Web accessibility is constructing websites, apps, and tools so people with disabilities can access and use them without hindrance—within the range as those without disabilities. This encompasses all disabilities including visual, speech, physical cognitive, auditory, and neurological. The internet is an integral part of government, commerce, recreation, education, employment, and health care.

When web pages are designed properly, everyone can use them. Unfortunately, many sites are constructed poorly, making them inaccessible or difficult to use by some individuals. Creating an accessible web page benefits businesses and individuals alike. Accessibility is important, not only to people with disabilities but all users.

Global accessibility standards help to create equally accessible web content. As web accessibility becomes more popular, training programs are created to teach people how to develop accessible content. These programs use WCAG 2.1 best-practice guidelines to teach students how to create accessible content for everyone. WCAG 2.1 provides technical specifications and techniques that developers and businesses can use to create that suit the needs of online users, including people with disabilities.

Whether developing a new website or redesigning one, web accessibility depends on several components working together. An extensive evaluation is required to determine if a website meets all accessibility guidelines. We will look at a variety of different web accessibility resources that can help individuals or businesses to learn more about web accessibility. Some of these resources are groups. Members can join into conversations and networks with like-minded individuals to receive answers and share their own expertise.

Free Accessibility Courses

Paid Accessibility Courses

Conferences & Events

Webinars

Educational Videos

Meetups

Certificates

Books, Tutorials, & Blogs

Twitter

Where To Learn Web Accessibility

Accessibility Courses

Though there are evaluation tools that can help, expert human evaluation is vital to determine whether or not a site is accessible. Below are some of the best courses offered on web accessibility.

Free:

Accessibility MOOC - Inclusive Online Course Design

The MOOC online course covers how to create an online class that is accessible to everyone. The target students are developers, designers, online course content writers, and online course instructors. The class hopes to show these students the benefits of web accessibility, as they are trying to promote awareness. The last Inclusive online course was held in April 2018; however, the dates for the 2019 classes are not yet posted on their website.

The program primarily discusses how to design an accessible online course. However, the information found in the outline could be applied to a course taught in the classroom. A lot of face to face classes have information online, and the goal of this course is to teach people how to create an inclusive class environment.

Digital Accessibility as a Business Practice

Ryerson University hosts the Digital Accessibility as a Business Practice course. The duration is three weeks and requires a 3-hour time commitment each week. The course is offered online, and participants that complete the course receive a digital badge which can be displayed on any online network including Facebook, Linkedin, and various job sites.

Three individuals developed the course— Greg Gay (an IT specialist), Chris West (MBA senior manager), and Frank Miller (a Contract Lecturer and Faculty Advisor in HR management and Organizational Behavior). Multiple digital accessibility experts have reviewed the course and found it ideal for target students such as business leaders and managers.

The course seeks to help students understand the importance of web accessibility in the workplace. There are three main topics covered: implementing digital accessibility, digital accessibility strategic planning, and quality assurance.

Future Learn - Digital Accessibility: Enabling Participation in the Information Society

Future Learn offers an online course on web accessibility that is sponsored by the University of Southampton. It is a free course, and the duration lasts for three weeks. The class will take 3-hours per week, and students can work on the class during their spare time.

The course's goal is to help students better understand user needs and technologies. It will cover several primary objectives, including:

• Defining digital accessibility

• Business and digital accessibility

• Barriers and challenges

• Video, subtitles, audio, captioning, and descriptions

• Screen readers Braille, switch access technologies

• Web accessibility guidelines, principles, and standards

• Usability, accessibility, and user experience

• Devices, mobile, self-service, laptop, desktop

• Evaluating web, document, and self-service device accessibility

There are no basic requirements for this course. Anyone from beginners to experts is welcome to take it, and no coding or web design experience is necessary.

Google's Introduction to Web Accessibility

Google offers an introductory guide to web accessibility. In addition to the guide, they also provide practice design labs, and samples. This course has received positive reviews online, and students do not have to have a background in web design; however, it would be helpful.

The course has several key learning objectives that include:

• What is accessibility and how is it applied to web development.

• Basic accessibility features with very minimal development impact.

• HTML features that are available and how they can be used to improve accessibility.

• Advanced accessibility techniques to create a polished accessibility experience.

• How to create a website that is usable and accessible to everyone.

The course is composed of hands-on examples and videos. The introductory course's main goal is to enhance people understanding of the importance of web accessibility.

Google's Udacity Web Accessibility - Developing with Empathy

Udacity offers a course on developing with empathy that is sponsored by Google. The course is offered online for free, and the skill level required for this course is advanced. The duration of the class is for two weeks. The course is self-paced and is made up of examples, quizzes, videos, and lectures. The target students for this course are front-end web designers, and there are three different instructors. The course is broken into six different lectures.

The class provides hands-on design experience and will cover the importance of an accessible web. Over the course of two weeks, the class walks the student through the complete process of designing an accessible web page. A background in design will make it much more comfortable; however, it is not explicitly required. Students should know basic HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.

Microsoft's Training teachers to author accessible content

Microsoft offers a course on web accessibility that is available on their website. It premiered in 2017 and is an hour-long course. You must have a Microsoft account to complete the course which discusses three main points:

• How to create a new and revised old OneNote, Word, and PowerPoint document so everyone can access them.

• How to use Office Lens and Skype Translator as key tools for making accessible content for everyone.

• Why it is so important to create equally accessible documents.

The course is broken into ten separate modules—each with course notes and a video provided for the student. At the end of the program, Microsoft will give a general overview that touches on all the main points. Students can use this as a course review.

Professional Web #A11y Auditing Made Easy

Ryerson University hosts a course on #A11y Auditing called Auditing Made Easy. It is part of the Chang School of continuing education, and they are working with the city of Ontario to develop multiple online web accessibility courses available to the public. The duration of the class is for four weeks. It will require a time commitment of 5 hours per week, and the class is offered online for free.

