The A11Y Theme Builder is the first-ever open-source project for Discover Financial Services. Its goal is to help all teams build accessible digital experiences in light and dark modes for all devices and platforms and to provide additional UI for people with ADHD, dyslexia, and color blindness.

At age nine, Chanda Hinton's life changed due to a spinal cord injury. Through her lived experience,  she aims to empower others to advocate for equitable healthcare. Chanda founded the Chanda Center for Health, offering integrative therapies for those with physical disabilities. She continues to battle healthcare barriers and biases to improve health services for her community.

The a11y community is rich in technical knowledge, but what about knowledge of larger disability issues? Understanding the disabled experience is more than knowing about the WCAG! In this presentation, Jen (a masters student in disability studies) will give an introduction to the academic field of disability studies, its core concepts, some important figures and events in the field, and how this knowledge can impact how you approach your digital accessibility work.

Just as design systems provide consistency, and reduce duplication of efforts, reactive controllers for web components can be used to provide a consistent accessible keyboard navigation experience.

ARIA attributes bridge the gap to address accessibility issues that cannot be managed with native HTML. Join us as we explore what ARIA is, what it can do, when you should use it - and when not to.
At the end of this talk, attendees will be able to properly apply ARIA attributes to their sites and apps, including when it’s best to stick with native HTML.