Blogs

Free Event - April's Network and Learn - this Thursday 30th

By Sophie Stevens posted 12 days ago
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Join us this Thursday for our next Network and Learn event. For April’s event we’re joined by Priti Rohra , Chief Accessibility Officer at BarrierBreak , who will be sharing first hand perspective as a screen reader user. So, you’ve gone through all the testing and checks of your website, but is it completely accessible? The only way to truly find out if you have an accessible website is to have someone with lived experience of using a screen reader to check. In this session, Priti will share some tips and advice for website accessibility, and where businesses get caught out the most when it comes to testing for accessibility. Sign up ...
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Accessible by Design Why documents sit at the heart of digital inclusion

By Jon O'Donnell posted 12 days ago
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When we talk about digital accessibility, we usually mean websites and apps. But many of the barriers that shape lives appear much earlier — in documents. Who am I? I’ve been promoting document accessibility since 2011, and for the past few years I’ve been doing this work as a Senior Accessibility Specialist. I’ve written Civil Service–wide training on creating accessible Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, and I regularly spend time talking about document accessibility across government and beyond. I’ve delivered sessions for the Information Commissioner, the Parliamentary Civil Service and others. You may also have come across Accessibility ...
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IAAP Network and Learn Event - 11th December

By Sophie Stevens posted 12-10-2025
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For December's Network and Learn event , Annie Mannion, Digital Marketing Manager at AbilityNet, will share accessibility findings and learnings from AbilityNet's fifth annual global Attitudes to Digital Accessibility survey. Get up-to-date insights on the session about: • Confidence in, understanding of, and prioritising digital accessibility • Delivering digital accessibility – motivations, barriers, and approaches • Careers and training • And more… The survey helps everyone to understand the current digital accessibility landscape and how digital accessibility is changing across sectors. It also acts as a planning prompt for 2026 ...
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IAAP Network and Learn Event - 16th October

By Sophie Stevens posted 10-13-2025
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The IAAP’s (International Association of Accessibility Professionals) ‘Network & Learn’ events are especially for IAAP members, plus anyone considering becoming a member. The topic for October's event is “Vocal accessibility in system design and the new code of practice from the British Standards Institute.” This month Nick Freear, Senior Accessibility Consultant at AbilityNet, will be sharing an overview on the new code of practice for voice-powered services, and how we can test those services for accessibility. From Alexa and Siri to voice-powered tech such as phones and cars – the new guidelines will help set a standard about how voice-powered ...
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Free EAA webinar: Are you ready for the European Accessibility Act?

By Kelly Chan posted 03-03-2025
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The European Accessibility Act (EAA) will become law across the European Union in June 2025, impacting businesses that sell to consumers in the EU, including those operating from the UK. Our series of three webinars will help you take a step-by-step approach to prepare for the June 2025 deadline of the European Accessibility Act. Register your place for the first EAA webinar . What is the EAA? Who does it apply to? What do you need to do? Testing requirements. What to do about documentation. And much more. Submit your questions for our expert panellists as you register. Who will benefit from this webinar? This webinar will be ...
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Introduction to accessible PDFs - free webinar

By Kelly Chan posted 01-03-2025
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Creating documents such as PDFs with digital accessibility in mind will help you ensure that your content can be read and understood by as wide an audience as possible. That's why AbilityNet is excited to offer a webinar on " Introduction to Accessible PDFs " . Why Accessible PDFs Matter PDFs are a common format for sharing documents, but they can often be a barrier for disabled people if not created with accessibility in mind. This could be staff trying to access information or your customers downloading content off your website. Accessible PDFs ensure that all users, including those who use screen readers or other assistive technologies, can access ...
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TechShare Pro 2024: Europe's largest accessibility and inclusion event returns!

By Kelly Chan posted 09-23-2024
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AbilityNet’s TechShare Pro conference returns this November for the eighth year. Taking place online and in-person on 13 and 14 November 2024, the event will be hosted by HSBC at Canary Wharf. TechShare Pro is the premier gathering for the global disability and tech community, spotlighting ground-breaking topics such as the European Accessibility Act, Accessibility Leadership and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Accessibility. An exciting addition this year is the Disability and Advertising Summit, bringing together leading figures from the advertising and marketing industry, disability influencers and accessibility experts. Brands such as ...
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Take the Annual State of Digital Accessibility Survey: Make Your Voice Heard!

By Lourdes Arreola posted 08-23-2024
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We’re seeking your valuable insights to drive digital accessibility forward. This anonymous survey, conducted by Level Access , IAAP, and G3ict, aims to explore how organizations are tackling accessibility—covering their goals, challenges, and strategies. Your participation will contribute to the Sixth Annual State of Digital Accessibility Report, a critical resource for advancing accessibility initiatives worldwide. The survey takes less than 15 minutes to complete. Participate here: https://shorturl.at/qt5zs 🗓️ Deadline: August 29, 2024 Let’s shape the future of digital accessibility together! Level Access ...
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Digital Accessibility Solutions Director - Magic EdTech

By Tarveen Kaur posted 07-05-2021
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Inviting candidates who have experience in designing and delivering e-learning products and platforms (curriculum and technology platforms) which meet the digital accessibility standards like 508, ADA, WCAG2.X, etc. IAAP certified professionals who have worked in consulting / solutions development roles in technology, Edtech and Publishing companies are best suited for this role. Magic Edtech is committed to making digital learning accessible to all. The company is based in midtown Manhattan-based(NYC). Exposure to Technology or EdTech or the Publishing businesses would be helpful. The candidate will be responsible to network in the education market and guide ...
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Join the Festival of Accessibility - Virtual Conference

By Lisa Smyth posted 04-29-2021
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Join the Festival of Accessibility! On Thursday, May 20, 2021 our partners at Texthelp are hosting their first ever Festival of Accessibility & Inclusion. Mark the occasion with and join the free, 1-day virtual conference about online accessibility and digital inclusion. Celebrate the amazing achievements that have been made in the A11Y space. Understand where we are now. And let’s chat about how we can go beyond what’s required by accessibility law and achieve true digital inclusion. The Festival of Accessibility is for you if you... Want to understand the legal requirements around accessibility Crave ...
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My Most Recent Accessibility Article on Medium

By JoLynne Walz Martinez posted 04-14-2021
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No Mouse, No Monitor
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So I've started writing articles about accessibility for Medium ...

