Schedule
11:45PM 10 October (23:45 UTC 10 Oct) The pre-show
View video/streamMeet your hosts for the next 24 hours. We'll be having a general chat about accessibility, inclusive design, and talking about the webinars we are most looking forward to in the upcoming 24 hours.
12:00AM 11 October (0:00 UTC 11 Oct) Bruce Lawson and Seren Davies This is for everyone
View video/streamAs Timbo said, the web is supposed to be for everyone. So why isn't it, and how can we get the web to more people? Seren Davies and Bruce Lawson, the web's very own Harry and Meghan, will reveal more.
About the speakers
Bruce is a web standards consultant, most recently for Wix Engineering. He’s been involved in web standards since 2002 (which is why he looks that bad). He was in the Web Standards Project’s Accessibility Task Force, was a member of the W3C Mobile Best Practices Working Group and co-authored the first full-length book on HTML5
Seren is a Software Engineer on the ecommerce team at Elsevier. In between co-organising JSOxford and promoting accessibility she can be found doing the occasional bit of nail art. Seren was included in Code First: Girls' Ones to Watch 2018, and won a Rising Star Award for Technology 2018 from We Are The City
1:00AM 11 October (1:00 UTC) Jared Smith Peeling Back the Layers of Web Accessibility
View video/streamWeb accessibility is often considered overwhelming and complex due to the intricate interactions between users, guidelines, code, browsers, and assistive technologies. Exploring these complex layers of accessibility, and understanding how ARIA impacts them, can give a much simpler and more powerful approach to accessibility.
About the speaker
Jared Smith is the Associate Director of WebAIM. He is a highly demanded presenter and trainer and has provided web accessibility training to thousands of developers throughout the world. With a degree in Marketing/Business Education, a Master's Degree in Instructional Technology, and over 20 years experience working in the web design, development, and accessibility field, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that is used to help others create and maintain highly accessible web content. Much of his written work, including a broad range of tutorials, articles, and other materials, is featured on the WebAIM site.
2:00AM 11 October (2:00 UTC) Peter Grucza Considering Accessible HTML Forms, JavaScript & WAI-ARIA
View video/streamThis session will focus on common challenges that we need to consider when presenting HTML forms to our users. We’ll explore a multistep web form and present different solutions that can create an accessible experience.
About the speaker
Peter is a digital accessibility and systems develop specialist working at the City of Toronto. He can often be found in a kayak, usually the right way up.
3:00AM 11 October (3:00 UTC) Marcos Cáceres How Web Payments will make paying for things more accessible on the web
View video/streamIn this talk we will look at how HTML forms, together with the upcoming Payment Request API, can be used together to create highly accessible payment experiences for end-users.
About the speaker
Marcos currently leads the standardization effort to bring an accessible payments API to the Web. Marcos has spent the last five years working with Mozilla's DOM team hacking on Firefox, writing PWA-related W3C specifications, and co-chairing the W3C's Web Incubator Community Group. Previously, Marcos worked at Opera Software where he managed the "Core ExtApps" team, which brought you Geolocation, getUserMedia(), and other goodies. Marcos has been developing for the Web since 1996.
4:00AM 11 October (4:00 UTC) Thaddeus Cambron Addressing Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders
View video/streamThe Web can be an invaluable resource for users with trauma and stressor related disorders. Online support groups, for example, can provide a certain degree of anonymity, flexible participation and in cases where local expertise or support is not present, the Internet may be a person's primary resource for both peer and professional support. In addition, online education provides various communities, which may have been exposed to trauma, the ability to obtain or continue higher education goals or other forms of training. Given the potential benefits offered by the Internet to serve this group of users, there is little existing research or accessibility guidance on inclusion or the mitigation of barriers specific to the needs of this group of users. This presentation looks at studies, existing frameworks, and ideas that may lead to a better online experiences for people with trauma related disorders.
