Digital accessibility consulting
I'm Sam P O'Neill, and I believe great cultural experiences should be open to everyone. For the past five years, I've worked with ballets, orchestras, theatres, heritage sites, and other cultural organisations to make that a reality.
About
I've spent the last five years focused on digital accessibility in the arts and culture sector, working with organisations to make websites, ticketing systems, digital collections, and visitor-facing tools usable for people with disabilities, including people who use screen readers, switch devices, keyboard-only navigation, and other assistive technology.
I'm also a full stack developer, so I can go beyond a findings report: I can give your team concrete technical recommendations, review or write remediation code directly, and speak the same language as your developers about why an issue occurs and what a good fix looks like in your stack.
Culture and heritage organisations have their own particular challenges: rich media collections, bespoke content management systems, small teams, and complex purchase paths. I work with what your organisation already has, rather than asking you to start over, and I try to leave your team with skills and documentation they can keep using after an engagement ends.
Areas of focus
- WCAG 2.2, levels A, AA, and AAA
- Section 508 and ADA Title II/III digital compliance
- EN 301 549 (UK and EU public sector accessibility)
- Inclusive digital design for arts and culture institutions
Selected work
WCAG Workflow
Alongside consulting, I built WCAG Workflow, an all-in-one accessibility audit platform now used by over 1,000 people. It replaces scattered bookmarklets and spreadsheets with a free Chrome extension for manual and semi-automated WCAG 2.2 testing, a project dashboard for tracking issues, automated report generation, and Jira integration, so audits produce a documented, repeatable trail rather than a one-off PDF or spreadsheet.
Keyboard-navigable seat maps
For a venue client I built a full keyboard navigation system for complex seat maps, letting people choose seats for an orchestra, ballet, or theatre performance without ever touching a mouse.
Services
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Accessibility audits
Comprehensive WCAG 2.2 conformance reviews (level A, AA, and AAA where practical) covering websites, digital collections, and documents.
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Remediation guidance
As a full stack developer, I give concrete technical recommendations, not just findings: code-level fixes, code review, and hands-on support to help your team resolve issues efficiently, without a full rebuild.
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Training & workshops
Practical training on embedding accessibility at every stage of the development lifecycle, from design and content through development, QA, and release, for curators, content editors, designers, and developers.
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VPAT & conformance reporting
Accessibility Conformance Reports (VPATs) to support procurement, funding applications, and legal compliance needs.
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Assistive technology testing
Manual testing with screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, and other assistive technology, alongside automated tooling.
Approach
Most engagements follow the same general shape, adapted to your team's size and timeline.
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Discovery & scoping
Understand your platforms, content, audiences, and any existing accessibility work, so the engagement is scoped to what actually matters.
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Audit & testing
Combine automated scanning with manual review and assistive technology testing to find real, user-facing barriers.
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Findings & roadmap
A prioritised report your team can act on, ordered by user impact and effort, not just checklist severity.
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Remediation support
Hands-on help for your designers and developers while fixes are implemented, including review of proposed changes.
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Verification & monitoring
Re-testing to confirm issues are resolved, plus guidance for keeping new content and features accessible going forward.
Get in touch
Tell me a little about your organisation, your platforms, and your timeline, and I'll follow up to schedule an introductory call.