Multiple different instructors teach this course. This class is geared toward individuals training to become web accessibility experts as the demand for experts in the field has grown recently. The course has several main points that cover web accessibility audits, automated review tools, accessibility auditing (Technical and Non-technical), web accessibility standards and guidelines, web accessibility reports, assistive technology tests, and user testing.

Start Building Accessible Web Applications Today, by Marcy Sutton

The Start Building Accessible Web Applications Today course is offered on egghead.io. To take the course, you must set up an account with egghead.io. Once the account is created, the course will be available online. Students should be familiar with ARIA and HTML before taking the course.

It covers web accessibility's importance in the modern business world and has already received 4.4 stars online from 25 previous student reviews available on their website. The teacher and creator of the course is a senior front-end engineer who is currently working on creating accessibility tools and would be considered an accessibility expert.

The course offers a variety of hands-on experiences and examples. It also has a video available for students, and the class does not use written material but aims to be more interactive.

Teach Access

Teach Access offers an online class tutorial. The material is primarily written, as opposed to video presentations. The class is divided into three separate sections, and sections are as follows: Introduction, Writing Code, and Design Principles.

The class is free for users. It would help to have a background in design before taking this class; however, because it is a free class, there are no prerequisite requirements. The Introduction provides context on what web accessibility means today.

The writing code section takes the user step-by-step through the process of writing accessible codes. It would help if a student had a background in HTML for this section. Lastly, the design principle section walks the student through how to design an accessible web page. It would help to have JavaScript knowledge for this section.

UC Berkeley Intro to Course #Accessibility - 6 modules on designing accessible content

This program offers an introductory course to web accessibility. The course is designed for instructional designers, faculty, and staff. There isn't an instructor that facilitates the course— it is offered online and self-paced.

The course is composed of 6 separate modules—each covering different aspect of web accessibility. Each module has transcript lectures, resources, and knowledge check quizzes available. The goals for each is as follows:

• Module 1: Identify strategies for overcoming barriers and identifying campus units that provide accessibility support.

• Module 2: Identify how instructional material is changing today and why it is important students can access information independently.

• Module 3: Understanding the universal design for learning and discuss the ways students may obtain information.

• Module 4: Demonstrating strategies and testing.

• Module 5: Templates available for creating accessible web material.

• Module 6: Efficiency strategies.

Open.edu: Assistive technologies and online learning

Open.edu offer a free course on assistive technologies and online learning. This course covers technologies available for people with disabilities and looks at techniques to help them access the world wide web.

To sign up for this free course, you must first create an account on Open.edu. The class is considered advanced, and participants should have knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as a background in web design. The duration of the class is 8 hours. Classes have been given a rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars by past participants.

The main goal of the course is to help people understand technologies that can make the web more accessible. The learning objectives are as follows: understanding the definition of assistive technology, understanding the different types of assistive technology, and understanding the experience of some students that use assistive technologies

Ryerson University & Canvas.net: Web Accessibility for Developers

This course typically lasts about one month, with a duration of 4 weeks. It is an instructor-led course and requires a 4 to 6-hour time commitment.

Two different instructors teach this course—one is an IT development specialist, and the other is a web application developer. Both have been in the web accessibility field for several years.

The course is made up of 4 modules, each spanning a one-week duration. Students that pass the course receive a digital badge. The course has 14 activities in total for the entire modules. Students that pass the 14 assignments with a 65% or above will receive their digital badge.

Students must have a knowledge of JavaScript, CSS, and HTML before taking this course. They must also have a GitHub account. The course currently has a 4-star rating.

University of Colorado Boulder & Coursera: Basics of Inclusive Design for Online Education

This course has received an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars and is only offered online. It has a flexible date option, and students can begin class at any time.

At the beginner level class, instructors will walk the student through the design process step-by-step. The class takes 14 hours to complete and is self-paced. The University recommends completing 3 hours of coursework each week.

The primary goal of this course is to help teachers develop equally accessible courses. The outline is broken down by weeks—each with a different learning objective. The objectives are as follows:

• Week 1: Introduction to universal design and demographics

• Week 2: Accessible documents

• Week 3: Complex graphs, tables, and images

• Week 4: Captioning

• Week 5: Uncovered resources, topics, and review

Minnesota IT Services: Accessible Word Document Training

Minnesota IT Services offers a training program on how to make a word document accessible. It is an entirely free e-learning course, and the principles taught during this class are also applicable to Google Docs.

The program is interactive. First, the participant downloads a practice document which is then used throughout the training module in multiple examples. The training is composed of 7 different modules, and each module goes over different key points. The topics are as follows:

• Module 1: Introduction to why it is crucial to ensure documents are equally accessible.

• Module 2: How to use styles.

• Module 3: How to implement color.

• Module 4: How to use columns, objects, and hyperlinks.

• Module 5: How to use tables.

• Module 6: Accessibility checker and document basics.

• Module 7: How to convert a word document to a PDF.

Chrome & Chrome OS Accessibility (on YouTube)

Chrome & Chrome OS Accessibility is a training video available on YouTube that has received over 106,000 views. It was released on Chrome OS's YouTube page which has over 1.6 million subscribers. You do not have to subscribe to the page to watch the videos. They have posted over 20 videos addressing accessibility which all discuss Chrome and Chrome OS accessibility.

The Intro to Chrome & Chrome OS Accessibility video covers the Chrome browser operating system's accessibility features. They offer features such as magnification, screen reading, keyboard navigation, and more. The video guides users through the process of customizing their Chromebook settings to make it usable with accessibility devices. The creator hopes to promote equal accessibility as they try to make this and upcoming videos as easy and straightforward as possible.

Paid (Private):

4syllables's Accessibility for Web Writers

The 4syllable's Accessibility course is designed specifically for people in web developer roles. The course is part of the Vision Australia's digital accessibility training program, and their target students are web editors, web writers, content managers, and web publishers. The material is too complex for people without a background in web design. They offer both an online and offline version of the class.

