Austin Accessibility and Inclusive Design

PDFs are one of the most common and most misunderstood document formats when it comes to accessibility. In this practical, demo‑led session, we’ll take a PDF and work through how to remediate it step by step. The session will focus on what good looks like, common pitfalls to avoid, and when a PDF is (and isn’t) the right format to use. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of PDF accessibility and the confidence to start improving your own documents.

About the Speaker: Samantha Merrett
Samantha Merrett is a Senior Accessibility Specialist at the Ministry of Justice, where she leads strategic initiatives to embed accessibility across digital services. With over 7 years of experience championing accessible documents and inclusive design, Samantha has developed cross-government training programs, created hands-on learning spaces like the MoJ Accessibility Bar, and co-organises the Document Accessibility Community of Practice, a network spanning 65+ public sector organisations.

She is CPACC certified and passionate about moving accessibility beyond compliance by fostering empathy-driven experiences. Samantha has presented at major conferences, including WordPress Accessibility Day and the MoJ Digital Accessibility Conference, and regularly collaborates with government teams to improve accessibility standards and capability.

Thank you to our sponsors:

At the University of California, Berkeley Library, digital accessibility has become an essential part of providing equitable access to information and services.

In this presentation, Jesse Loesberg will give you an inside look at how the library built and implemented a digital accessibility program following a Title II ADA lawsuit and a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Along the way, you’ll learn about the legal and institutional factors that shaped the program, including Berkeley’s unique relationship with the disability rights movement and the realities of introducing accessibility initiatives within a large academic and library environment. Jesse will also dive into the practical side of accessibility work, covering everything from developing processes and policies to collaborating with external vendors whose accessibility commitments may not always align with your own.

Learning Outcomes:
• Practical approaches to designing and implementing a digital accessibility program.
• The challenges and opportunities such a program presents.
• Techniques for communicating with external vendors.
• A portrait of how one very large academic institution dealt with an ADA lawsuit.

About the Speaker
Jesse Loesberg is a web developer, digital accessibility expert, and public speaker. His presentations on disability and technology address issues from fostering an accessibility-forward workplace culture to the nuts and bolts of building compliant websites and applications. He is currently the web developer and digital accessibility program manager for the UC Berkeley Library. When he’s not working to make the web a more accessible place, he’s playing piano, brewing beer, knitting, starting a new fermentation project, or going to horror movies with his awesome teenage kids.

Thank you to our sponsors: