Originals
Everything I wrote myself: in-depth articles on standards, research and practice, and personal notes from my life as a partially sighted accessibility specialist.
In Detail
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What Did We Focus On For Alt Texts At Turkish Airlines?
We recently completed a study on image descriptions for the Turkish Airlines mobile app and website. Throughout this process, we tried to write descriptions tailored to the purpose…
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Accessibility Insights From England
To be honest, I went to England with high expectations for accessibility. However, when I returned, I had more questions in my mind than answers or examples. Assistance vs.…
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5 Key Takeaways From SODAR 2026
Level Access’s SODAR 2026 report includes some very important insights for the future of accessibility. I summarized the 5 points that caught my attention the most below. Make sure…
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What Changed In EN 301 549 Version 4.1.1?
Of course, I did not read and compare version 3.2.1 and version 4.1.1 myself. My friend Claude created a detailed change history for me, as shown below. I checked the result and…
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Bonus: What W3C Says on CAPTCHAs?
Source: W3C CAPTCHAs are designed to keep automated bots away from websites, but traditional tests create major barriers for people with disabilities. Many sites ask users to read…
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Takeaways From Deque’s “From Debt To Dividend” Report
The Deque report highlights four main gaps between AI-assisted development and accessibility, along with proposed solutions: The Confidence Gap: Engineering leaders heavily trust…
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Brief History Of Presidential Circular 10/2025
On June 21, 2025, a presidential circular titled Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications was published in Turkey. The circular required private institutions across…
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Museums And Digital Accessibility
After my disappointment at the İstanbul Archaeology Museum, I thought about other museums I have visited. Below are a few examples that made me feel like I actually learned…
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Norway Font For The 2026 FIFA World Cup
I was watching the Ivory Coast vs. Norway match and something caught my attention more than the football: The font on the Norway shirts. It is definitely unusual, different, and…
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Is the Use Of Accessibility Overlays For Dyslexia Meaningful?
The topic of accessibility overlays is still the most controversial issue in the field. Overlays are extensions that cause problems in terms of usability, legal compliance, and…
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AI and Human Collaboration in Accessibility Work – The Binclusive Example
Anton Sten’s article provides us with a good framework for understanding AI’s capacity. AI output always tends to stay at a “good enough” level. Therefore, human effort is…
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What We Considered While Creating AJet’s Accessibility Page?
While creating content for the AJet accessibility page, we reviewed a large number of accessibility statements. Creating a page that is both comprehensive and easy to read, and…
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Common Accessibility Failures In The Seat Maps
During the holiday period I visited the websites of about ten bus companies and examined their seat maps. As far as I can see, the biggest design problem is the requirement to…
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Best Practices From Accessible Canada Act
Since Turkish Airlines also has operations in Canada, we were affected by the Canada progress report process. The feedback we received during this process and the government’s…
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The Short History Of 10 – 16 May Disability Awareness Week
First, I apologize for writing about some information that I could not verify. I made serious efforts to reach the facts. I accessed UN General Assembly notes, read documents, and…
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What Does The European Commission’s Mid‑Term Report Say To Us?
The European Commission published the mid‑term report on The Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021‑2030. In the mid‑term report, the work carried out over the…
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The Most Common Windows High Contrast Mode Incompatibilities
Selected (?) Radio Buttons: On most web pages it’s impossible to tell whether radio buttons are selected. In the example below, the “One Way” option is marked, but this can not be…
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Why I Choose Six Hands Marker Typeface In Accessibility Notebook?
I don’t use AI when I summarize news and articles for the Accessibility Notebook because I want to read the texts myself and understand their core. I aim to express the sentences…
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What Else Can A Redesign Project Improve Accessibility? – The Case Of AJet
While reading the news about Maricopa, I was reminded of the recently redesigned AJet app. As the Turkish Technology accessibility team, we are responsible for the accessibility of…
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Takeaways From WebAIM Million
Since 2019, WebAIM has been conducting accessibility evaluations of the home pages of the top 1,000,000 websites using its automated tool, WAVE. While automated tools are not fully…
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What Are Assertions?
In WCAG 3, some guidelines will not only cover requirements but also include the methods and procedures necessary for development and for making accessibility sustainable. These…
Personal Notes
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The "Accessible" POS That Announced My PIN
In the previous Notes, I mentioned my trip to England, and I will continue to share my memories. In Chester, a small city in Northern England, I encountered an accessible…
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The Beatles Story and an Audio Guide I Couldn't Use
Last week I was in England and spent most of my days in Liverpool. I have many insights regarding accessibility, which you can read about in the “In Detail” section. Here I want to…
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"Are You Blind?": Is It Really a Red Card Offence?