The course is divided into eight different sections that are as follows:

• Accessibility overview

• Web navigation

• Web design structure

• Web language

• Images and color

• Errors and instructions

• Video and audio

• Documents

Each section of the course is updated to reflect WCAG 2.1 guidelines. The course only has one instructor who has 20 years of field expertise. The 4syllables's Accessibility for web writers provides students with electronic presentation materials, printed booklets, and supporting articles.

AccessIQ Professional Resources

AccessIQ Professional Resources is a lead provider of managed IT, mobility services, and skilled contract services. Their mantra is that the right blend of technology, people, process, experience, culture, and passion is the key to success for a business. Their core competencies and beliefs have been their key to success.

AccessIQ offers a few professional resources to businesses, which include:

• Web file storage

• Contract services

• Project services

• Email services

• Hosted services

They help companies to develop strong IT systems, and keep up-to-date on the cutting edge of IT. This allows them to provide their customers with the most futuristic IT systems. The program assists customers with communication solutions and help them establish an IT network. It is dedicated to helping web professionals and businesses solve common problems that are creating access barriers on their websites.

Deque University

Deque University provides a variety of different courses on web accessibility. They have programs that range from beginner to expert and teaches both individual and group courses. Their target students are web designers, web developers, and web content creators; however, anyone interested in web accessibility can sign up. Web accessibility programs cover areas including learning at your own pace, hands-on product training, certification courses, and role-based curriculum.

The university offers a scholarship for people with disabilities who want to take web accessibility programs. They offer an instructor-led training program for groups, so it is ideal for a company's IT staff. They have online self-training too which is excellent for anyone that wants to learn at their own pace. An accessibility empathy lab course is also offered, and it focuses on real-world accessibility problems.

Level Access (previously SSB Bart Group) - Access University

Access University offers multiple risk-free courses on web accessibility. For a flat rate fee, you can get access to all their classes, with subscriptions that last one calendar year. Courses are designed to be applicable to several different jobs, and they provide hands-on training in web development, web design, content writing, and IT systems.  

In addition to course access, subscribers also have access to job aids, reference materials, training videos, testing manuals, and moderated class forums. They offer seven different curriculums and 29 courses in total. The syllabi are all geared toward different students and organization needs:

• Accessibility Awareness Curriculum: Authors, Managers, HR, and Developers

• Accessibility Policy and U.S. Federal Regulations Curriculum: Authors, Managers, HR, and Developers

• Accessibility Testing and Evaluation Curriculum: Developers and QA Engineers

• Document Accessibility Curriculum: Authors

• Mobile Accessibility Curriculum: Designers, QA Specialists, and Developers

• Web Accessibility Curriculum: Designers, QA Specialists, and Developers

• Specialized Lessons in Accessibility: Everyone

Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Institute for Professional Development Accessibility Track

The Online Learning Consortium Institute was established in 2005. They offer hundreds of different certifications, mastery programs, and workshops. The institution offers most of these programs and workshops several times a year which maximizes flexibility, making them ideal for working professionals.

OLC offers e-learning and virtual learning, specializing in certification programs in online teaching, instructional design, multimedia specialist, and librarian. Their mastery series programs put an emphasis on research. Social media, leadership, and mobile mastery are some of the programs available. Digital and online experts offer several workshop options as well in week long and 3-day workshops. Workshops are hosted in 5 to 10 seat increments.

Webinars are available, providing a variety of leadership and educational learning opportunities. The webinars cover hot button topics and are hosted by field experts.

Pluralsight - Making a Web Form Accessible

Pluralsight offers a course called Making a Web Form Accessible. The course has received a 5-star rating online and provides a free 10-day trial for those interested in basic web accessibility know-how. It is considered an intermediate level course and takes less than 2 hours to complete.

With this program, it is taught on a trial and error basis where students will take on activities such as taking an inaccessible hotel web page and fixing it. They will walk students through the process step-by-step and provides students with a free screen reader software. Students do not need to have prior web design experience to take this class—Pluralsight gives precise instructions, so even those without any experience can complete it. The course also teaches about WAI-ARIA and form validation. Students do not need any additional software to complete this course.

Pluralsight - Meeting Web Accessibility Guidelines (Section 508/ WCAG 2.0)

Pluralsight offers another course called Meeting Web Accessibility Guidelines (Section 508/ WCAG 2.0). This course has received a high online rating of 4.75 stars and offers a 10-day free trial. It is considered a beginner level and the duration is less than 2 hours.

The program covers how to make front-end web development equally accessible, and they offer hands-on coding experience through practice examples. Meeting WCAG 2.0 and Section 508 guidelines is a requirement for a successful website. The course seeks to help the student masters these guidelines, as well as look at reusable code techniques.

The goal of this course is for the student to understand the government's regulation on web accessibility and how to meet accessibility guidelines at work.

Styles in MS Word: A Primer for Accessible Document Design, the Course!

Styles in MS Word offers an online 10-hour course on web accessibility and costs just under $200. It is a self-paced course. The book, Styles in MS Word: A Primer for Accessible Document Design by Karen McCall created the basis for this course and is required for the successful completion of the program. Karen McCall also teaches a workshop on the material which is more in-depth than the workshop.

The course covers elements of an equally accessible Microsoft Word document. Throughout there are several video demonstrations for the student to follow along. These demonstrate different design techniques, as well as provide information on web accessibility. Transcripts on all the videos are available to the students. There is also a short video sample available to those considering taking the class online.

Team Treehouse - Web Accessibility Compliance

Team Treehouse offers an online web accessibility course which is 124 minutes long. The site offers a free trial run subscription to their website, and to take any of the courses, you must have an account with them. Their Web Accessibility Compliance course is a beginner level class.

There are a few different learning objectives covered during the course; all focused on web accessibility. The objectives include:

• WAI-ARIA

• Desktop Access (nonvisual)

• WCAG 2.0 Guidelines

• Introduction to Accessibility

• Semantic HTML

• UI Patterns

• Mobile Accessibility

• Testing Website Accessibility

The class is broken into six parts that are composed of 39 short videos. Each video is about 3 minutes long on average and covers material on how to design an accessible website, testing a website for accessibility, web accessibility guidelines, and more.

