What characteristics are common to accessibility specialists? At this stage of the profession curiousity, persistence and dedication are leading. This talk examines how a person can leverage all sorts of talents, skills and training to enable them to create a unique career within the accessibility umbrella.
Abstract
This is a rapid exploration of myriad pre-accessibility careers and work choices that feed into a rich soup to draw from when working in accessibility.
I’m going to demonstrate how to use all of those skills to be great at what you do -- librarian, teaching (pre-school, middle school, adults), sales (wedding photography, business phone systems), story teller, software designer, QA engineer, manager, translation services, stand up comedian, auto mechanic, messenger, advocate, ditch digger and carpenter, worker in a chicken house, team sports, financial industry.
Do all of these disparate careers have a common theme? “Yes”, I say and “yes” again. When entered in the right spirit they are all deep wells to draw from when in your accessibility career. Come and see how you can leverage your own unique list of past job lives.
Keypoints
How to access their developed skills to be used in accessibility career
When to bring out their innate abilities to solve an accessibility problem
How to leverage the skills of other people - broading your reach
Speaker Bio(s)
elianna james
Elianna James, President of 'I Break Websites LLC' in Colorado has worked for the past several years exclusively in accessibility, as Accessibility SME for EBSCO Industries, as Accessibility Lead for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on a large SaaS project for HR recruitment and in other verticals and industries.
Building on a long term career in QA and UX her guiding motto is: "Usability with Accessibility. Together they make business sense!"
Former President of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (RMHFES) she created field trips to broaden the experiences of the members. We traveled the Front Range to a firehouse in Louisville, SpaceCo ergonomic furniture manufacturer and NREL.
Member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). Part of the Organizational Professional Development Committee.
