# ADR-0044: OSHUN Studio Accessibility Governance

**Status**: Accepted  
**Date**: 2026-02-23  
**Authors**: OSHUN Studio Architecture, OSHUN Web Engineering, OSHUN Security +
Compliance  
**Reviewers**: Domain Leads (Yemaya, Isis, Hathor, Aja, Bellona), Project
Obsidian Program Design

## Context and Problem Statement

Studio now spans high-density interaction workflows across domains.
Accessibility expectations exist in multiple local surfaces, but governance and
enforcement remain fragmented. Without a canonical accessibility governance
model, teams can ship regressions that degrade keyboard navigation,
screen-reader semantics, motion safety, and inclusive operability.

Without unified accessibility governance, OSHUN risks:

- inconsistent accessibility quality across Studio domains and workflows
- weak enforcement for ARIA/keyboard/focus contracts in release decisions
- inaccessible incident and governance operations under production pressure
- compliance and trust risk for enterprise and regulated deployments

## Decision Drivers

- **Inclusivity**: every Studio workflow must remain operable with assistive
  technologies.
- **Consistency**: one accessibility contract vocabulary across domains.
- **Enforcement**: deterministic checks in CI, runtime, and release gates.
- **Governance**: policy-aware handling for high-risk accessibility regressions.
- **Operability**: fast diagnosis and remediation of accessibility incidents.

## Considered Options

### Option 1: Team-Local Accessibility Checklists

Allow each domain to maintain independent accessibility guidance and checks.

**Pros**:

- Low central coordination overhead.

**Cons**:

- Inconsistent standards and fragmented evidence quality.
- Hard to enforce release safety for cross-domain Studio flows.

### Option 2: End-of-Release Accessibility Audits Only

Run accessibility checks only near release cutoff.

**Pros**:

- Simplified operational process.

**Cons**:

- Late discovery of regressions and high remediation cost.
- Weak ongoing accessibility observability.

### Option 3: Canonical Accessibility Governance Control Plane (Chosen)

Adopt typed accessibility contracts, policy-tier enforcement, telemetry/audit
instrumentation, and deterministic release gating.

**Pros**:

- Stronger accessibility consistency and release confidence.
- Continuous enforcement for keyboard/screen-reader/motion semantics.
- Better compliance and operational accountability.

**Cons**:

- Requires disciplined contract governance and ongoing maintenance.

## Decision Outcome

**Chosen option**: Option 3.

Accessibility-governance requirements:

1. **Canonical accessibility contract model** for focus, keyboard, semantics,
   and motion controls.
2. **Policy-tier release controls** for accessibility-impacting changes.
3. **Validation model** spanning CI automation, runtime checks, and release
   gating.
4. **Exception/waiver policy** with owner, scope, reason, and expiry metadata.
5. **Incident/remediation model** for deterministic closure and audit evidence.

## Normative Rules

### Accessibility Contract Model

- Governed flows must define accessibility requirements for keyboard,
  screen-reader semantics, focus order, and reduced-motion behavior.
- Contract fields must include `owner`, `sourceDomain`, `workflowRef`,
  `severity`, and `expiresAt`.
- Missing ownership or expiry metadata invalidates contract publication.

### Validation and Release Contract

- Accessibility checks must run in CI for semantic, keyboard, and focus rules.
- Runtime validation must emit deterministic pass/fail status events.
- Production release is blocked on unresolved critical accessibility violations.

### Policy and Approval Contract

- Sensitive or production accessibility waivers require role + permission-tier
  authorization.
- High-impact production waivers require CAB/compliance evidence.
- Policy denials must emit auditable and queryable reason codes.

### Incident and Remediation Contract

- Accessibility incidents must include deterministic severity classification and
  ownership attribution.
- Closure requires successful post-fix validation evidence.
- Incident/remediation actions must emit telemetry and governance audit events.

## Architecture Implications

- Studio accessibility workspace surfaces expose contract posture, violation
  status, and remediation flow controls.
- Existing accessibility test suites (`axe`, keyboard, screen-reader) become
  first-class release gate dependencies.
- Metrics/observability systems ingest accessibility governance events.
- Experimentation and performance governance can correlate rollout decisions
  with accessibility posture.

## Acceptance Criteria (OST-00249)

`OST-00249` is complete only when:

1. ADR exists at `docs/adr/ADR-0050-oshun-studio-accessibility-governance.md`.
2. ADR defines options, trade-offs, and selected strategy.
3. ADR defines accessibility contracts, policy tiers, validation/release rules,
   and remediation governance.
4. ADR aligns with `ADR-0007` through `ADR-0043`, especially `ADR-0012`,
   `ADR-0018`, `ADR-0040`, `ADR-0041`, and `ADR-0043`.
5. ADR aligns with existing accessibility test surfaces in
   `apps/oshun/web/src/components/__tests__`.
6. ADR explicitly covers Yemaya, Isis, Hathor, Aja, Bellona, and Project
   Obsidian.

## Consequences

### Positive

- Stronger accessibility reliability and cross-domain consistency.
- Earlier detection and safer remediation of accessibility regressions.
- Better compliance posture with auditable governance workflows.

### Negative

- Additional governance and validation maintenance overhead.
- Requires cross-team coordination for contract and policy evolution.

## Related Decisions

- `docs/adr/ADR-0013-oshun-shell-architecture-and-domain-adapters.md`
- `docs/adr/ADR-0018-analytics-taxonomy-and-event-naming.md`
- `docs/adr/ADR-0024-oshun-studio-component-primitives-and-composition-contracts.md`
- `docs/adr/ADR-0046-oshun-studio-metrics-and-analytics-instrumentation.md`
- `docs/adr/ADR-0047-oshun-studio-observability-and-operational-dashboards.md`
- `docs/adr/ADR-0049-oshun-studio-performance-budgets.md`

## References

- `apps/oshun/web/src/components/__tests__/accessibility-axe.test.tsx`
- `apps/oshun/web/src/components/__tests__/accessibility-keyboard.test.tsx`
- `apps/oshun/web/src/components/__tests__/accessibility-screen-reader.test.tsx`
- `apps/oshun/web/src/components/__tests__/StudioPerformanceBudgetsWorkspace.validation.test.tsx`
- `apps/oshun/web/src/components/__tests__/StudioExperimentationFeatureFlagsWorkspace.validation.test.tsx`
- `libs/oshun/domain-registry/src/index.ts`
- `docs/releases/v1/design/ux-principles.md`
- `docs/domains/yemaya/features.md`
- `docs/domains/isis/features.md`
- `docs/domains/hathor/features.md`
- `docs/domains/aja/features.md`
- `docs/domains/bellona/features.md`