UX Foundations: Accessibility

The UX Foundations course on accessibility covers the internet and how to approach communication. It focuses on how to design web content to be equally accessible. It is designed for beginners, and the duration is 1 hour and 20 minutes long. Hundreds of thousands of people have accessed this course since it debuted in 2015, but it is available online only. There is also a transcript of the course provided, and they offer a course preview.

The program covers core concepts including accessibility tools, design, and legislation. It also provides a variety of examples for students to practice and covers, layout, content strategy, screen readers, voice recognition software, managing flow, and navigation. The author highlights how to improve usability, enhance search, and increase audience reach. UX Foundation offers a free month-long trial subscription to users.  

Funka Web Accessibility Training

Funka's accessibility training is available to anyone interested in web accessibility. The company began as a non-profit organization in 1990 but has since become privately owned. They were originally located in Sweden but have since expanded. The class is taught by a few highly qualified web accessibility experts.

The course covers everything from web accessibility basics to advanced techniques. They will teach web accessibility legislation worldwide, and students will learn what they need to know to create a website that meets international standards and legal guidelines.

The target students for this course is developers, program managers, web designers, quality assurance experts, and anyone interested in web accessibility. Students with knowledge of HTML will have an advantage. The course also provides tools for accessibility training and has a community for students to interact.

Paid (University): 

Central Washington University (CWU)

CWU offers a variety of paid programs including Accessibility Studies. Their accessibility studies program offers several different courses which can be taken for elective credit. The program has certification and degree options for students too. It strives to teach students the ins and outs of web accessibility and how it can be implemented to fit a wide variety of career paths.

Program offerings include a Certificate in Accessibility Studies and a Minor in Accessibility Studies.  The 15-credit certification program is about ten weeks long and can be completed in one summer session. It can be paired with a degree in anything from social work to business. The 20-credit minor accessibility course can be tailored to fit your career goals and interests. There are four core classes.

Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Institute of Technology offers a single course on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Accessibility. This comprehensive course will teach a student how to measure a company's ICT accessibility to create an equally accessible workplace for customers with disabilities and employees. The class has several tutors, all with a background in both technology and web accessibility.

The course is six weeks long, and materials are given in weekly modules which cover obstacles companies face when creating accessible web content. Each is taught by a subject matter expert and covers objectives such as the foundations of ICT accessibility, how to identify assistive technology uses, and ideologies of accessible ICT design. It also covers how to create accessible multimedia and documents, understanding the mechanisms of ICT accessibility operations, and how to repair a website that is not accessible. The course includes video tutorials, forum question postings, and weekly activity assignments.

Media Access Australia (W3C Member)

Media Access Australia offers a single program on web accessibility called The Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility (PCWA). It received honorable mentions in 2017 and is taken by students all over the world.

The course is six weeks long and is only offered online. Students can set their own pace but typically will spend 10-12 hours per week on the material. It is a university-accredited program that cost around AUD 2,400.

The course offers hands-on training. It is recommended that students have a background in web design before taking it, and the information covered is based on the WCAG 2.1 guidelines and Section 508. This course covers six main topics, including why web accessibility is important, accessibility standards of the W3C, essential and advanced WCAG 2.1 techniques, authoring tools accessibility guidelines 2.0, and evaluation and future technologies.

Mohawk College

This school offers a program in accessible media production. The 2018's class was the first to graduate from this program, and the course is offered online only. The duration is one year and classes are held Tuesdays and Thursday evenings. The course seeks to accommodate the schedule of working professionals and is taught by professionals within the industry. It outlines learning objectives such as how web accessibility pertains to business, accessibility to usability opportunities, examining accessibility legislation, and creating accessible websites and content.

The program's final take away is understanding the competitive advantage of web accessibility in business. Students should be able to implement techniques that promote web accessibility by the end of the course.

University of Illinois DRES IT Accessibility Badging Program

AITG offers this program. Individuals that complete the program receive a digital badge which can be displayed on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The course is offered online through Blackboard Learner.

The Accessible Information Technology Group (AITG) will continue to add courses throughout 2019. Presently, the program consists of five courses and includes an introduction to accessible JavaScript and web widgets with ARIA, forms and links, and landmarks, headings, and page titles. It also covers web accessibility evaluation for technical users (3-part course) and web accessibility evaluation for non-technical users (3-part course).

To receive a digital badge and complete the certification program, a student must pass all five courses. Each course costs about $300 and is offered in the fall, spring, and summer. There are multiple different course instructors, each an expert in the field.

University of Illinois Information Accessibility Design and Policy (IADP): Certificate Program

The University of Illinois offers a paid Information Accessibility Design and Policy certificate program (IADP). IADP is offered as part of the College of Applied Health Sciences. The program lasts one academic year and consists of 3 courses and six graduate-level credit hours. Students must achieve a B or higher in each class to receive their certification. Undergraduate, graduate, degree-seeking, and non-degree seeking students can take the certification program.

The course was created for industry and education content creators, IT specialists, website application developers and designers, and disability service providers. The goal of the program is to train individuals on how to design accessible web content and why it is important. Students will learn about government legislation, technology accessibility standards, web accessibility tools, and website design.

University of South Australia: Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility

The University of South Australia and the W3C's Media Access Australia group offer a certification course in web accessibility. There is an application process to gain admission to the course, and it is only offered online. The duration of the course is six weeks. The course counts towards university credit and can be taken as an elective. Each successful student receives a completion certificate.

The certification program covers accessibility techniques and principles and is for developers, designers, web managers, auditors, usability specialists, and content managers. The course material gives an in-depth look at web accessibility WCAG 2.0 guidelines. In 2017, the program received an honorable mention for being rewarded the 'Knowability 2017 Heroes of Accessibility' award.

Conferences & Events:

A11Y Project Events

A11Y Project hosts a variety of web accessibility events, offering both online and offline options. If you are hosting your own web accessibility event, you have an opportunity to advertise on their website. To advertise, you must submit a 2-4 sentence description. They also require a link with sign-up instructions.

