Introduction to Web Accessibility

Makoto Ueki

Web Accessibility Consultant

Infoaxia

Makoto ueki is a Web Accessibility Consultant at Infoaxia (Tokyo, Japan) who provides a wide range of consulting services with full support for compliance with WCAG and JIS X 8341-3 (Japanese Industrial Standards). He has over 18 years of industry experience in various roles including adviser, trainer, tester, speaker, writer and participant in the international and national standardization working groups.

Vivienne Conway

Director

Web Key IT Pty Ltd.

Dr Vivienne Conway is the Director of Web Key IT Pty Ltd., which she founded in 2011. She is an internationally-recognised digital accessibility professional, researcher and public speaker, always advocating for the inclusion of people with disabilities and seniors in our increasingly digital world.

Web Key IT has a vision to enable full digital access for persons with disabilities and senior citizens. Web Key IT assists organisations with web-based programs and information to meet the needs of people with disabilities as well as to understand their legal requirements for website accessibility and develop the tools needed to meet the internationally recognised website standards. Vivienne is also interested in the nexus between accessibility and security – the need to protect the privacy of individuals while making digital content as accessible as possible.

As well as being involved in research and conference presentations, Vivienne leads her team of accessibility professionals to provide consulting, audit and accreditation, policy development and training in all aspects of digital accessibility. She is an ardent advocate for the effective recognition of the needs of people with disabilities and their inclusion in our digital society.

Vivienne completed her PhD in IT (website accessibility) at Edith Cowan University. She is a Fellow and a Certified Professional (Snr) member of the Australian Computer Society. She is active in W3C and the working groups, where Web Key IT is a member and is one of the two Australian W3C Evangelists, tasked with promoting W3C involvement in Australia.

Sarah Pulis

Director, Accessibility Services

Intopia

Sarah Pulis founded Intopia in 2016, a digital accessibility consultancy creating an inclusive digital world, and currently serves as Director of Accessibility Services. Sarah has been working in the field of STEM for 17 years, the past nine of which have been spent in digital accessibility. She also regularly presents on aspects of digital accessibility in Australia and internationally and participates in the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. In 2013, she founded A11y Bytes and A11y Camp, which have grown to become Australia’s largest events on digital accessibility and inclusion. After working in a university computer science department, Sarah then moved into Head of Accessibility roles with Media Access Australia, Stamford Interactive and PwC Australia .

Andrew Arch

Principal Consultant, Digital Accessibility

Intopia

Andrew Arch is currently a Principal Consultant with Intopia, a digital accessibility consultancy creating an inclusive digital world. Andrew has been working in the field of digital accessibility for over 20 years. He regularly presents on aspects of digital accessibility in Australia and internationally and has participated in the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative since 2001. He recently served as the Accessibility and Inclusion Lead in the Australian Government, including at the Digital Transformation Agency. Andrew has worked on ageing and disability at the W3C in Europe and established the Digital Access team at Vision Australia. He developed and managed websites for government departments from 1994 before becoming a consultant in the late 1990s.

Shawn Lawton Henry

Accessibility Evangelist

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) / MIT

Shawn Lawton Henry leads worldwide education and outreach promoting web accessibility for people with disabilities at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). She holds a research appointment at MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), a BSc in English with focus on technical writing and computer science, and an MSc in Digital Inclusion. Before joining the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), she developed and implemented strategies to optimize user interface design for usability and accessibility with Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, education providers, government agencies, international standards bodies, and research centers.

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 TAdER Project provides research and outreach to better understand users' needs to customize text for readability — specifically, people with low vision, dyslexia, and related conditions that impact reading, including older people. Her book Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design provides an approach for developing products that are more usable for everyone. Shawn appreciates being in a position to offer these resources free online.

Henny Swan

Director of User Experience

The Paciello Group

Having kick started my career in the late 90’s working on a Chinese search engine, I moved into accessibility in 2001 and haven’t looked back. Based in Brighton in the UK, I am currently Director of UX at The Paciello Group.

Prior to The Paciello Group, I worked at the BBC in the UK on iPlayer (Web and Mobile), Sports, the Olympics, and the BBC Media Player. I was also Lead Editor on the BBC Mobile Accessibility Standards and Guidelines.

I’m an experienced speaker and have spoken at South By South West, CSUN, Accessibility Toronto, Northern UX and more. I’ve contributed to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG), the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAAG), as well as been co-lead of the Web Standards Project International Liaison Working Group.

Anthony Vasquez

Communications Specialist

Knowbility

Anthony Vasquez is an expert in web accessibility and has helped businesses, educational institutions, government, and nonprofit organizations implement effective web accessibility strategies through his work with Knowbility. Currently, as communications specialist for the organization, he writes blog posts, edits stories, works on social media campaigns and develops podcasts about web accessibility.

Vasquez has also done extensive research and writing on Chinese politics and media and has published articles in the Stanford Human Rights Education Initiative, the UC Undergraduate Journal of Slavic and East/Central European Studies, and the National Economic and Security Issues and the Future of US-China Relations.

Vasquez holds a master’s degree in East Asian studies from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Long Beach, with a double major in journalism and Chinese studies. He was the Outstanding Graduate in the College of Liberal Arts in 2010.

Carie Fisher

Senior Accessibility Consultant

Deque Systems

Carie Fisher is an author, public speaker, and developer who is passionate about front-end development, accessibility, and promoting diversity in the tech world. In her spare time, Carie likes to travel, garden, and engage with the accessibility and open source dev communities. She is the creator of the Accessibility (A11Y) Style Guide and Accessibility (A11Y) Talks virtual meet-up, designer of the A11y Cats T-shirt, member of the A11y Project and 24 Accessibility teams, and past team member and mentor for the OpenAIR Knowbility Challenge.