Accessibility Engineer
Accessibility Engineers ensure digital products are usable by people with disabilities — auditing web and mobile applications against WCAG 2.2, wiring axe-core and Playwright into CI/CD, and testing manually with JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver. Their daily English covers writing audit reports precise enough for a legal team, explaining WCAG success criteria to product managers who have never heard of ARIA, and documenting remediation requirements clearly enough for a developer to fix without a follow-up call. This path builds the vocabulary for accessibility engineering and assistive technology work.
Topics covered
- WCAG conformance vocabulary
- ARIA roles, states & properties
- Assistive technology testing
- Automated a11y testing tools
- Audit report & VPAT language
- Accessible name computation
Vocabulary spotlight
4 terms every Accessibility Engineer should know in English:
A specific, testable requirement in the WCAG standard (such as 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum) that a page must meet to achieve a given conformance level
"The checkout form fails success criterion 3.3.2 because the required fields have no visible label."
The text a screen reader announces for an element, computed from a defined priority order of aria-labelledby, aria-label, and visible text content
"The icon-only button had no accessible name, so VoiceOver just announced "button" with no context."
A situation, intentional or accidental, where keyboard focus cannot leave a component — used deliberately in modals, but a serious bug everywhere else
"We built a focus trap into the modal so Tab cycles through its controls, but a bug also trapped focus in the page footer."
Voluntary Product Accessibility Template — a standardised document describing how a product conforms to accessibility standards, commonly requested during enterprise and government procurement
"Procurement asked for an updated VPAT before renewing the contract, since the last one was two major releases out of date."
📚 Vocabulary Reference
Key terms organised by category for Accessibility Engineers:
WCAG & Conformance
ARIA & Assistive Tech
Testing & Reporting
Recommended exercises
Real-world scenarios you'll practise
- Writing an accessibility audit report that a legal and procurement team can rely on for a VPAT submission
- Explaining why a color contrast failure blocks a release to a product manager who sees the design as "close enough"
- Documenting a remediation requirement precisely enough for a developer to fix a focus-order bug without a follow-up call
- Walking a design team through accessible name computation so their icon-only buttons pass a screen reader test
Recommended reading
Frequently Asked Questions
What English skills do Accessibility Engineers most need to improve?+
Accessibility Engineers most commonly need to improve: technical vocabulary (the correct English terms for domain concepts), collocation accuracy (using the right verb for each action), written communication (bug reports, PR descriptions, technical docs), and spoken communication for standups, code reviews, and stakeholder meetings.
How long does the Accessibility Engineer learning path take?+
The Accessibility Engineer learning path contains 20–40 hours of material studied comprehensively. Most learners focus on the highest-priority modules first and return to the rest over time. Spending 30 minutes per day for 4–6 weeks produces noticeable improvement in workplace English.
What vocabulary should a Accessibility Engineer prioritise first?+
Start with the vocabulary that appears most in your daily work — terms you read in documentation, use in commit messages, and hear in meetings. The Accessibility Engineer path begins with the most frequent vocabulary clusters before moving to advanced communication patterns.
Are there interview exercises for Accessibility Engineer roles?+
Yes. The Accessibility Engineer path includes role-specific interview question modules with model answers and key phrases — the actual questions interviewers ask and the vocabulary needed to answer them fluently. There is also a dedicated Interview Practice hub for general interview skills.
Does this path include pronunciation help?+
Yes. The path links to pronunciation exercises for the technical terms most commonly mispronounced in this domain. The Pronunciation hub includes drills for acronyms, silent letters, word stress, and minimal pairs — all in IT context.
What are the most common English mistakes Accessibility Engineers make?+
The most common mistakes: incorrect collocations (using the wrong verb with a technical noun), false friends from L1, tense errors when narrating past incidents or walkthroughs, and using overly formal or overly casual register in written communication.
How do I improve my English for code reviews?+
Learn the standard code review collocations: approve a PR, request changes, leave a nit, address feedback, block a merge, resolve a conversation. Use hedging language for suggestions: "This might be cleaner as…", "Have you considered…?". The Collocations section includes a dedicated Code Review set.
Can I use this path alongside my daily work?+
Yes — the path is designed for working professionals. Each exercise set takes 10–15 minutes. The most effective approach is to study a vocabulary module before a meeting or task where you'll use that vocabulary, then practise immediately after. Context-linked practice produces much faster retention.
Is the content free?+
Yes, completely free. No registration required, no payment, no time limit. All vocabulary modules, exercises, glossary entries, and learning path guides are open access.
How do I track my progress through this path?+
Progress is tracked in your browser's local storage — completed exercise sets are marked with a checkmark when you return. No account is needed. You can bookmark specific modules and use the exercises overview to see which sets you've completed.