I run SenseICT, a small Australian business, and I live with disability. That shapes how I think about remote work: accessibility and security cannot be separate afterthoughts. The setup either lets someone work reliably or creates another barrier.
Start with the work someone needs to do
Write down the real tasks: sign in, join a meeting, read a shared document, answer a customer, approve a payment and recover a locked account. Then test each task with the employee’s actual equipment and preferred input method. A platform can claim to support accessibility while a particular authentication prompt or shared-screen workflow remains unusable. The W3C guidance on remote meetings distinguishes the accessibility of the platform, meeting content and the way participants run the meeting.
Do not buy a tool based only on a list of disabilities. Two people with the same diagnosis may need entirely different controls; one person’s needs may also change during the day. Ask what task fails, what already works and how the person wants to participate. Record a tested alternative when a new release breaks the preferred route.
Make sign-in both accessible and defensible
Put MFA on the accounts that can cause the most damage first: email, identity provider, domain registrar, cloud storage, password manager and hosting administration. The Australian Cyber Security Centre’s small-business guidance recommends MFA, updates, backups and restricting administrative privileges. A control that someone cannot operate reliably is not a successful deployment; test authentication and recovery with assistive technology before making it mandatory.
Where supported, compare passkeys or security keys with an authenticator app. Check keyboard focus, screen-reader announcements, time limits and the process for replacing a lost device. Avoid making SMS the only possible path merely because it was quickest to set up. Keep a recovery procedure with more than one authorised contact so the account does not depend on a single phone.
Run meetings people can actually follow
Before a call, send an agenda and any essential documents in accessible formats. Turn on captions when useful and check whether they keep up with names, technical terms and overlapping speakers. For some meetings, human captioning or interpreting will be needed: automatic captions are not an equivalent substitute for everyone’s needs. The W3C accessible-presentation guidance recommends planning accessible material and describing visual information aloud.
When presenting a dashboard, say what its important numbers and changes mean instead of asking everyone to inspect a tiny shared screen. Share the document itself when practical, not just a picture of it. Afterward, provide the decisions and actions in an accessible written form. If an AI assistant creates a summary, a person still needs to check names, actions and confidential details before distribution.
Protect the device without making it unusable
Agree who maintains updates, device encryption, backups and secure access when someone works from home. Test the business applications on the real machine with its screen reader, magnification, speech input or alternative controls enabled. Locking down a browser or remote desktop without testing can disable the very tools that allow someone to work. Separate everyday access from administrator privileges; do not make an employee a device administrator just so an accessibility tool can be installed.
Back up the information that matters, including shared documents and configuration data where needed, and test a restore. A synchronised folder can copy mistakes or deletions as quickly as good work. For a small business, a short written recovery runbook beats a dashboard nobody has practised using.
Make flexibility operational
Remote work is not simply moving the same calendar of meetings home. Use asynchronous updates, clear owners, written decisions and agreed response windows so that people can work around appointments, fatigue or interruptions without losing context. For eligible employees with disability, Fair Work explains the right to request flexible working arrangements and the employer’s response obligations. An independent contractor negotiating a schedule with a client is not the same statutory process.
Check whether an employee may be eligible for help with workplace adjustments through JobAccess’s Employment Assistance Fund. Eligibility and approval matter; do not buy equipment assuming reimbursement. The sensible order is to identify a barrier, trial a workable approach, check funding conditions and then document support and training.
A 30-minute trial worth running
Ask a volunteer to work through one typical task with their preferred keyboard, screen reader, magnification or speech input. Sign in, retrieve a document, join a call with captions, find the agenda, contribute an action, and sign out. Note where focus disappears, a timer expires, a control has no accessible name, or a summary omits a decision. Fix those points before buying another licence. Repeat the test after major updates.
For the website side of remote working, our WordPress security checklist covers the site administrator basics. SenseICT’s consulting work can help a small organisation assess its ICT stack, map the dependencies and make accessibility and security work together. If you would like to talk through a specific barrier, contact Matt. This is not a promise that a plugin or a hosted service will solve every disability-related barrier; the right answer starts with the actual task and the person doing it.
