Getting Started with Accessibility Assessments

Andrew Arch, Manager Online Accessibility Consulting, Vision Australia Foundation, 454 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong 3144. Email: andrew.arch@visionaustralia.org.au

Sofia Celic, Web Accessibility Consultant, Vision Australia Foundation, 454 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong 3144. Email: sofia.celic@visionaustralia.org.au

Steve Faulkner, Web Accessibility Consultant, Vision Australia Foundation, 454 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong 3144. Email: steven.faulkner@visionaustralia.org.au

Brian Hardy, Manager Information Services Development, Vision Australia Foundation, 454 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong 3144. Email: brian.hardy@visionaustralia.org.au

Keywords

web accessibility, WCAG, disabilities, conformance, testing

Abstract

Vision Australia Foundation has developed considerable experience and expertise over the past four years in assessing the accessibility of a wide variety of web sites. The W3C has recently developed "Evaluating web sites for accessibility" to assist people new to this task; Vision Australia Foundation contributed to this document. In this poster paper we will highlight the basic techniques that people can apply to identify many of the accessibility issues commonly observed. Applying a range of simple techniques means that web site owners and developers can identify many accessibility issues during the site's development phase and as part of an ongoing quality assurance strategy without having to understand all the technical aspects of how the web site works and is coded.

During the poster presentation we can demonstrate these techniques on attendee's web sites. After the AusWeb conference we can assist organisations with accessibility training, assessments, design and coding advice, and overall quality assurance assistance to improve their online accessibility.