Let's Get Accessible! - Techweek 2020 Webinar

"Let's Get Accessible!" - an evening of lightning talks discussing digital accessibility and needs and preferences of users with disabilities.

Overview
6:30pm - 6:35pm: Join event
6:35pm - 6:45pm: Welcome & Intros
6:45pm - 8:25pm: Presentations
8:25pm: Wrap up

Speaker 1: Minnie Baragwanath, Chief Possibility Officer of Global Centre of Possibility @ AUT
Topic: Towards Possibility!
Living in a VUCA world where volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity are the norm, nothing has made this clearer to us than the dramatic impact of COVID 19. To create a truly accessible society for all we need a new way to think about the world - Possibility world view!

About Minnie
Established Be. Accessible, a social change agency committed to the creation of a 100% accessible New Zealand which led to Be. Lab and what was to become the Centre of Possibility @ AUT. Minnie has been awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit, the Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award, the Westpac Women of Influence Diversity award, the 2019 Zonta Centenary women’s award and was placed as a top 10 finalist for the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.

International Guest Speaker 2: Gareth Ford Williams, Head of UX Design @ BBC
Topic: Moving from Accessibility Guidelines to Documentation Driven Development
About Gareth
Gareth sits on several internal management groups including the diversity groups for the BBC North, BBC Future Media Divisions as well as pan-BBC groups for Accessibility.

Speaker 3: Kylee Maloney, Professional Speaker and Communicator on Inclusive Events and Accessible Documents
Topic: “Even Old Typists …”
Kylee is a professional communicator, speaker and former typist who resisted changing her inaccessible ways for many years until she found sound, logical reasons to do so. Now she’s keen to pass those reasons onto you.

About Kylee
Experienced Toastmaster, an international award-winning former broadcaster and accessibility evangelist who also uses assistive technology.

Speaker 4: Maz Hermon, UX/UI developer at Trade Me.
Topic: Top 5 a11y mistakes I used to make
Common mistakes when getting started in addressing accessibility within large teams

1. Being toooo 'helpful'
2. Just because you 'can' ARIA
3. Thinking 'we're not ready for a11y usability testing'
4. Over-prioritising screen reader support
5. Asking permission

About Maz
Passionate about the web and enjoys continuously learning about ways to create performant, accessible, enjoyable and usable solutions for the web. He is currently working on a large Angular project supporting design system & component library which has been built from the ground up over the past four+ years.

Speaker 5: Carl Non, Coach & Scrum Master at ASB.
Topic: Why yes, I also need a screen reader
Challenges of living with keratoconus and how he has used his condition to an advantage.

About Carl
Experienced Coach, Scrum Master and Tester which includes working with Government based clients, banks, insurance companies and the construction industry. His approach is balanced with understanding the struggles that technical teams could face, placing an emphasis on what works for them rather than applying a "one size fits all" approach.

Speaker 6: Tamsin Ewing, Content Designer and Web Accessibility advisor at DIA.
Topic: Finding the needle in the haystack: Helping web accessibility practitioners understand and deliver on accessibility
Discussion of three questions around conformance with WCAG 2.1, best practice guidance and incorporating digital accessibility work into BAU.

About Tamsin
Over 10 years’ experience working on public sector websites. Her work is informed by principles in design thinking, design sprints, UX, inclusive design and service design. Currently a content designer and web accessibility advisor, this year she’s leading an initiative to improve guidance on meeting the NZ Government Web Accessibility Standard so that digital services are accessible to all.