Scheduled at 9:45 in Colorado G-H on Friday, November 20.
#44269Speaker(s)
- Glenda Sims, Chief Information Accessibility Officer, Deque
Session Details
- Length of Session: 1-hr
- Format: Lecture
- Expertise Level: All Levels
- Type of session: General Conference
Summary
Are you really ready for ADA Title II? A website audit can tell you what is broken today, but not whether your institution can keep digital content accessible tomorrow. Learn how to use a five-stage digital accessibility maturity model to assess where you are now, identify gaps in governance, procurement, training, content, testing, and monitoring, and build what comes next before the next complaint, audit, or deadline sends everyone scrambling.
Abstract
Middleton’s session on this schedule looks at vendor maturity: how ready are the digital products you buy for ADA Title II? But what about your institution? Are you actually ready to meet the new digital accessibility requirements and keep meeting them consistently after the deadline?
A website audit can tell you what is broken today. It cannot tell you whether your organization knows how to keep tomorrow’s website, PDFs, mobile apps, course content, and digital services accessible.
This session introduces a five-stage digital accessibility maturity model: Not Started, Reacting, Developing, Managed, and Optimized. The model looks beyond a one-time compliance push to the practices that make accessibility sustainable: clear ownership, knowing what digital content and technology you have, accessible procurement, staff training, accessible content creation, testing and remediation, policies, monitoring, and documentation.
Whether you are a state agency, city or county office, community college, or research university, you will use the model to assess where your institution is today, see what separates one stage from the next, and identify what you need to build next.
Learning objectives
* Assess where your institution currently sits on a five-stage ADA Title II digital readiness model, from Not Started through Optimized
* Identify the organizational practices in governance, procurement, training, content creation, testing, and monitoring that separate each stage from the next
* Identify the next steps that will move your institution toward sustainable digital accessibility, rather than treating Title II as a one-time compliance project
Keypoints
- Digital accessibility maturity means building practices that keep accessibility sustainable over time.
- A maturity model helps institutions see where they are now and what they need to build next.
- Ownership, training, procurement, testing, and monitoring are key to lasting Title II readiness.
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Accessibility and Accommodation in the Current Political/Legal Environment, Procurement, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access
Speaker Bio(s)
Glenda Sims
Glenda Sims (the goodwitch of a11y) serves as the Chief Information Accessibility Officer at Deque, where she leads initiatives to make digital equality a reality. She co-founded axe-con, the world’s largest digital accessibility conference (and it’s free!), bringing together thousands of experts and advocates from around the globe.
Glenda is passionate about giving back to the accessibility community. She is an active contributor to WCAG 3.0 through her work with the W3C Accessibility Guidelines Working Group, shaping the future of accessibility standards. A strong believer in the power of professional certification, Glenda was part of the team that created IAAP’s CPACC to support and inspire new voices in this meaningful field. She now serves on the IAAP Innovations Steering Committee, always pushing accessibility forward with vision, collaboration, and a touch of magic.