News from OZeWAI - 10/10/2021

OZeWAI newsletter

OZeWAI newsletter contributions

Please help us make our newsletter a source of information for all working in the field of accessibility - you, your clients, the community and more.

If you or someone has an event, news or techniques that will be of interest to others, please send them to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Note that our newsletter is available on the OZeWAI website.

Conference update

There is a new OZeWAI interim committee dedicated to the education and growth of the accessibility practitioner community. This year, we have decided to partner with the new Web Directions conference Access All Areas while the committee works on the professional membership aspects of the organisation. More news on OZeWAI membership and the benefits of partnering with conferences such as AAA will be provided in an upcoming newsletter, along with AGM and website information.

Website

Our new website is currently in staging as we fine-tune it ready for a launch before the end of this year. We’re looking forward to a fresh look and new levels of activity. We will be reaching out to you for help in testing of the site.

In the meantime, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to be added to the list of people we can turn to for usability testing. We will especially be looking for people who use different types of assistive technologies to test our new site.

Outreach

OZeWAI gets involved in external events to raise our profile and get our message out to more people. Coming up, we have:

Get Online Week

This is a digital inclusion campaign organised by Good Things Foundation. Last year, we featured a video demonstration by Scott Nixon on how to use the VoiceOver screen reader built in to the iPhone. You can still catch it on YouTube if you missed it. We’ll be participating again this year, 18-24 October.

Australian Access Awards

The awards are held every 2 years and celebrate organisations that have implemented accessibility in their digital campaigns or resources. Several OZeWAI members were winners in 2019, including Gian Wild from AccessibilityOz, who was named Accessibility Person of the Year. This year’s finalists will be announced on 25 October, with the awards ceremony to be held on 19 November.

Industry events

There are plenty of great accessibility focused events coming up of interest to professionals and enthusiasts. Here’s two locally organised online conferences we recommend.

Web Directions Access All Areas

An online, global conference on accessibility engineering for front end developers, this features a spectacular line-up of international speakers on key topics. It takes place over two consecutive Fridays, 29 October and 5 November, with the four-hour sessions run three times to cover world time zones. Special offer: OZEWAI members will be sent a special link to register for $99 (50% off early bird pricing!), so check your inboxes.

A11y Camp 2021

Australia’s premier conference on accessibility and inclusion features three days full of conference presentations from 9-11 November. This year’s line-up will be announced soon, is sure to be compelling and will be free to attend. You can watch highlights of the 2019 event on YouTube.

Accessible & Inclusive Tourism Conference in the Asia-Pacific (AITCAP)

AITCAP returns in May 2022 and has opened submissions for speakers, presentations and panel topics. AITCAP is seeking experienced industry practitioners, acknowledged experts and thought leaders for a mix of presentations, interviews, panel discussions and masterclasses. AITCAP aims to show how catering to the valuable accessible and inclusive tourism market promotes sustainable growth and faster tourism recovery. Visit the GetAboutAble website for more information, including dates, proposed themes for each day or submit the form to register to be a speaker.

Local meetups

October meetup events

Canberra Accessibility and Inclusive Design meetup regularly meet on the third Thursday of the month
Perth Accessibility meetup has monthly catch up breakfasts

Check the group meetup pages in your area for upcoming events:

Industry jobs

There seem to be a lot of jobs available currently for people with skills and experience related to accessibility. That can only be a good thing! Here are some that caught our attention.

Digital Accessibility Consultant, Intopia (Australia), remote
Senior Manager Accessibility and Inclusion, CBA, Sydney
Frontend Software Engineer - Accessibility, Canva, Sydney
Accessibility Tester, Ampion, Melbourne
Accessibility Engineer, TPGi (USA), remote
Senior Test Analyst (Accessibility), via Peoplebank, Canberra
Web Accessibility Developer, via GRIT Talent Consulting, Brisbane

OZeWAI Committee

Since our last newsletter, much has happened at OZeWAI, including a "changing of the guard" as Liddy Neville stepped down as Chair of OZeWAI following more than 20 years of exceptional leadership in this role. Liddy's commitment to accessibility, standards and community has and continues to be awe inspiring. Roles such as the one Liddy has played in our region for advancing the cause of a web that works for all users can not be underestimated and it goes without saying that we would not be where we are today without her.

The new interim committee would like to thank Liddy for her leadership, commitment and dedication. It has been an honour for each of us to learn and grow in this industry with her.

Built on the solid foundation that Liddy helped build, we are committed to the growth and progress of advancing OZeWAI. We are looking forward to the next chapter and do so knowing it has been made possible by amazing volunteers such as Liddy.

Committee members

Amanda Mace
Brigitta Norton
Natalie Collins
Chaals McCathie-Nevile
Gerry Neustatl
Christos Petros
Andrew Normand
Ricky Onsman
Dr Manisha Amin
Likhasinh Sayasane

Get involved

Join the mailing list
Join the discussions on the Forum
Friend us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Join our LinkedIn group
Revisit the December 2020 Conference videos on our YouTube channel
Visit our website

Not interested any more? Unsubscribe

Nav view search

Navigation

Search