Adam Spencer, Head of Document Accessibility Services, Accessibil-IT
Disability Area: Topic Area:
Length of Session (in hours): 1-hr
Format: Lecture
Expertise Level: All Levels
Type of session: Not provided
Summary of Session
With many countries enacting legislation for digital content accessibility, what lessons can be learned from the apparent failure of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and its subsequent standards? Has the AODA failed or is it simply a perception of failure? This session provides
Abstract
In 2005, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 was enacted as legislation to provide a framework for making Ontario Canada barrier-free by 2025 As of June 2011, the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulations were implemented. In 2010 a lawsuit was filed about the accessibility of job applications on federal websites.
In 1980, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed followed by Section 508 in 1998. Since that time, several lawsuits have been filed regarding access to digital content. The refresh of Section 508 has been bogged down in what appears to be a never ending process.
With legislation and “enforcement” standards, what has gone wrong with access to digital content by people with disabilities?
This session focuses on the lessons learned in the Ontario Canada model of legislative accessibility and identifies shared issues with legislating access to digital content.
Kepoints
The Specifics of Document Accessibility
The Problems with the Best Laid Plans
Technical Subject Matter Experts
Speaker Bio(s)
Karen McCall
Karen McCall, M.Ed. is the owner of Karlen Communications. She has been working in the field of accessible document design since 1999. She began her career in website accessibility and auditing and moved to accessible Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents in 2004. Karen is a Canadian delegate to the ISO 14289 or PDF/UA (Universal Access) and the ISO 32000 PDF committee. She has been a Microsoft MVP for Word (Most Valued Professional) since 2009 and a Microsoft Accessibility MVP since 2017 when this category of MVP was established.
Karen has written several books on the topic of accessible document design for Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents as well as smaller publications with specific techniques for working with Office applications if you are using adaptive technology and/or the keyboard.
Adam Spencer
Adam Spencer is the Head of Document Accessibility Services for Accessibil-IT Inc, a dedicated PDF accessibility specialist. As an active member on a number of ISO Committees for PDF and PDF Accessibility, Adam is also engaged in developing the new international standards to improve the accessibility and usability of PDF and adaptive technologies.
One of the major focuses for Adam is ensuring that all content is completely usable and accessible for users of adaptive technologies, including the development of accessible advanced mathematics techniques within PDF.
Adam spearheaded the first comprehensive effort to include MathML into accessible PDF and Accessibil-IT has successfully created a number of accessible math texts.