team knowledge of why the issue exists fades
28
29	## Debt Record Format
30
31	For each known accessibility issue, track:
32
33	Issue: clear description of the accessibility barrier
34	Severity: critical (blocks task) / major (significant difficulty) /
35	minor (friction)
36	Who's affected: specific user groups
37	Where: page, component, or flow
38	WCAG criteria: which success criteria it violates
39	Discovered: date and how (audit, user report, testing)
40	Deferred because: the reason it wasn't fixed immediately
41	Workaround: any temporary alternative for affected users
42	Estimated fix effort: small / medium / large
43	Remediation deadline: when it must be fixed
44	Owner: who is responsible for the fix
45
46	## Managing the Debt
47
48	### Triage Rules
49	- Critical (blocks task): fix in current sprint, no exceptions
50	- Major (significant difficulty): fix within 30 days
51	- Minor (friction): fix within 90 days
52	- Any issue older than its deadline gets escalated
53
54	### Preventing New Debt
55	- Accessibility acceptance criteria on every story
56	- Accessibility check before merge (automated + manual)
57	- Regression testing for previously fixed issues
58	- New features cannot ship with critical accessibility debt
59
60	### Paying Down Debt
61	- Allocate a percentage of each sprint to debt reduction
62	(10–20% is common)
63	- Fix debt when you're already touching the component
64	- Prioritise by: severity × number of users affected
65	- Celebrate debt reduction — make it visible
66
67	### Tracking Regressions
68	- When a previously fixed issue reappears, it's a regression
69	- Regressions should be treated as critical by default
70	- Add automated tests for every fix to prevent recurrence
71	- Track regression rate as a quality metric
72
73	## Assessment Questions
74
75	1. Is there a documented list of known accessibility issues?
76	2. Does each issue have a severity, owner, and deadline?
77	3. Is accessibility debt being paid down each sprint?
78	4. Are regressions caught and treated as critical?
79	5. Is the debt trend improving or worsening over time?

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