WAI Resources – Putting Accessibility Guidelines and Support Materials to Work

Presented at 9:15am in Lakehouse on Thursday, November 21, 2019.

Speaker(s)

• Shawn Henry, Accessibility Education and Outreach Lead, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) / MIT
• Sharron Rush, , Knowbility

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: All Levels
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

Explore free online resources from the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) that support digital accessibility implementation across your organization. We will present tools, tutorials, training, videos, methodologies, and other material to advance your accessibility efforts from several angles.

Abstract

The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops international standards including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG), Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG), and ARIA, the Accessible Rich Internet Applications suite. But wait, there's more -- much more! WAI also supports understanding and implementing the standards through resources like tutorials, videos, evaluation tools, strategic planning materials, and others still development. Join W3C staff and the Education and Outreach Working (EOWG) Co-Chair for this session to learn more about these free online resources and how they can be put to work for you -- whatever your role in advancing digital accessibility at your school or institution. Learn how you can contribute to developing resources on personalization, pronunciation, virtual and augmented reality (XR), curricula, and accessible online learning.

Keypoints

1. Learn how to find and use WAI resources to support digital accessibility throughout your organization.
2. Find out about new work on technical standards and educational materials.
3. Get pointers on how to get involved with WAI and provide input for what resources would be most helpful.

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Accessible Course Design, Accessible Educational Materials, Administrative/Campus Policy, Legal, Procurement, Teaching about Accessibility in Curriculum, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

Shawn Henry

Shawn Henry leads worldwide education and outreach promoting web accessibility for people with disabilities at the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), holds a research appointment at MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and holds an MSc in Digital Inclusion. Prior to joining WAI, she consulted with organizations to optimize user interface design for usability and accessibility. Shawn focuses her personal passion for accessibility on bringing together the needs of individuals and the goals of organizations in designing human-computer interfaces. Her book _Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design_ offers an approach for developing products that are more usable for everyone.

Sharron Rush

Sharron Rush is the award winning co-founder and Executive Director of Knowbility, a nonprofit advocacy, consulting, and training company based in Austin Texas. Since 1998, Sharron has been a leader in raising awareness and skills around the issue of access to technology for people with disabilities. Her work at Knowbility includes policy review, performance analysis, technical consultation, and training development for private and public companies, government agencies, and schools. Her technical expertise, understanding of the barriers faced by people with disabilities, and strong communication and training skills have contributed to her leadership position in the field. Since 2007, she has served as an Invited Expert at the W3C, developing and applying global accessibility standards for their Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). In 2014 she became co-chair of the Education and Outreach Working Group at WAI.