Let’s talk about football again! On Saturday, there was a derby match between Trabzonspor and Galatasaray. Galatasaray’s head coach, Okan Buruk, was sent off with a red card in the…
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Finalists at Travel For Every Body: An Aviation Sign Language Dictionary
As Turkish Technology, we have been announced as finalists for the Travel For Every Body Awards presented by Selling Travel Magazine in the Digital Innovation category. Our project…
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Why I Recommend the Graphic Novel ULIS
Last week, I read a graphic novel by Fabien Toulmé titled ULIS . ULIS classes support the special needs of students with disabilities in mainstream schools in France. The book…
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A CAPTCHA I Can't See: Booking a Schengen Visa Appointment
Let me tell you the least accessible process in the world: Visa Application. I am trying to book an appointment for a Schengen visa for Spain. The process is operated by BLS…
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Freeze or Melt: The Inaccessible Office Thermostat
Last week was the hottest week of this summer in Turkey so far. So, I understand that people want to cool the office and meeting rooms by adjusting the air conditioning to the…
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An Accessibility Roundtable at Turkish Technology
On August 6, we at Turkish Technology will be hosting an exciting accessibility roundtable in our office building. In partnership with brick institute and Binclusive, product and…
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No Audio Guide, No Way In: The İstanbul Archaeology Museum
Last week, I was out of the office, and we decided to visit places in İstanbul that we hadn't discovered yet. There are many museums across the city dedicated to İstanbul's long…
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A Ball in a Plastic Bag: Accessibility Can Be That Easy
In Istanbul, we live in a district that is a 20-minute walk from a huge park and the seaside. Our favorite activity is walking to the park and spending time there during the…
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A Braille-Labelled Hot Wheels Car in a Bursa Shopping Mall
This weekend, I was in my hometown, Bursa, with my family. We went to a shopping mall to buy some clothes and came across a huge foyer area on the first floor. This was the “Hot…
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A QR Code on a Concert Program: Small Fix, Big Impact
Last week, I couldn’t write my notes to you due to… ehem… a World Cup trauma caused by the Turkish National Team. No, no, don’t take it seriously. That’s not the real reason. We…
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Correcting Myself: FIFA's Audio Description App Just Works
In Notes 14, I mentioned accessibility arrangements in the FIFA World Cup, and the World Cup has started this week. I tried the audio description via the FIFA Audio Description…
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AJet's Accessibility Page Is Live
At Turkish Technology, one of our responsibilities is ensuring the accessibility of AJet digital touchpoints. We have made significant progress over the last year and made the…
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Racing for a Bus Ticket on a Low-Contrast Seat Map
Last week, there was a long “bayram” holiday in Turkey. During the week, nearly everyone was on the road for a seaside vacation, cultural tours, or family visits. My wife and I…
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A Great Accessibility Guide and a Discount Nobody Told Us About
In June, the İstanbul Music Festival will be organized for the 54th time. There will be 21 events across many different locations in the city. Artists from all around the world…
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Fifty Awareness Weeks Later: We Need Action, Not Awareness
Every year, May 10–16 is STILL celebrated as Disability Awareness Week in Turkey (I will explain why I wrote “still” in the “In Detail” section). It is a good thing, right?…
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Beating Becky: Duolingo's Time Challenges and Screen Magnifiers
Last week, I started using Duolingo to learn Spanish. This is an addictive app with its reinforcement activities, streak feature, social feed, and competitive leaderboard. Ah,…
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Labour Day Barricades Through Partially Sighted Eyes
May 1, Labour Day has a special meaning in Turkey. Because of the bloody 1 May 1977 and the current government’s stance, Taksim—the political and touristic center of Istanbul—and…
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"Of Course I Can Do It": My Mother's Temporary Disability
My mother broke her arm last week and she is now experiencing a temporary disability. As a tile artist, she can not work at the moment. Driving, cooking, and sending text messages…
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Disco Anxiety: My Accessibility Needs vs. My Love for Dark Music
Last week I attended a music festival called Disco Anxiety. The festival, which brought together dark‑wave, post‑punk, industrial, gothic, and experimental dark‑music genres,…
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When a Self-Service Kiosk Takes Over Your Lunch Order
In our office days, we generally go to the nearest shopping mall’s food court for lunch, and one of our most frequently preferred options is a crispy chicken restaurant called…
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Kiel on Foot: Tactile Paving, Silent Traffic Lights and Cyclists
On the last weekend, I was in Kiel, a small German city close to Hamburg. Interestingly, the weather was sunny and warm—warmer than Istanbul. So, I had the opportunity to walk…
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AI and Humans Describing a Documentary Together
On March 10, I attended an accessible art event hosted by Paribu Art. With the support of Binclusive, we watched a documentary called “The In Between” with audio description. The…
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Only 30 Answers: Where Is the Non-Disabled Accessibility Community?
Last week, I worked on compiling the results of our digital accessibility certification survey and writing an article about our findings. You can find the article below in the “An…
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Two Panels at ZeroCon26: Accessible Aviation and Skills Development
Last week, we were at ZeroCon26. With Turkish Technology, we attended to two panels as speaker. The first one is Accessible Aviation Forum and we talked about importance of…
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Rome for Two Partially Sighted Tourists: Great Streets, Unreadable Menus
Last weekend my wife and I, as two partially-sighted tourists, visited Rome to eat, drink and walk. It was an amazing city with its historic and massive buildings. In terms of…
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2026 Starts Fast: Northern Cyprus and an Invitation to Zero Project
2026 has started a bit fast for me. On January 13, we attended a digital accessibility event took place on Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus with Turkish Technology . We saw…