Three whole years! There was a time I couldn’t go a few days without drinking. It was just too hard. I never thought I’d get this far. It’s the hardest most rewarding thing I ever did, and worth every second of suffering in the early days. I’m unbelievably proud of myself. What an achievement!

If you want to get an idea of the elite line manager I am, I was reminded today of my time at HMRC when I threw a quiz, raised loads of money for an amazing gift and generally made loads of fuss for one of my team's 60th birthdays. I was super proud of myself, until she told me it wasn't her 60th 🤣

Join our Services Week talk about how we're scaling UCD impact on GOV.UK One Login. It's an hour-and-a-half session with mini talks, including our work on accessibility, passkeys, triage service patterns, Open Banking, and understanding users at risk of exclusion www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/services-w...

Just finished 14 interviews over 2 weeks, which, alongside regular meetings, have meant I've spent pretty much all of my time for 2 straight weeks in back-to-back meetings. Then throw in the heat. It's a lot. I will be doing zero this weekend to hopefully avoid burnout. Social capacity is near zero.

The images didn't load in an email I opened. They all had similarly useless alt text. Yay for AI...

Four year old to my wife: Mam, I forgot all my moves at martial arts last night. My wife: (genuinely concerned) oh no, how come?! Four year old: Well, I’ll be five in 33 days. I’m getting old now, so I’m starting to forget everything. Hilarious some of the things that go through their minds

The Dutch are living in the future. Double decker trains! How cool?!

Are you even in Amsterdam if you don’t eat an apple pie the size of your head?

Currently sifting through a lot of applications. Lots of AI-written stuff. One person even left the AI prompt in. Don't do that.

I was on a senior leaders panel today at the Document Accessibility in the Public Sector conference. Had a pretty surreal moment when I was talking about mandatory training. Two other panel members who are much more senior than me walked away from the panel verbally committing to doing the same.

I’m up so early for my train that people are still out drinking in Newcastle city centre. Don’t miss those days!

Heading to London on Wednesday to speak at a thing. Just checked the weather and it's 34 degrees there today. It needs to settle down by Wed, or I might not actually survive the heat. It's been 25 in Newcastle today, and I can't cope.

I've managed to bring on some of the most intense imposter syndrome I've ever experienced. It's Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Thursday, and usually I’d be hyped up, hosting events, posting tips, or helping others. But honestly? I just don't have it in me this year.

Found the spark for one of my first special interests as a kid. Magic. My daughter was blown away by a magician on Britain's Got Talent. I told her I used to be obsessed as a kid. Anyway, one thing led to another, and I am in deep. I'm so happy, though, because she's loving learning with me.

Yay! I'm hiring two Senior Accessibility Specialists to join my team on GOV.UK One Login. You'll be working with great people, solving complex problems for tens of millions of users. Salary of £70,834 - £74,317 (London) / £63,240 - £66,610 (National). Please share!

My 8-year-old has discovered Gala - Freed from desire. Absolute classic, but ruined forever by her interpretation of the lyrics. "My lover's got no money, he's got a trampoline", and I can't unhear it.

I'm going to be speaking at Identity Week Europe next month in Amsterdam. I'll have some downtime after the conference, and it'd be cool to hang with any folks based in Amsterdam and interested in accessibility and inclusion? Hit me up!

My Rosemary has got no chill this year. For years it hasn’t flowered at all, and this year they are covered. Apparently, it’s still edible.

1000 days alcohol free. I’m so unbelievably proud of myself. Today, I won’t drink. Powerful!

We've had no TV or internet for two days, and my 8-year-old nearly induced a panic attack when she asked me "Dad, is this how it used to be in the olden days?" Olden days.

Yikes, Claude's source code was leaked in it's entireity. Pretty interesting to see how much of it is hard-coded, and how much effort they put in to make it "behave". www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBHR...

My daughter just got her 800m swimming badge. Literally blows my mind that she can swim 32 lengths of a swimming pool. I got my 200m when I was like 14. She's only 8!

The WebAIM Million 2026 report is out, it reports on overall accessibility across the web: 1. The number of failures increased 10.1% YOY 2. The average number of page elements increased 22.5%YOY Meaning accessibility progress is backsliding. Personally, I am quite certain this is related to AI.

This is absolutely wild, btw. If wait lists were bad then, I can't imagine how bad they are now!

