Scaling Accessibility: Treating Accessibility as Frontend Architecture and a Leadership Responsibility: Niharika Pujari
Most teams approach accessibility through training, audits, or late-stage QA. While these efforts are important, they don’t scale – especially as frontend codebases grow more complex and teams rely on shared components and design systems.
In this talk, Niharika will reframe accessibility as a frontend architecture concern and a leadership responsibility, not just an individual skill or compliance task. We’ll look at how accessibility outcomes are shaped by architectural decisions – component APIs, state and focus management, and system-level defaults and why fixing issues after implementation leads to recurring accessibility debt.
Niharika will walk you through how to shift accessibility left across the frontend lifecycle: from design constraints and reusable patterns, to accessible component primitives, to automated feedback that catches regressions early. Finally, we’ll explore the role of frontend leads in making accessibility stick – by setting standards, enabling teams, and measuring success beyond checklists.
You will leave with concrete, actionable practices you can apply immediately, whether you are working on a single product or a shared frontend platform.
After this session, you will be able to:
- Explain why common accessibility approaches don’t scale in modern frontend teams.
- Identify architectural decisions that have the biggest accessibility impact.
- Apply “shift left” principles to accessibility in design, development, and CI.
- Use component systems to prevent common accessibility regressions.
- Influence accessibility adoption across teams without slowing delivery.
These meetups take place via Zoom and are live captioned. You must register to attend via Zoom.
About the Speaker
Niharika P. Pujari is a Lead Software Engineer at McGraw-Hill with over eight years of experience designing, developing, and delivering robust, full-stack web applications. Niharika works in the higher education space, building technology that supports instructors, institutions, and learners through scalable backend systems and thoughtful end-to-end solutions that drive real educational impact.
Niharika’s expertise includes frontend development with Angular, a strong focus on web accessibility, and creating inclusive, user-centric interfaces. Niharika has also been expanding my skills in AWS, supported by hands-on learning and certifications, to design reliable and scalable cloud-based solutions.
Niharika is passionate about writing clean, efficient code, mentoring engineers, and continuously learning. Niharika is particularly interested in exploring artificial intelligence and how it can be applied responsibly to enhance learning experiences and improve student outcomes.
Event Information
Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Live Captioning + Transcription: GoDaddy
- Organizer and Host: Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker
- Your Business here! Learn about sponsorship
Accessibility & Accommodations
This meetup will be held virtually over Zoom and live captioned, thanks to our sponsors. Slide links will be provided when applicable, and presenters are encouraged to make slides as accessible as possible with alternative text for images, etc.
We’re working to secure sponsors so that we can offer ASL interpretation.
All are welcome to attend. If you need specific accommodations to make this meetup work for you, please contact us and we will try our best to accommodate you.
Code of Conduct
Please note that this group is a welcoming space for all. As this event is part of the official WordPress Meetup program, all attendees must follow the WordPress Online Code of Conduct.
By RSVPing to this meetup, you agree to abide by these guidelines. If you have concerns that the Online Code of Conduct is not being followed, don’t hesitate to get in touch with an organizer.