A11Y Project also promotes local web accessibility Meetups that are organized through an app. Like-minded people get together to talk about a mutual interest in a joint meeting spot. The project platform currently has five upcoming events posted, and these are a mixture of both online and in-person seminars that will take place all over the country. They also have 14 different past programs listed. Users can look out for repeat events they might be interested in.  

Accessing Higher Ground

Accessing Higher Ground is a web accessibility conference that will take place in November 2019. The duration is 4-days, and they will begin accepting speaker applications in May. Those interested in the conference can sign up for their email list. They currently have 13 different companies that sponsor them, and the conference takes place in Westminster at the Westin hotel.

They have an audio version of the 2018 conference available for purchase on their web page. In addition, they have several short web accessibility videos available that cover conferences from 2013-2017. They also have photos from past conferences and notes.

The core concepts covered at the conferences are website design, legislation, and accessible media. They also discuss accessibility achievements on college campuses, in the workplace, and reaching an untapped audience.  

Accessible by Design

This program is a 1-day conference on web accessibility. The hosted website offers a description of the 2018 conference with attendee reviews and is sponsored and hosted by the University of Indiana each year. The 2018 conference video is available on YouTube and their website. The main learning points during the conference were: how to design a web page, accessibility in the development stage, using ARIA to your advantage, and making a workplace more inclusive.  

They have not released the topics for the 2019 conference, but they will have multiple speakers. The conference will be held in Bloomington, Indiana and numerous lodging sites are available to guests. Their website offers a FAQ page that can answer most questions for those considering attending. Interested ones can also sign up for their email list to receive more information about the conference.

CSUN Assistive Technology Conference

The Assistive Technology Conference has been held annually by the Center on Disabilities for the past 33 years at the California State University. Attendees usually stay at the Marriott Hotel. The 34th annual conference will be held this year in March 2019. The ideal conference attendees are practitioners, exhibitors, researchers, speakers, end users, and anyone else interested in web accessibility. The past conferences have attracted thousands of attendees and produced excellent results.

The main goal of the 2019 conference is to look at the most up-to-date technologies and work to determine practical solutions that can be used to remove barriers that prevent participation by people with disabilities. CSUN partners with the ICCHP (International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs) and AAATE (Association for Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe Conference).

Environments for Humans' Accessibility Summit

This Summit was last held in May 2017 and looked at the WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 Guidelines. Summits are held online, and participants must have Adobe Flash Player and a web browser to access the program which can be accessed from most devices.

To register for future Summits, you can do so on their website. Once participants are registered they receive a confirmation email, and closer to the conference date, they receive the final details in an email. On the day of the summit, participants will receive an email inviting them to the conference. If you are interested in future summits, you can sign up for the E4H Newsletter, which will highlight future summit topics and dates.

Inclusive Design 24 (#ID24)

Inclusive Design 24 is a free online web accessibility event that lasts 24 hours. It was created to celebrate an inclusive web and hopes to bring together people that create web content and encourage them to make equally accessible material. People can share experiences, knowledge, and expertise during the event.

There is no sign-up or registration needed to participate in the event. They try to have one event each year, with the last one taking place in 2018. Each event has live captions available, and it is over, it is offered on YouTube for people who missed it. They have several videos available on YouTube currently—all from past years. These include the 2014 Playlist (YouTube), 2016 Playlist (YouTube), June 2017 Playlist (YouTube), and the November 2017 Playlist (YouTube).

Knowbility's AccessU

Knowbility's AccessU hosts several web accessibility workshops and conferences each year that are delivered face-to-face in Austin, Texas. The conferences and workshops are held at St. Edward's University and offer a variety of options including 3-day conferences, 2-day conferences, and 1-day workshops. Each cost between $330-$600 per student.  

Their target students are developers, designers, administrators, project managers, and online content authors. Knowbility's AccessU teaches practical skills that students can use immediately. The goal of the program is to prepare students on how to integrate technology into their workplace.

Their website provides multiple testimonials and reviews from past participants. People considering attending a program can read these reviews to determine what past participants found valuable. They are currently accepting program sponsors, and applications can be found on their web page.  

Webinars:

3playmedia

3playmedia currently offers 3 Webinars including the Quick Start to Captioning, Title III of the ADA: How Does it Apply to Hotels, Restaurants, and Businesses, and The Forest and the Trees: Scaling for Enterprise-Level Digital Accessibility. They also offer several similar webinars on web accessibility topics throughout the year.

Each of their upcoming webinars is 1 day only and each is an hour long. Registration is required in advance. They will cover a few different web accessibility topics. The key concepts will be on closed captioning basics, SEO-friendly material, common legal violations, litigation, digital accessibility, and global accessibility.

They are continually accepting new webinars, so if none of these accessibility topics are what you are looking for, you can continue to check their site. As of now, they only have webinars scheduled through the Spring.

Accessibility Association

The International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) offer several live webinars each year. All past webinars are available on their website, and all future webinars will also be recorded and archived on their website. To access these webinars, you must have an IAAP account. There is a fee to set up an account, and the webinars have a registration cost as well.

The association currently has five upcoming webinars—all covering web accessibility topics. The topics include Building the Business Case for Accessibility, Tackling a Huge Website with WCAG-EM, Web Accessibility Techniques for ReactJS and AngularJS, Social Media Accessibility, and Digital Accessibility ROI. The Webinars vary in technicality from beginner to expert level. Each of these Webinars is one day only and last anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.

Accessibility Talks (A11Y Talks) - Virtual Meetup and Video Series

Accessibility Talks is available on YouTube, and their next event is 2/12/2019. They will be covering how job posting can be exclusive without meaning to be. They will also discuss what businesses can do to avoid this. Each new Webinar has a different web accessibility topic. They have received thousands of views in the past.