About the speaker
Thaddeus has a background in computer science and accessibility. He is currently completing a degree in Security and Risk Analysis from Penn State World Campus. He's a former member of the W3C COGA Task Force, and he's currently a member of the Personalization Task Force.
5:00AM 11 October (5:00 UTC) Sarah Pulis and Andrew Arch Using cognitive walkthroughs to better review designs for accessibility
View video/streamCognitive walkthroughs is a task-oriented technique that helps you understand how well users with access requirements can complete important tasks using your product.
About the speakers
Sarah Pulis is director of accessibility services and co-founder of Intopia, Australia's fastest growing digital accessibility consultancy dedicated to creating an inclusive digital world. Sarah has worked in digital accessibility and inclusion for over 8 years, including as Head of Accessibility Services with PwC Australia and digital accessibility evangelist and specialist for Media Access Australia. Sarah is founder of A11y Bytes, a series of events run across Australia for Global Accessibility Awareness Day and A11y Camp, Australia's premier conference on digital accessibility and inclusion. She is also co-organiser of the Sydney Web Accessibility and Inclusive Design Meetup.
Dr Andrew Arch is a senior digital accessibility consultant with Intopia working with the government and corporate sector to make digital services more accessible for people with disability. He worked in the Australian government from 2011 to 2017, with his last role working in the Digital Transformation Agency on the Digital Service Standard and supporting guidance with a interest in ensuring the widest range of users are assisted to interact digitally. Andrew has a long history with web accessibility, including working with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative in Europe and with Vision Australia. He has been a member of the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative’s Education and Outreach Working Group since 2001 to promote awareness, understanding, and implementation of web accessibility.
6:00AM 11 October (6:00 UTC) Srinivasu Chakravarthula Accessible Websites with Wordpress
View video/streamWordpress has grown from just a blogging platform to a full-fledged content management system with the ability to build complex portals. At the same time, the Wordpress team has put in a lot of efforts to make the platform accessible. Perhaps Wordpress is the only content management system that claims to be Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 complaint. The Wordpress team is very committed to accessibility. Another reason for the popularity of Wordpress is that the platform is pretty easy to manage even with less technical knowledge. Though usage of Wordpress has grown, not many users are leveraging the accessibility features that come out of the box. This presentation discusses how to build accessible websites using Wordpress.
About the speaker
Srinivasu is a Lead Accessibility Consultant at Informatica & Creator of ServeOM Inclusion. Srinivasu believes that accessibility is not just his profession but something that is close to his heart. Firm believer in that considering accessibility at an early stage makes a great business sense.
7:00AM 11 October (7:00 UTC) Sergei Kriger Accessible Charts Done Right
View video/streamWhat can be better than beautiful, descriptive and interactive charts for presenting complex data? We like charts because we tend to perceive graphical information faster than plain text. But what about people with visual impairments? How do they get information from charts? Is it even possible to make charts for everybody? Definitely yes! In this presentation I will guide you through real world examples and identify solutions and best practices for making charts accessible.
About the speaker
Sergei fell in love with web development at the high school level. He got a degree in Information Technologies from the University in Helsinki and spent professional career working for web design studios in Helsinki and Munich. Sergei's focus areas are JavaScript development, UX and accessibility.
8:00AM 11 October (8:00 UTC) Damien Senger Readability & Web: Let's build great inclusive projects
View video/streamReading is not an easy thing. It is complicated for people with reading or cognitive impairments but also for everybody depending of the context. Luckily for our all our users, there is a lot of small improvements and tips every designer, content-writer and developer can do in a project to improve the life all our users.
About the speaker
Damien is a queer user-centered designer focusing on accessibility and fighting for a more inclusive web. Occasionally speaker in Europe, they talk in web conferences about accessibility, inclusive design and autism. Product Designer for Castor EDC in Amsterdam, their inner self is a wild raccoon.
