2021

Anna E. Cook (she/her or they/them)

Many accessibility defects originate in design, so why do the bulk of accessibility considerations fall to developers and quality assurance? In this talk, we will discuss why we need more accessibility designers, what it means to be an accessibility designer, and the day-to-day responsibilities of an accessibility designer. Learn how you can advocate to create accessibility designer roles and begin to train yourself to specialize in accessibility as a designer.

Read more about Why We Need More Accessibility Designers →

Meryl Evans (she/her/deaf)

Do all deaf people know how to read lips? Know sign language? Can they drive? There are many misconceptions about deaf and hard of hearing people. Meryl will set the record straight on common misconceptions. Come to this A11yTalks session to get the facts about deaf and HoH people to enrich your accessibility and inclusion efforts.

Read more about Shattering Assumptions About Deafness →

Albert Kim (he/him)

Two of the biggest gaps in digital accessibility include lack of accessibility guidelines around mental health and how to bridge the knowledge divide between advocacy and professional. Albert Kim, the founder of Accessibility NextGen and a W3C invited expert on mental health, will be discussing his digital accessibility journey and the role Accessibility NextGen is playing to help people in the early stages of their accessibility journeys learn and grow together.

Read more about Bridging the A11y Gap: Mental Health & the Next Generation →

Michele Williams

Designing with blind consumers in mind can be difficult for sighted team members, often leading to disregarding best practices that benefit blind visitors. To help turn this around, this presentation will break down a key difference in page navigation approaches (“whole-to-part” vs. “part-to-whole”), and explain design and code components that make exploration easier for everyone.

Read more about Whole-to-Part versus Part-to-Whole: How Sighted and Blind Web Navigation Differs →

Anderexis Bates

Father Hen's House is a newly started Youtube series project where Father Hen addresses topics through the lens of disability, sexuality, & gender mainly. The videos are broken into small 3-part series that cover a topic through the different lenses, often with the help of guest speakers. The goal of the project is to provide a digital resource to answer questions that people may be afraid to ask. Father Hen will go over the project's inspiration and where the project is going.

Read more about 'Father Hen's House' Project →