Users have the option to subscribe to the channel. If you subscribe, you will be able to view all the posted webinars. Subscriptions do cost a fee; however, the Webinar has a variety of different expert guest speakers. People who subscribe to the channel will also have a discussion board available to them. The discussion board can be used to talk with other participants, ask questions, or provide comments. Videos are available any time after their release time and date.

Educational Videos:

3playmedia's Videos

3playmedia offers a variety of different videos on its website that includes highlights from different webinars and online events. Most of these videos are short—typically less than 5 minutes. The videos are free, and you can find most of them on YouTube, as well as, 3playmedia.

One popular web accessibility video they have is about captioning. It is titled "You Guys Need Captions" and is to the tune of Pharrell's song Happy. Throughout the video, they discuss different captioning techniques. They also cover why captions are important and talk about how captions are used to determine where a video is displayed during a search. Search engines will match the searched words to the caption words as accurately as possible. The videos have audio music and words, as well as subtitles and some descriptions.

11ycasts with Rob Dodson

11ycasts with Rob Dodson is available on YouTube. The video has been viewed over 92,000 times and was released in 2018. Rob has made several videos on web accessibility in the past, and they cover a wide variety of topics. Most of them are less than 10 minutes long.

One topic covered is how to build an accessible app. He walks his viewer's through why it is vital to build equally accessible apps and guides them through the process of developing an app and make it accessible. The video is primarily made for developers. It is short, and if you do not have a background in app design, it may be difficult to follow along. Rob also goes over how to test an app for accessibility. The last topic covers how to problem-shoot potential issues.

Debugging Accessibility with Alice Boxhall

This course is also available on YouTube. Alice Boxhall has her own channel that has over 6,000 subscribers. The video has received over 1700 views and is just under 25 minutes long. It covers accessibility developer tools and has received positive feedback. Subscribers have the option of communicating through a discussion board where they can ask questions about the video content and perhaps interact with others.

The context talks about problems with debugging accessibility and discusses how, even with specific tools, it can be hard to code accessibly. The video troubleshoots potential problems developers may have. Alice Boxhall talks about Chrome's DevTools and the work they are doing with. Chrome's DevTools provide web developers with debugging accessibility information and more.

Marcy Sutton's Accessibility Presentations

Marcy Sutton's presentations on accessibility are available on her website—MarcySutton.com. Her talks on accessibility are listed at the bottom of the page under the tab labeled "Talks". She currently has 28 different videos posted—all addressing web accessibility. Most of these videos are also available on other networks such as YouTube.

The videos are entirely free to view and range in length from 15 minutes to over an hour. The videos date back to as early as 2014, though there are recent ones posted in 2018. Most of the videos are snippets of webinars, events, and conferences she has spoken at.

Some of the topics covered include MVCs accessibility, JavaScript, angular accessibility, automated accessibility, and testing for accessibility. There are many other topics covered, but these are some of the videos with the most views.

State of Texas Creating Accessible Microsoft Office Documents

The Office of the Texas Governor has an entire website dedicated to creating accessible word documents. The page offers a description of accessibility and why it is important. It also provides multiple reports that serve as guides on accessibility. Each of these is connected to various tutorial training videos. There are four tutorials offered. They are as follows:

• 2007 Microsoft Office Tutorials

• 2010 Microsoft Office Tutorials

• 2013 & 2016 Microsoft Office Tutorials

• Assistive Technology Training

The 2007 training tutorials cover color, contrast, figures, hyperlinks, basics, tables, and conforming old documents. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and The Committee on People with Disabilities partnered to create these tutorials. The 2010 tutorials cover MP3 files, Outlook, email, PDF, and Adobe Reader. The 2013 & 2016 tutorials go over changes made to earlier topics, as well as productivity and accessibility tabs.

Meetups:

Accessibility DC

This is a public meet up group with over 270 members. It is located in Washington, DC and was organized by two individuals. To join the group, all you need is a Meetup account. The group meets monthly, on every 3rd Wednesday. It also hosts events occasionally. Their Meetup site provides photos, discussion boards, and calendar events.

The group covers a variety of web accessibility topics. Past topics include:

• Section 508 Compliance or WCAG 2.0

• Flash accessibility

• Video captioning

• Panel discussions

• How to make a website more accessible

• Creating accessible PDFs

• WAI-ARIA

• Accessible audio transcription

Current members include web developers, web designers, content authors, business owners, IT specialists, and more. The group touches on a broad number of topics. It would help to have background knowledge in web design.

Boston Accessibility

Boston Accessibility is a public Meetup group that is composed of over 500 members. The group has three organizers that are located in Cambridge, MA. They have hosted 49 public events in the past.

The group members include web developers, media specialists, usability professionals, web designers, and accessibility experts. Anyone is welcome to join, but having a background in web development would be helpful. Members get together and share web accessibility knowledge, and there are multiple web accessibility experts in the group.

Different topics are discussed during each event. Past events have featured expert guest speakers, impromptu discussions, presentations, and group case studies. Meetings are held monthly. Their Meetup page has previous topics, photos, and a discussion board that new and potential members can view. Sessions take place at the IBM Innovation Center.

Buffalo Accessibility Meet-up (Buffa11y)

The Buffalo Accessibility Meetup group is held in Buffalo, NY. It currently has over 85 members, including web designers, web developers, Q&A professionals, UX professionals, content authors, copywriters, and more. The group has one organizer and is open to the public.

They have had four past events that included a kick-off event which was a meet and greet seminar. Two open chat groups and their last event was a UX meetup. They do not currently have regular Meetup times; however, if the group gains traction, they promise to look into scheduling regular Meetups.

The organizer hopes to expand and have a regional, country, and even world-wide sessions in the future. The goal is to bring anyone involved with web development together in hopes of sharing experiences and learning more about web accessibility.

Chicago Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design

This group is located in Chicago, IL and was founded by five web accessibility experts. They currently have over 1900 members and are open to the public.