9:00AM 11 October (9:00 UTC) Eriol Fox Diverse representations in design and awkward conversations with colleagues
View video/streamEven if inclusion is at the front of your mind, it’s difficult to feed that into creative work, especially if you’re the only one advocating for diverse representation and doubly so if you have to convince your users as well as your colleagues.
About the speaker
Eriol is a product designer at a global non-profit organisation Ushahidi working on the end-to end process of design practice for digital products. From research, ideation through to visual execution. They focus on user centred design and research that is inclusive of marginalised folks by default. With 10 years of experience as a professional designer Eriol has worked in-house at large corporates that have dealt in Electronics, Insurance, Risk Management, Housing and start-up applications. They have provided freelance work for non-profits and community groups and is actively involved in various non-profits from environmental the arts to LGBTQ+ issues. They also sit on the advisory board for a local Women’s Tech Hub. Eriol is a queer, non-binary, trans person who uses they/them pronouns.
10:00AM 11 October (10:00 UTC) Almero Steyn Killing accessibility with five words
View video/streamThis is the story of a developer who loved JavaScript tools that streamlined their day to day development work and made them super productive. One day this developer heard about accessibility and started looking for some information. There were many examples, but none in their framework. There were many opinions, often conflicting each other. There were many documents, most very long and complicated. And then there was a five word message on Twitter one day: “Your framework is not accessible!”. Jaded, this developer closed the chapter on accessibility and kept building websites the only way they knew how, telling everyone in their team how expensive an accessibility conversion will be. In this talk we will imagine a different future. One where they find powerful accessible examples, clear references and a welcoming accessibility community. One where they see how accessibility benefits everyone, including them. One we can work towards.
About the speaker
Almero Steyn is front-end engineer, speaker and accessibility specialist and has years of experience building Single Page Applications, most recently using React. He advocates for a11y in design, development and testing and has authored the page on accessibility for the official React documentation. Currently Almero works on projects for Tenon.io
11:00AM 11 October (11:00 UTC) Bindu Upadhyay and Anna Hornberger Understanding cultural differences and their impact on design
View video/streamIn the current times, we work globally and are often creating products for an international audience. In this process, we also need to communicate with people from different cultures. However, we might not be embracing the cultural differences fully. We as designers, as organisations, as people have a lot to think about and act upon - How can we be naturally more inclusive? How do we get past the stereotypes? How do we build awareness about differences? How do we embrace the rich diversity that we have around us?
About the speaker
Bindu Upadhyay is an engineer turned UX designer who believes that product development is most successful when approached holistically, starting with the why. As a UX Designer at We Are Reasonable People, she works in a multicultural team and focuses on enabling the team and the client to work together smoothly so that technology can have an even stronger impact. She confesses that leveraging the knowledge of a multidisciplinary team has led to successful projects. Bindu organised UX Camp NL 2017 and also spoke at UX Camp Amsterdam. At UX Camp Nordic her talk was voted the most favourite by the audience.
Anna Hornberger is a UX and service designer based in Rotterdam. She is German and came to the Netherlands to study Design for Interaction at TU Delft. Before coming to the Netherlands she worked in the field of Industrial Design. During her work and studies, she lived in different countries (UK, Vietnam, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Netherlands) and worked on projects for internationally operating clients. This raised her awareness of cultural differences and that they need to be taken into consideration when designing products and applications.
12:00PM 11 October (12:00 UTC) Alastair Campbell WCAG 2.1 What's new and what to do with it
View video/streamThe Web Content Acessibility Guidelines (WCAG) have been updated after 10 years of use. Using the new requirements from version 2.1, Alastair walks through the new guidelines, and provides advice on how to use them in your organisation.
About the speaker
With a background in psychology and an expert in human–computer interaction, Alastair Campbell is a leading light in the understanding of where human meets machines. He is driven by a desire to make the digital world accessible through the best possible user experience. In 2018 Alastair became Co-Chair of the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group so has been deeply involved in the development of the new guidelines.
