The setup: I thought I was "pretty good" at a11y
I shipped a client site earlier this year that I was genuinely proud of. Fast, clean, nice motion, sensible structure. I had aria labels sprinkled in. Focus states visible. Color contrast checked with a browser extension.
I walked around thinking: this is solid. Not perfect, but above average. Better than the usual marketing-page glitter I see launch on Product Hunt.
The client then told me they had booked an external accessibility audit. Corporate policy. Third-party vendor. Full WCAG report.
I said "nice, happy to collaborate". What I meant was "sure, let them rubber-stamp my genius".