They have hosted 41 events in the past. Each event's topic covered accessibility—are all geared towards designing a more accessible web for everyone including people with disabilities. The topics and locations for each event vary. Past topics include:

• Neurodiversity in the workplace

• Digital accessibility

• UX design

• Accessibility 101

• Mobile screen readers

• WCAG 2.0

• Legislation and web accessibility

• Inclusive techniques

• Accessibility from a global perspective

Most of the hosted Meetups have had around 100 attendees. They have had guest speakers, presentations, and open discussions at these meetings. Their site also features a discussion board and photos from past events.

London Accessibility Meetup

This British Accessibility Meetup group hosts web accessibility events with over 1,852 members and is open to the public. The group was founded by four individuals who all have a background in web development. They have had 22 events in the past and one that is upcoming.

All their content focus on how to make the web more accessible and the meetings are open discussions. They invite all web accessibility experts to join and share their past experiences. Their groups are meant to be a networking opportunity for business owners, web developers, web designers, content authors, and web development specialists.

They encourage members—whether accessibility advocates or digital nomads—to help make a difference to users with different disabilities. The groups do not appear to have specific topics; instead, members can steer the conversation in whatever direction it takes.

Montreal's web accessibility & inclusive design meet-up

Montreal's web accessibility group currently has over 540 members. The group is located in Montreal, QC and was founded by six web development experts. They are a bilingual group and encourages a wide variety of members. They currently have web developers, web designs, IT specials, content authors, and universal designers. They also encourage end-users to participate in the group. They like to hear from those who are skilled at various accessibility tools. Anyone passionate about web accessibility at any skill level is welcome to join.

The group is open to anyone with a Meetup account. They have photos, a discussion board, and 18 past events on their Meetup profile. Past topics include accessibility and usability, web accessibility Q&A, how to perform web accessibility, WCAG 2.0 and 2.1, and global accessibility. They currently do not have a regular meet up time.

Mid-MO Web Accessibility Meetup

This is a public Facebook group with an open discussion board for comments and questions. They are located in Columbus, Missouri and currently has over 50 members.

The goal of the group is to promote accessibility by bringing web developers, advocates, and experts together to discuss universal design in the digital world. They hope to create a more accessible web by sharing advice and promoting the importance of an equally accessible web. Anyone is welcome to attend events; however, it would be helpful to have a background in web development.

The group meetings are conducted as an open discussion and have been active since 2017, hosting a variety of meetings and Webinars. Members attend conferences on web accessibility as a group. The Facebook profile features a number of past events; however, there are currently no upcoming events displayed.

New York City A11yNYC

The A11yNYC meetup group gets together every month on the first Tuesday. New York City has a ton of different tech professionals and was created by 3 of them— Cameron Cundiff, Shawn Lauriat, and Thomas Logan. The goal of the group is to promote inclusive design and digital accessibility in NYC. They aim to create a community that shares ideas, experiences, and best practices.

The group currently has over 1300 members and is open to the public. Their past meetings are available to view on YouTube, and they have had 57 meetings in the past. There is also a Twitter account that provides group information to members.

Ottawa a11yYOW

Ottawa Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design is a Meetup group located in Ottawa, ON. It currently has over 220 members and is open to the public. Five web accessibility professionals founded them. Their group is open to anyone interested in web accessibility, regardless of experience level. It is their primary goal to attract as many web development beginners, intermediates, and experts, as well as end-users. Business owners are also encouraged to attend.

They hope to raise the bar on general inclusion by bringing like-minded people together. Meeting are held regularly to discuss web accessibility and are open discussions where members can share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The program addresses problems with creating an inclusive design and how to solve them. They have had 26 events in the past, held at various locations.

Portland Accessibility and User Experience Meetup

This group is located in Portland, OR and currently has over 1000 members. Members include both individuals and businesses alike. Portland is a tech hub, and any local with a background in web development is welcome to join. Members include web developers, web designers, content authors, business managers, and content managers. They also encourage end-users with disabilities to participate and are open to the public.

The group's primary goal is to make the web more accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. They hope to encourage people to incorporate universal design and accessibility into user research, project planning, and UX evaluation.

They have had 29 events in the past, each discussing a wide range of web accessibility topics. The topics covered universal design, writing for inclusivity, fringe accessibility techniques, design thinking, plain language, and accessibility technology.

Quebec City a11yQC

The Quebec City a11yQC is a French Meetup group that was established in 2012. They started as a group of people that would meet up regularly to discuss accessibility and the web; however, since 2017 they have restructured, now offering conferences multiple times throughout the year.

The mission of the Quebec City a11yQC is to help businesses adopt the newest web accessibility standards. Their meetings discuss web accessibility legislation, best practices, and more. Initially, the group primarily focused on three government standards—SGQRI 008-01, SGQRI 008-02, and SGQRI 008-03.

These cover websites, downloadable documents, and multimedia players. Now, the group hosts a yearly symposium in support of web accessibility in hopes that by providing a platform for businesses to talk about web accessibility problems, they will help develop solutions to these issues.

Raleigh-Durham a11yRTP

A11yRTP is a meetup group located in Raleigh Durham, North Carolina. It is open to the public and currently has over 160 members. Anyone with a Meetup account can join in. Four different web development professionals created the group. They have had six events in the past that have been open discussions. Members are invited to join and talk about web accessibility openly. They can share end-user or developer experiences, highlight issues affecting the industry, or divulge solutions.

The main goal of the group is to have an open platform for people to discuss any topic regarding web accessibility. They have an all-topics-are-fair-game policy, so members are welcome to bring anything to the table. The aim is to provide a safe, like-minded community for anyone interested in web accessibility.

role=drinks

Role=drinks is an accessibility Meetup group that hosts a variety of events including yearly conferences. Their events feature expert speakers, discussion groups, and lightning talks. The group gets together for drinks and discussion, and have an email list that anyone can subscribe to. They also have a Twitter account where meeting times are disclosed. They have had conferences in multiple cities all over the world in places such as Amsterdam, NL, Brighton, UK, San Diego, CA, Utrecht, NL, and Dieren, NL.