1:00PM 11 October (13:00 UTC) Dafydd Henke-Reed Elegant Accessibility
View video/streamChampioning accessibility through simple design patterns. A practical look at how accessibility can be bettered by this approach. Contrasting simple, semantic HTML, with complex controls overloaded with ARIA. Discussion points include:
- the nature of accessibility – including it as a design consideration, rather than something that is retro-fixed by adding extra ARIA
- the rules of ARIA (e.g. if you don't have to use it, don't)
- knowledge form user testing (e.g. how every user instantly went for the standard input fields when entering their address, bypassing complicated address finders)
About the speaker
Dafydd is a Principal Accessibility & Usability Consultant for AbilityNet. He leads a team of consultants who provide consultancy for client's such as Microsoft, HSBC, and NHS — ensuring accessible and usable apps, websites, and more.
2:00PM 11 October (14:00 UTC) David Caldwell Building inclusive products for vulnerable circumstance
View video/streamVulnerability is something we can all relate to - whether it's losing our jobs, fluctuating mental health issues or the loss of a loved one. When vulnerable we may need a different experience, different support or restrictions in how we use a product. In this talk we'll explore what we mean by vulnerable circumstances, look at how we could build in friction for those who find themselves vulnerable and look at examples of good practice in this space.
About the speaker
David Caldwell is a Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant at Barclays. In his role he works alongside technology product teams across the organisation to help them to build better, more accessible products and services for Barclays customers and colleagues. David is also responsible for the Accessibility Academy - a training, development and communications programme focused on transforming the accessibility landscape at Barclays. Outside of Barclays, David is a Founding Ambassador for PurpleSpace - the worlds leading disability network leadership development organisations.
3:00PM 11 October (15:00 UTC) Brendan Roach and Lucy Ruck Tackling disability as a global business issue
View video/streamThe Business Disability Forum have developed a Global Business Disability Framework to help global businesses measure and improve their approach to disability inclusion. The Framework enables global businesses to understand how disability impacts on key areas of their operations including leadership, learning and development, retention and development, the built environment and digital technology. Working alongside this, we have a Technology Taskforce, that have also developed a number of tools, including the Accessibility Maturity Model. During this session we shall talk you through the tools we have developed and how you could use them within your organisation.
About the speakers
Brendan is a knowledgeable well respected disability consultant with over 10 years’ experience of supporting organisations on all aspects of improving disability confidence in the UK and internationally. Brendan leads Business Disability Forum’s work to improve the life chances of people with disabilities globally and is responsible for international projects and supporting Business Disability Forum’s global Members and Partners.
Lucy Ruck joined Business Disability Forum in 2014 as the Technology Taskforce Manager. Since joining the organisation, she has been responsible for developing the resources available as part of the Technology Taskforce’s toolkit of information. This includes a large selection of Best Practice Guides and Case Studies, about how our Members and Partners have become more Disability Smart by using technology.
4:00PM 11 October (16:00 UTC) Sarah Boland and Damon Barry A Co-Design approach for automated cooking appliances. Applying Domain Specific Languages for an interactive personal cooking assistance
View video/streamThis project seeks to enable people with an intellectual disability and physical impairments, to perform cooking tasks in a safe and controlled environment. This co-design research project, seeks to provide additional interactivity and safety during cooking tasks, by developing (primarily through consultation with service users and support staff) additional autonomous sensors that can provide valuable additional context information (such as the weight of the product, the presence of smoke or fumes in the cooking area) that would not otherwise be available to a cooking appliance. The intention of this project titled "Sensor+" is an evolution of components that could be used in "smart" cooking appliances. The aim is to ensure safe and successful outcomes for service users -who use the appliance, and therefore increase their confidence in cooking independently.
By including these additional external support sensors in the context of "interactive recipes" it will facilitate "fading" of assistance feature of the smart cooking appliance while also raising awareness among service users about the possible effect of cooking parameters.