By JoLynne Walz Martinez posted 04-08-2021
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If you'd like to take a look, here's a link to my first article on that site, The day I learned I was deaf . I'm currently working toward WAS certification.
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The Shift-Left Approach for Web App Accessibility Testing

By Sanjeev Sinha posted 02-22-2021
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The Shift-Left Approach for Web App Accessibility Testing(WireFrames) Sanjeev Sinha, Web Accessibility Specialist Shift Left is a practice intended to find and prevent defects early in the software delivery process. The idea is to improve quality by moving tasks to the left as early in the lifecycle as possible. Shift Left testing means testing earlier in the software development process. The accessibility testing journey starts with Feature’s UX design. When UX finalize the Wireframe for the application they must include the following information also in wireframes Text Size, Color Contrast of each HTML elements according ...
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Introduction

By Alice Wershing posted 12-16-2020
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Hello everyone, My name is Alice Wershing and I am the Technology Specialist for Disability Services at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville Tennessee. We have 5 campus locations (4 in Knoxville and 1 outside Knoxville). I am also the Regional Accessibility Specialist for TNecampus. I have been at Pellissippi 7 years, and have focused on both assistive technology tools for our students and accessibility. I began working in the assistive technology field in 1987 in California and continued in Knoxville as well, where our center covered 24 counties. I hold both the RESNA and CPAAC credentials, and have a Masters degree in Special Education. I'm ...
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Create form fields in Excel for Accessibility

By Sathishkumar Duraikkannu posted 11-15-2019
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Hi, As an effort of making the spread sheet accessible, I want to create text form fields in Excel spread sheet. When attempted to do this, I see the three form controls (Text field, Combo list and Combo Drop Down) are disabled under Legacy form controls. Could any one from the connection help in finding solution on this. I use MS Office version 2013. I don't want to use Text field, Combo list and Combo Drop Down from Active X Controls, as it requires VB coding. Thanks, Sathish
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Accessibility Engineer, Yale University, New Haven, CT

By Michael Vaughn posted 10-29-2019
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Accessibility Engineer Yale University, New Haven, CT We're seeking an experienced web accessibility engineer to join the accessibility team at Yale. The position will be expected to work onsite in New Haven, CT. Position Focus Reporting to the Associate Director of Digital Accessibility, this position requires an accessibility professional able to support digital accessibility efforts across Yale’s campus. This role will support not only Yale’s technology but also its other web practitioners throughout the planning, design, development and maintenance of its websites and applications. The successful candidate will possess not only solid technical proficiencies ...
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List of 100+ bullets read by JAWS

By Dax J Castro posted 08-21-2019
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How does JAWS voice my bullets: Recently, one of our clients decided to add a bunch of non-standard bullets to their PowerPoint. When I ran it through JAWS I realized that the results were probably not what the client expected. Hearing “black right pointing pointer” each time the bullet was read was probably not the user experience they were counting on. So, I decided to take the time to build a list of all the bullets that they typically use (Arial) and all of the ones that people seem to gravitate toward (wingdings). I found it interesting that some of the bullets were read as you might expect, while others had some unique voicings. “Black right pointing ...
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How many H1 tags should my PDF document have?

By Dax J Castro posted 08-06-2019
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For those of you in the accessibility world who struggle with the “Only one H1 in a PDF document” theory, I feel your pain. If you are new to accessibility, then you have undoubtedly come across the two schools of thought on this topic. On one hand, we have those who will will draw the line and say “Only one allowed.” On the other hand you have those that say, “As long as you follow the Parent/Child structure, you can have any number of H1 tags as long as it makes sense to do so. Where did it come from? Coming from a web background, I can completely understand how some might come to the conclusion that you can only have one H1 tag in a PDF. Because, in fact, ...
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Towards accessibility and beyond

By Alfonso BRUNA del CASTILLO posted 03-05-2019
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Most of the situations that we face in our work life are regulated by one or another regulation. Nevertheless, the line betwin what is "regulated" from what it is "not regulated" is a wide strip on which technicians place themselves depending on their interpretation criteria. The question asked as "What can be done that goes beyond the compliance with regulations?" is missing the adjective "strict" so we can reformulate the question to " What can be done with ACCESSIBILITY that goes beyond the STRICT COMPLIANCE with regulations? ". The article you are going to read justifies that any measure aimed at that a building has elements that ...
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Did today's decisions support impairment or create a handicap?

By Valorie Sundby posted 06-21-2018
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I have an impairment. Stairs make my impairment a disability. The inability to get to my classroom is a handicap. The school enrollment is reduced by one because I could not get to class. I have an impairment. Missing labels make my impairment a disability. The inability to complete the purchase form is a handicap. The company has one less customer because I could not complete the purchase. I have an impairment. Poorly edited captions make my impairment a disability. The confusion caused by video captions without punctuation is a handicap. The venue did not sell a pair of tickets because I did not think the event was one I would enjoy. I have an impairment. ...
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