Unicorns exist

Some thoughts on the concept of the "accessibility unicorn".

You might see this online sometimes. A person is looking for accessibility support. They expect the world. The expert they want needs to be able to: develop, design, write, teach, audit, fight fires, plan, strategize, document, remediate, comply, advocate... basically they need to cover every angle the person can come up with. And they need experience. And they need to be certified.

People will reply. You're looking for a unicorn! A what? A mythical creature that doesn't actually exist!
And other people will laugh. It's a witty comparison.

I don't agree though. I don't think it's a problem to search for somebody who can do all that. Partially, that's because I'm biased. I think I can do all that. And when I'm stretched too far, I know the people needed.

But I also disagree, because the issue is not the unicorn. The issue is 3 other factors that usually pair with this.

Factor 1. The unicorn needs to be a specialist in all these things, but the budget for the role is more fitting for a student assignment, internship or something alike. I very much like the saying "pay peanuts, get monkeys". If you want somebody to teach your developers, designers, writers and many more. You want somebody who has something to teach them. You want a person with skills that the people in those roles do not have. You should budget accordingly.

Factor 2. The unicorn needs to do all these things, but they don't get the access, means, resources, whatever to actually do them. Facilitate them. An expert costs more than a student. But an expert is only expensive when you can't utilise what they have to offer.

Factor 3. A unicorn is not a strategy. A strategy would be: we need to depend on one person while we build out our resources, skills and community. We might still need backup when this is in place, but this current stage is temporary.

Unicorns exist. But you have to believe in fairy tales if you think that finding one fixes all your issues.