We worked with service users and Staff from Saint John of God Community Services to develop autonomous external sensors that will provide additional "eyes and ears" for the smart cooking appliance, to ensure that the correct path is being followed by a service user who is using the appliance. This work required a modest number of face-to-face interactions with service users and support staff.
The target group include different people who experience different levels of difficulties in using various cooking systems, with a particularly low grade of autonomy in preparing foods and meals. The group provided information on current challenges, share current technology solutions that work affectively in other areas. They were involved in the co-design of the product and asked for feedback at regular intervals throughout the project lifecycle.
About the speakers
Sarah Gavra Boland is an Assistive Technology (AT) Facilitator and has worked with Saint John of God Community Services since 2013. Her role is to support and enhance independence, communication & learning opportunities for men and women with intellectual disability by building capacity and educating individuals, families and support staff, on the use of a variety of accessible digital and assistive technologies. She has been working on various local and international projects focusing on the use of mobile technology to bridge the digital divide. Her area of interests include, co-design, multimedia advocacy, participatory research and smart home technology.
Dr. Damon Berry is a lecturer and researcher in the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at DIT and a member of the Leadership Team of the ESHI research institute. Damon is also the lead researcher in the tPOT research group. tPOT members engage in research in the broad areas of Assistive Technology, HCI, Internet of Things and Biomedical Engineering. Damon has particular research interests in assistive technology, health informatics, and biomedical engineering. He is an experienced PhD supervisor, and has authored over 30 academic papers. Damon is a founding member and chair of the NSAI ehealth standards committee. He is also a founding member of the RoboSlam STEM Collective.
5:00PM 11 October (17:00 UTC) Thomas Logan Let's Make Maps Widely Accessible
View video/streamOver the last two decades there have been numerous demonstrations of accessible digital map interfaces for people with disabilities. However, these implementations typically only support a small number of specific map visualizations. This talk will focus on how accessibility can be implemented at the authoring layer of mapping APIs to accelerate access to spatial information in 2018.
About the speaker
Thomas Logan has spent the past sixteen years assisting organizations to create technology solutions that work for people with disabilities. Over his career Thomas has worked on project deliverables for numerous federal, state, and local government agencies as well as private organizations from startups to Fortune 500s. He is the owner of Equal Entry, whose mission is: “contribute to a more accessible world.” He is also co-organizer of Accessibility New York a monthly Meetup for people interested in topics related to accessibility and people with disabilities. Thomas lives in New York City.
6:00PM 11 October (18:00 UTC) Reinaldo Ferraz The power of alt and lang attributes
View video/streamThis talk will show you the importance of these two attributes. They are not only very significant for accessibility but also for internationalization, semantic content organization, SEO and more!
About the speaker
Web Development specialist at Ceweb.br/W3C Brazil Office, holds a degree in design and computer graphics and a graduate degree in Hypermedia Design in São Paulo. Specialist in web standards and web accessibility involved with web development and design since 1998. Taught lectures and tutorials about webaccessibility and web standards in several events in Brazil and abroad. He is in charge of web accessibility and open web plataform projects in the office.
7:00PM 11 October (19:00 UTC) Glenda Sims and Wilco Fiers A11Y Wars: The Accessibility Interpretation Problem
View video/streamIt is time to stop the accessibility interpretation wars. There is no "one best way" of interpreting accessibility standards. By using the Accessibility Peace Model, together we can use the energy of our community for good.
About the speaker
Glenda Sims is the Team A11Y (Accessibility) Lead at Deque, where she shares her expertise and passion for the open web with government organizations, educational institutions, and companies that range from small business to Fortune 50. Glenda is an advisor and co-founder of AIR-University (Accessibility Internet Rally) and AccessU. She serves as an accessibility judge, and trainer for Knowbility, whose mission is to support the independence of children and adults with disabilities by promoting the availability of accessibility information technology—barrier free IT. She spent over a decade as a Web Analyst at the University of Texas at Austin, where she helped support the university’s central web site and worked as an accessibility expert and web standards evangelist along with her mentor and hero, Dr. John Slatin. She co-authored the book InterACT with Web Standards: A holistic approach to Web Design. Glenda gives back to the web by volunteering on the Low Vision Task Force and the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group at the W3C.
