Blink Accessibility Director Appointed King County Metro’s APAC

UX research and design firm Blink UX is pleased to announce that Accessibility Director Joe Welinske has been appointed to King County Metro’s Access Paratransit Advisory Committee (APAC). The committee will “advise Metro, the King County Executive, and the King County Council on transit issues, policy, and performance related to Metro’s Access paratransit program,” according to a press release dated November 19, 2020.

Blink recognizes the importance of accessibility and continues to prioritize this practice throughout our company. “We’re incredibly proud of Joe,” CEO Karen Clark Cole said. “He has dedicated his career and role at Blink to making products and services a good user experience and accessible for everyone, inclusive of all abilities. His acceptance onto APAC shows that Joe is a leader in this field and that Blink is well positioned to grow the accessibility movement in the UX industry.”

Joe is one of 11 appointees to King County’s newest advisory committee, which was formed “to continue to promote responsiveness and accountability to the community.” APAC is specifically charged with providing counsel on Access paratransit service, aiding in the development of long-term planning efforts, serving as a resource for transit promotion, and writing an annual report that reviews Metro’s annual performance metrics and trends relevant to Access.

Blink recognizes that great UX design performs well for people of all abilities. It is for that reason that Joe leads the accessibility practice at Blink. Critical to Joe’s role is ensuring that not only our designers and researchers, but also our clients, understand how to incorporate standards and innovative thinking around accessibility into our daily work.

“There has been more awareness of accessibility in the tech industry over the last five to 10 years,” Welinske said. “Accessibility is now a subject that most people have at least heard about. However, only a small number of organizations actually dig into the work. I feel very privileged that Blink decided to make accessibility an official practice area several years back. I don’t know of any other agencies that have done this. That said, I do see positive signs that accessibility is becoming more and more prominent in the design of products and services.”

Learn more about Joe’s role, as well as accessibility in the UX industry and at Blink.

Learn more about King County Metro’s Access paratransit service.