Open Source means nothing to the larger accessibility community. That is a problem. Proprietary solutions limit access to vital accessibility tools. This presentation outlines existing Open Source accessibility solutions while asking the question "Why aren’t there more Open Source a11y tools?" The presentation is meant to be both a survey of existing solutions and a call to action for new Open Source solutions. Web Accessibility stagnates without more Open Source A11y tools.

It can feel impossible to gain the attention of the decision-makers to prioritize accessibility among all the competing priorities within a business. I'll share strategies, case studies, and success stories from my experiences in growing successful accessibility programs. We'll also talk about strategies that make accessibility to personal to those who may have never considered it before.

Star Peterson, M.Ed. (they/them) is a multiply neurodivergent instructional designer, eLearning developer, and diversity trainer. Star discusses how to design learning content that is accessible to autistic learners as well as learners with ADHD, learning disabilities, Traumatic Brain Injury, and other neurodivergences.

This session will investigate the hidden questions in the websites and applications we build: Who is this for? Who is able to use it? Who is unable to use it? Why is this the case? What previous experiences, assumptions, and understandings do we incorporate into the things we create? By exploring the process by which my organization rebuilt its website, I’ll provide examples and methods for going beyond simply meeting WCAG guidelines—instead, reaching for a new way of thinking about technology, our place in its development, and our work overall.

What does it mean to have accessible and inclusive presentations?

In this session, we'll go over what we can do as presenters to ensure inclusivity for all our attendees regardless of how they consume the content, beyond the basics of captions and color contrast. We'll briefly cover accessibility definitions, standards, and guidelines and then share practical tips and examples to help make presentation slide decks and the presentations more accessible.