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Digital Accessibility �Apprenticeships�

Amanda Mace and Bri Norton

PWAC - 29 February 2024

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Acknowledgement of Country

We would like to acknowledge the Wadjuk people who are the traditional custodians of this land on which we are meeting.and pay respect to the Elders of the Wadjuk Nation both past and present.

�We extend this respect to all Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples in attendance today.

�Reconciliation Australia and Whose Country

�

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Introductions

Amanda Mace

Amanda Mace is GrackleDocs' Vice President for Australasia and Co-chair of the OZeWAI.org Australian Accessibility Web Accessibility Initiative. She's also one of only two Australian-based W3C evangelists and the W3C Australian Western Region office manager. Reach out on Twitter @BluesChick5, LinkedIn or join her at the Perth Web Accessibility & Inclusive Design Meetup.

Bri Norton

Co-chair and the conference convenor for Australia’s Web Accessibility Initiative OZeWAI.org, a Standards Australian Accessible ICT Procurement Committee Member and a member of the ResearchOps.Community Cheese Board. Reach out on Twitter@algazel, LinkedIn.com/in/BriNorton or join her at the Canberra Accessibility and Inclusive Design Meetup.

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A new focus for OZeWAI.org

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Ask the Professionals

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Membership tiers

Individual membership

Newsletter subscription - free
Student - free
Life - free
Associate - $50
Professional - $150
Professional Consultancy - $250

Consultant Directory

Organisation membership

Company or organisation - $500

hires a11y professionals

Accessibility consultancy company - $800

provides accessibility services
Consultant Directory

Partnership opportunities:

Sponsor or work with OZeWAI on joint projects
MOU/Partner agreements: GetAboutAble, Standard Accessibility Reporting (SAR) and Web Directions Summit

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Background:

The start of an idea

Amanda: In Sept 2022 at a W3C TPAC break-out session, I sat in on a session run by David Fazio, Founder of Helix Opportunity, a co-colleague on several W3C working groups and a fabulous friend, on his success endeavour to create an apprenticeship accepted by the California dept of Labor for Digital Accessibility Developers. While things work differently in America in terms of requirements for apprenticeships, the concept immediately had me thinking about the benefit of an apprenticeship model here in Australia. David’s model had been built out the existing Developer apprenticeship already available in the US so they start with a foundation and built it out. I wasn’t necessarily thinking about a developer one but the idea planted in my mind that if you could build one for developers, surely you could build one for digital accessibility specialists. As Co-Chair of OZeWAI for the last few years, it’s probably not surprising that I thought of how this might be the perfect project for OZeWAI to back and even facilitate.

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What we found about accessibility apprenticeships globally

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Why do we need accessibility apprenticeships?

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Why apprenticeships and not internships?

Lead: Amanda

We spoke as a sub group and at committee level about the differences between internships, mentoring programs and an apprenticeship program and there are a couple of reasons we repeated found ourselves pursuing the apprenticeship model. Curriculum is the biggest driving factor, it’s formal as the learning aspect. The importance of set, core learning concepts in combination with the on the job learning is a powerful tool for future a11y professionals. We can develop expertise faster and with theory and practice happening at once. We’re very much looking for this apprenticeship to be competency based

We also see the amazing opportunity of having OZeWAI consultancy members creating the material together for RTO and potentially provide mentorship. The experts here in Australia are a strength and this will work that can bring all that expertise together to build learning materials for the next generation of a11y experts.

For OZeWAI partner or company members who have a11y teams, want to grow a11y teams, having access to take on an apprentice may be an attractive.

If a company who has an apprenticeship doesn’t have a big a11y team - they can be mentored by and ozewai org

Of course, we have hopes of government funding to help incentivise

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Benefits of having accessibility apprenticeships

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Current state of the project

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Help us research:

Survey and gap analysis interviews of the status of the Accessibility workforce in Australia

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Survey questions:

How do you rate your own accessibility knowledge and/or skills level?
How many accessibility professionals does your organisation employ?
Has the need for accessibility professionals grown or reduced in the last five years in your organisation or industry?
What roles in your organisation involve having accessibility expertise?
What training do you expect prospective specialists to have when they apply?
What certifications are you aware of for Accessibility Professionals?
What training or experience do prospective specialists have when they apply?
When joining your team, how do you validate the accessibility training or experience they have?
How accessible is your recruitment process?
Does your organisation have any of relevant accessibility-related policies or plans?

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OZeWAI research survey link and code

https://forms.gle/RdtVazwA2wNUcmGq6

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Questions

Interested in getting involved or ideas for interview questions or contacts for research.

info@ozewai.org

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Connect with OZeWAI

OZeWAI is the Australian Web Accessibility Initiative, a strong and established group of members committed to advancing the cause of digital accessibility and inclusive design. OZeWAI is proud to provide a valuable source of information on accessibility issues and ideas to people in the accessibility industry and the broader community.

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Accessible ICT Procurement�

Bri Norton, ADN Taskforce

June 2024

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Accessible Procurement Activities

Zero Project - OZeWAI.org - Creating resources for Accessible ICT Procurement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDZKbTFeUBM

Accessible ICT Procurement panel discussion.

Moderated by Bri (OZeWAI) with guest panelists Greg Alchin (NSW Govt), Andrew Arch (Standards Australia Chair) and Ben Leech (DTA)

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Introduction to discovery workshops

In 2018 disability advocacy organisations, disability services and peak bodies sent a joint statement to the Federal Government to introduce legislation to make the Australian Standard for public procurement compulsory by law.

New letter shared by ACCAN last week: Community Position Statement – alliance of disability organisations

The Digital Transformation Agency’s (DTA) Procurement Framework ensures that the Commonwealth Procurement Requirements specifically referenced procurement compliance and addressed accessibility needs across all types of disability.
Implementing and checking the accessibility of ICT software and hardware during the procurement process can be confusing and requires understanding of accessibility compliance and in some cases specialist technical knowledge
Strong interest in the development of educational resources and avenues and to engage with accessibility practitioners to assist project managers, procurement officers and suppliers in ensuring compliance.
The aim of these workshops is to update sites, such as the the Government of South Australia’s Accessibility Toolkit, OZeWAI or relevant sites with the necessary content and resources to meet the Human Rights Commission’s Digital Strategy.

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Accessible Procurement Workshops

Community and Government project

“How might we build and strengthen ‘accessible ICT procurement’ resources to improve compliance and understanding in the procurement and project management space.”

4 online workshops, over 50 participants
Accessible procurement practices and resources

Procurement Officers, Project Managers, Accessibility Professionals, Vendors, HR officers and End-users

Interactive activities – Empathy mapping, ‘How might we’ questions
User Stories

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Workshop findings

Very high interest and appetite for what we’re creating from various user groups
Guidelines and resources need to address different levels of accessibility readiness
Accessible procurement is legislated but not enforced
Enforce compliance for larger vendors, support small-medium vendors
No mandate from organisational leaders to purchase accessible ICT products
Vendors say they’re products are accessible but this is rarely checked
Difficulties getting vendors to engage in this process – new tactics needed - industry needs to drive the change

Eg. Workshop Easy Retro for Accessibility Specialists Board

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Accessible Procurement Guide for Education

Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (www.adcet.edu.au) CAUDIT – Accessible ICT Procurement for Tertiary Education

Creating for: Procurement Officers, Project Managers, Accessibility Professionals, Vendors, End-users
Guides developed include: Accessibility stories, procurement questions, clause bank, legislation, risks, standards, etc