Role=drinks is sponsored by fronteers. They are currently accepting sponsors on their website, and the application to run a role=drinks group is also available for download. They have several group location spots set up around the world and are constantly looking for new locations.

role=drinks Hamburg

A11y Meetup in Hamburg is one of the role=drinks groups. They have their email account where a person can subscribe to receive information. They also have a Twitter account where event information is posted. The group is entirely free, and persons can join by merely showing up to an event. They have an available list of members on their web page, and these ones can list themselves as attending, maybe attending, or not attending events.

Their goal is to bring like-minded people together to talk about web accessibility. There are discussions on accessibility problems and solutions, and members are invited to share experiences, thoughts, and ask questions. Their events feature talks, open discussions, and Q&A's. Regarding accessibility, the group adheres to the Berlin Code of Conduct.

San Francisco

The Bay Area Accessibility and Inclusive Design is a public Meetup group located in San Francisco, CA. It currently has over 1400 members and is founded by two web designers. Located by Silicon-Valley, this group hopes to bring together tech professionals to discuss the importance of web accessibility. Group members include web designers, web developers, accessibility experts, usability experts, and other tech professionals. The group also encourages end-users with disabilities to join and provide their input.

They encourage persons who can share their expertise and those wanting to learn about web design to promote accessibility to join. They have had 34 events in the past that covered a variety of different accessibility topics. Some of these include Pinterest redesign, accessibility case studies, Wix.com, keyboard fundamentals, and designs for dyslexia. Meetups rotate between San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Seattle Area Accessibility & Inclusive Design

This is a web accessibility meetup group that assembles once a month. It currently has over 1200 members and is open to the public in Seattle, WA. The group meets at several different locations in the city and is organized by three different technology professionals. They have held 32 meetings in the past and covered a variety of various topics, some of which include: web applications, JavaScript, game development and inclusive design, certified accessibility exams, user research, and global accessibility awareness.

The goal is to promote the conversation of web accessibility in Seattle. Meetings cost $5 to attend. They hope to establish a community of like-minded people and create networking opportunities for people involved in technology-based fields.

Toronto a11yTO

A11yTO Meetup Group is located in Toronto, ON, It has over 1600 members and is open to the public. Five web development professionals developed the group, and it has held up to 65 past events. Each event covered a different web accessibility topic.

They also have photos from past events available on their web page and a discussion board. The discussion board serves as a forum for members to ask and answer questions and discuss various topics.

The group hosts a variety of different events including conferences, camps, and meetings. The goal is to create a place for members to share experiences, solutions, and ideas with the intention of creating a more inclusive web. There is also a Twitter account and Facebook page.

Certificates:

International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) Certification

The IAAP offers a web accessibility certification program that currently has two program levels— professional and technical. The professional level seeks to help technology workers understand the concept of web accessibility, and provides a measure to assess their understanding. The technical level evaluates workers based on knowledge of their domain.

The IAAP certification program has several core competencies and goals:

• Defining accessibility

• Increasing quality and consistency of work

• Providing credentials to accessibility professionals

• Providing a metric for measuring accessibility competence

• Providing curriculum outlines for teaching accessibility

• Build a community amongst accessibility professionals

The program also created a pathway for becoming a Web Accessibility Specialist. It is mainly designed for intermediate level professionals.

Media Access Australia (W3C Member): Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility

Media Access Australia offers a professional certification program for technology professionals. The program is 6-weeks long and provides both hands-on training and video tutorials. It is an internationally recognized program and is centered around the information provided in the WCAG 2.1 guide.

It is recommended that participants have a background in web development. The course is self-paced and will require about 10-12 hours of work per week. The program costs $2,400 per student, and to master the certification program, you must pass the 3 assessments. The assessments are as follows: website usability, captioning, and compliance auditing.

The ideal students for this program are web developers, programmers, content writers, web designers, user experience testers/designers, accessibility managers, compliance managers, project managers, web content managers, scrum masters, communication specialists, editors, ICT managers, and marketing staff.

Mohawk College: Ontario College Graduate Certificate in Accessible Media Production

Mohawk College offers a graduate degree certificate in web accessibility. They have a variety of different courses on web accessibility, some of which include inclusive writing, diversity perspectives, web accessibility, disability legislation for media professionals, and assistive technology. They are the first accessibility graduate program in Ontario, Canada. Students must apply to gain admission to the program, and courses are offered online.

Students will learn technical skills including captioning, video implementation, inclusive writing, and social media and will receive intensive training on web accessibility and design. The program is 15-weeks long and courses are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Those that pass their classes will have a graduate certificate in accessible media production. They will also have hands-on training to build equally accessible web content. Students that receive this degree can apply for jobs as a web accessibility expert.

Books, Tutorials & Blogs

GitHub offers a variety of different reading materials regarding web accessibility. Some of these include books, blogs, tutorials, guides, guidelines, checklists, newsletters, mailing lists, and slack. The GitHub site provides links to several pieces of web accessibility material, some of which highlight the following:

• Inclusive Front-End Design Patterns by Heydon Pickering

• Accessibility for Everyone by Laura Kalbag

• iOS Accessibility Handbook by Luis Abreu

• Digital Outcasts: Moving Technology Forward without Leaving People Behind by Kel Smith

• a11y wins the blog

• A11Y Style Guide

• Teach Access Tutorial

• IBM Accessibility Checklist

• gov.uk Accessibility Community

• W3C a11ySlackers

Some of these may be familiar, having been discussed earlier; however, each is a popular source of web accessibility material. Those interested in accessibility will find a wealth of information and topics available within these sources.

Twitter Handles

Twitter serves as a place for people to share information regarding a plethora of topics, with web accessibility being the chief of those. People flock to Twitter to share their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and expertise on web accessibility.

GitHub has compiled a list of Twitter users interested in web accessibility to follow. These users provide regular status updates. They may be technology experts, end-users, or web developers; however, they all have one thing in common—and that is an interest in web accessibility.

Each of these users promotes an equally accessible web. Whether they are hosting conferences, webinars, events, or designing a certification program, they all have valuable insight on web accessibility.

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