I've been reading the interim report on the independent review into mental health conditions, ADHD and autism published yesterday. Some really fascinating stuff in here. I'll post some of the findings in this thread if you're interested. Here's a link to the full report. www.gov.uk/government/p...

When I was a developer, I'd always fix issues while doing other tickets. A lot of the issues found in audits are really easy to resolve. It's why I get so wound up when I see tickets for accessibility issues that are 21 pointers but actually take someone less than a minute to fix.

Current mood: robertjmccaffery.com/fucking-wcag

Does anyone know if there is an update on supporter who received CPR outside of the ground today? It happened right in front of me. They worked on him for a good 20 minutes before eventually taking him away in an ambulance. Praying he survived. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. #nufc

Just submitted my color blind and low vision simulator browser extension to the Edge store. Once approved, it will be available on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. To give it a try, check out colorblind.fyi #Accessibility #A11y #DevTools

I’m finding this latest Slack update hard to use. The notifications don’t make sense to me anymore. I do like the indicator that I’ve replied to a message though.

The latest version of the GOV.UK One Login app now features Apple accessibility nutrition labels. These labels help users make an informed decision on whether the app will be accessible to them before downloading it.

Just submitted a talk for SD in Gov, my first one since Camp Digital! It's all about our approach to scalable and sustainable accessibility. Pretty excited about it!

Don’t worry folks, AI can’t take this job.

My daughter's school get the kids to do a show and tell, and the theme for this month is space. She's going to draw a galaxy, and I've just nearly made her combust with excitement when I told her I have a real meteorite she can take in. My wife got me it for Christmas a few years ago, how cool!?

Just had one of the kids at a party and their goody bag had glitter, slime AND a whistle in it. That might just be the most passive aggressive party bag we’ve ever had 🤣

Attempted to teach my 8 year old the concept of snitches get stitches and it backfired spectacularly when she immediately told her mother on me.

I talk about this a lot. It's also, unfortunately, the rationale of a lot of suppliers whose products are 'accessible' until YOU 'configure' them.

On the precipice of burnout. Finished work and immediately fell into a deep sleep. Not a good sign. I never sleep during the day. Urgh.

In today’s episode of reasons why I’m rarely on LinkedIn, some dude is outraged that his 8 grand business flight only had a burger in a brioche bun and a bit of salad for his meal. If it’s not AI slop, it’s rage bait and world leaders in narcissism, all in the name of engagement.

My local council let the residents name the bin lorries. The people South Tyneside did not disappoint! 😂

One of my neighbours loves making cheesecake. The only problem is he's diabetic, and his wife doesn't like it, so every now and then he knocks on our door, and we get amazing homemade cheesecake. Today was that day!

17 years ago, my brother replaced my other brother’s tennis racket with a frying pan and he went to school with it. Was pretty funny at the time. Anyway, today, my brother finally got his payback. Replaced older brother’s work laptop with a chopping board. Imagine waiting 17 years for payback 😂

Truth.

Has anyone used Loop earplugs? Are they any good? My wife keeps suggesting I try them, but I'm not convinced they'll be any good.

Being autistic can be very expensive. For example, I am very particular about fabrics and how things fit. I cannot bear things that touch my hips, so when I find a top that fits and feels nice, I'll buy loads of them because I'm worried I'll never be able to get another one.

I've been reflecting on my fitness progress this morning. I'm down 90lbs this year. Incredible, really. I've been thinking about how I've managed to do it, and it comes down to routine, sensory seeking, and regulation.

It always blows my mind that my wife can read and speak Hebrew. I only ever hear her speak it once a year during Hanukkah, but it always surprises me that she can pick up the Torah and start speaking in a different language. She learned as a kid and never forgot. Pretty cool.

Well this is good news for #a11y Germany rejects Accessibility overlays for EAA compliance and says regulators won’t audit any website that uses an accessibility widget chrisyoong.com/blog/germany...

I've been learning Lightroom this year. Ended up going through old photos and found one of my mams dog. It's her birthday tomorrow, so I'm going to get this printed for her. For a weird-looking dog, she has the most photogenic eyes. Really happy with how this cleaned up!

I turned pretty much every notification off on my phone a few months ago. Honestly, it has had such a positive impact. Less stressed, more present, not constantly on my phone, and getting way more done. My mood has never been better. Not feeling like I need to keep up or do more. You should try it.