There are lots of benefits of having an accessible website. It’s especially important for the Developmental Disabilities Resource Board of St. Charles County (DDRB), an organization that supports people with disabilities and their families.
In 2025, TPI kicked off a redesign of the DDRB website. Throughout the process, we focused in on making the website more accessible for people with disabilities. We worked alongside Hot in the Kitchen, a St. Louis–based marketing agency supporting the DDRB’s broader communications efforts, and Olivia Holler, a disability advocate working with the DDRB to make their social media content more accessible.
In the end, the DDRB was happy with the redesign and process so much so that the Executive Director of the DDRB Denise Cross invited TPI and our partners to share our accessibility approach at two disability-focused conferences.
The Conferences
MACDDS
The Missouri Association of County Developmental Disabilities Services (MACDDS) helps improve the quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their families by leading local initiatives with statewide impact. Its annual conference brings together practitioners and leaders to discuss legislative updates, innovative service models, advocacy, and strategies for building more inclusive communities.
Starling
Starling is a nonprofit trade association made up of 115 local organizations that support people with disabilities through public policy, advocacy, education, and collaboration. Its annual conference brings in executives, managers, and emerging leaders from across the I/DD community to learn about best practices in accessibility, workforce development, policy, and inclusive service delivery.
The Presentation
At both conferences, TPI’s President and Founder, James Fawcett, and UX designer Carmen Christopher, presented on how to design and develop websites that are accessibility-friendly. We discussed:
- ARIA tags
- Color contrast
- Semantic HTML
- Alt text for images
- Video captions
- Font selection and font size
- UX design
- and more
While we don’t claim to have everything perfect 100% of the time, we are committed to learning, improving, and strengthening our accessibility practices every day. At TPI, we believe that good design and development is inclusive, and that digital experiences should meet the diverse needs of people with disabilities not as an exception, but as a standard. We’re grateful to have learned with the DDRB and shared our insights and experiences to our attendees.
