#42914
Speaker(s)
- Chris Smith, Senior Instructional Designer, RaLytics
- Jennifer Goubeaud, Accessibility Program Manager, RaLytics
Session Details
- Length of Session: 2-hr
- Format: Lab
- Expertise Level: Beginner
- Type of session: General Conference
Summary
Many colleges and universities use accessibility scanners and dashboards to track progress. These tools can be helpful, but they do not find every accessibility problem.
This session explains what accessibility scanners can detect, what they often miss, and why human review is still important. Participants will learn how to interpret scan results, identify common gaps, and make better decisions about accessibility improvements.
Abstract
Accessibility scanners, dashboards, and AI-powered tools are becoming common across higher education. These tools can quickly identify certain accessibility issues, making them valuable for monitoring large websites and digital resources. However, they do not provide a complete picture of accessibility.
This session explores what automated accessibility tools can and cannot detect. Participants will review common examples where scan results may suggest that a page is accessible even though users still encounter barriers. Examples include keyboard navigation problems, unclear alternative text, confusing forms, and other issues that require human judgment to evaluate.
The session will also examine common misunderstandings about accessibility scores and dashboard reports. Participants will learn why a high score does not always mean a positive user experience and how scan results should be used as one part of a broader accessibility strategy.
This is not a product demonstration and does not focus on any specific vendor or tool. Instead, the session provides practical guidance for interpreting scan results, understanding their limitations, and deciding when additional review is needed. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of how automated accessibility tools fit into the accessibility process and how to use their results more effectively.
Keypoints
- Automated accessibility results require interpretation and do not reflect full user experience.
- High accessibility scores can obscure critical usability barriers across digital environments.
- Effective accessibility decisions depend on understanding tool limitations and workflow context.
Disability Areas
Cognitive/Learning, Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Vision
Topic Areas
Accessibility and Accommodation in the Current Political/Legal Environment, Campus & System-wide initiatives, Faculty Development & Support, Web/Media/App Access
Speaker Bio(s)
Chris Smith
Dr. Chris Smith is a nationally recognized digital accessibility strategist and instructional design leader with more than 25 years of experience across K–12, higher education, and public-sector digital environments. His work focuses on translating accessibility standards into sustainable institutional systems that integrate governance, procurement, CMS workflows, design systems, testing practices, and training infrastructures.
He led the development of North Carolina Virtual Public School’s first organization-wide Digital Accessibility Plan and has collaborated with state agencies, higher education institutions, and national organizations to strengthen accessibility governance and operational maturity aligned with WCAG, Section 508, and ADA Title II requirements. His work emphasizes distributed responsibility models that embed accessibility across web teams, content creators, developers, marketing units, and executive leadership rather than centralizing compliance within a single office.
Dr. Smith regularly facilitates workshops and conference sessions at the state and national levels, including ATIA, NCTIES, and higher education digital forums, where he focuses on automation limits, manual testing integration, institutional risk interpretation, and scalable training frameworks. He is known for bridging policy, implementation science, and technical practice, helping institutions move beyond reactive remediation toward sustainable accessibility capability.
In addition to his strategic consulting work, Dr. Smith teaches graduate courses in instructional design and educational technology, integrating accessibility evaluation, governance alignment, and digital workflow design into advanced coursework. His approach centers on building long-term institutional capacity rather than one-time compliance responses.
Jennifer Goubeaud
Jennifer Goubeaud is an accessibility strategist, trainer, and consultant who brings a rare combination of formal behavioral science training and hands-on digital accessibility expertise to her work advancing inclusive design. With a Master's degree in Applied Behavior Analysis and over 20 years working with and learning from disability communities, she approaches accessibility not just as technical compliance, but as meaningful behavior change requiring thoughtful adoption strategies.
Currently serving as Accessibility Program Manager at RaLytics, Jennifer oversees comprehensive digital accessibility training programs for government agencies and commercial organizations. Her work focuses on translating complex accessibility standards into actionable guidance for designers, developers, and organizational leaders while building genuine enthusiasm for inclusive design practices.
Previously, Jennifer spent five years at Aspiritech, a mission-driven nonprofit providing tech careers to autistic employees, where she built and scaled an accessibility testing service line from one-off projects to over 30 clients including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and startups. Leading a neurodivergent team of accessibility testers, she achieved 100% employee retention through innovative inclusive workplace practices and pioneered the use of AI as assistive technology to support her team's success. This experience provided invaluable insights into authentic disability community perspectives and demonstrated how neuroinclusive practices drive both social impact and business results.
Jennifer's clinical background as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst includes providing behavioral healthcare across diverse settings, coordinating NIH-funded neurodevelopmental research at Stanford University, and working internationally with disability service providers in the Netherlands and Czech Republic through The Global Autism Project. This foundation in behavioral science, research methodology, and direct service provision informs her unique approach to accessibility: understanding that sustainable change requires addressing motivation, reducing cognitive friction, and designing systems that set people up for success rather than relying solely on policy mandates.
Her lived experience with ADHD further shapes her perspective on neuroinclusive design and the importance of reducing cognitive load in digital experiences. She has conducted accessibility audits from a cognitive lens on websites and applications, developed comprehensive training curricula, and provided strategic consultation to organizations building accessibility programs from the ground up.
Jennifer is passionate about making accessibility education engaging, practical, and effective, meeting people where they are and building genuine commitment to inclusive design rather than treating it as a compliance checkbox. She believes in the power of accessible digital experiences to expand opportunity, reduce barriers, and create a more inclusive world.