Wilco Fiers is product manager and accessibility engineer of the aXe and WorldSpace Attest product lines at Deque Systems. Based in The Netherlands, Wilco helped set up Deque Research, the European arm of Deque. Wilco is co-facilitator of the Accessibility Conformance Testing Task Force in the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AGWG) for the W3C, in which he works on standardisation in accessibility testing. This work is put into practice in the Auto-WCAG Community Group; a group that Wilco helped found and is currently the chair of. Wilco is a member of the Web Accessibility Directive Experts Group, in which he advises the European Commission about the implementation of the Web Accessibility Directive.
8:00PM 11 October (20:00 UTC) Eric Bailey Working with High Contrast Mode
View video/streamAccessibility is more than just making things work in a screen reader. This talk discusses Windows High Contrast Mode's capabilities and limitations, and how to best design and develop for it.
About the speaker
Eric is a Boston-based user experience designer who helps create straightforward solutions that address a person’s practical, physical, cognitive, and emotional needs using accessible, performant, device-agnostic technology.
9:00PM 11 October (21:00 UTC) Andy Bell The power of progressive enhancement
View video/streamWe'll dive into why progressive enhancement is important and how we can leverage the power of Vanilla JavaScript, Web Components and modern CSS to deliver a hack-free, lightweight and progressive experience for our users.
About the speaker
Andy is a front-end developer & designer who's focused on progressive enhancement, lightweight JavaScript and accessibility. He's using all of this to try and make the web a better place for everyone.
10:00PM 11 October (22:00 UTC) Kathleen McMahon Accessibility-flavored React components make your design system delicious!
View video/streamDesign systems are a popular way for teams to flavor their design and development workflow. However, an often-missing ingredient in many design systems is a focus on accessibility best practices — especially when component libraries are involved. In this talk, we’ll take a look at how you can season some commonly-used components with accessibility. Pair this with accessibility guidance in your documentation, and you’ll have the recipe for a delectably inclusive design system.
About the speaker
Kathleen works at O’Reilly Media as a Frontend Engineer, where she leads the accessibility initiative for the design system. Her deep industry experience as both a designer and developer fuels her passion for making apps beautifully accessible. In her spare time, she is the Creative Director for the CXsisters network, and the best lanterne rouge cyclocrosser you’ll ever meet.
11:00PM 11 October (23:00 UTC) Aaron Gustafson Better performance === greater accessibility
View video/streamDesign is problem solving. Each and every day, we are tasked with finding ways to reduce the friction our users experience on the Web. That means streamlining flows, reducing cognitive load, writing more appropriate copy, and (of course) building accessible experience. But experience is about more than just interface. Our users’ experiences begin with their first request to our servers. In this intensely practical session, Aaron will explore the ins and outs of page load performance by showing how he made the web site of the 10K Apart meet its own contest rules, by having a site that was functional and attractive even without JavaScript, and was less than ten kilobytes at initial load. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of the page load process as well as numerous ways you can improve the projects you are working on right now.
About the speaker
As would be expected from a former manager of the Web Standards Project, Aaron Gustafson is passionate about web standards and accessibility. He has been working on the Web for two decades now and is a web standards advocate at Microsoft, working closely with their browser team. He penned the seminal book on progressive enhancement, Adaptive Web Design, and writes about whatever's on his mind at aaron-gustafson.com.
12:00AM 12 October (0:00 UTC 12 Oct) The after party
View video/streamYour hosts will discuss their favourite webinars from the last 24 hours, and might have a drink or two!