OZeWAI newsletter

Have Your Say on OZeWAI

We are currently exploring options for the next Australian Accessibility Conference and, in the process, we want to find out what you think about OZeWAI as it is and what you would like it to be.

Rather than yet another online survey that shoehorns limited answers into preformatted questions that may not let people say what they really want to say, we’re going to do it properly and interview anyone who wants to participate.

Broad topics will include:

1. Conference: what’s been your experience with OZeWAI and other conferences – especially in light of recent online innovations? What works well, and what doesn’t? What would you like to see and do at the next Australian Accessibility Conference in November?

2. Membership: as we move toward a more formal structure with paid membership, what are your expectations in terms of how much you would expect to pay, and what benefits, right and privileges would you expect in return?

3. Communications: how effective is OZeWAI in keeping you informed about digital accessibility in Australia? What are your opinions and expectations with regard to our website structure and content, our email newsletter, our social media presence and how we promote ourselves to the wider community?

4. Certification: is there a role for OZeWAI to play in establishing and managing a system of assessing and certifying levels of digital accessibility skills and responsibility? What would you like to see and how could that work?

All research will be anonymous and confidential. If you would like to be interviewed and have your say, shoot us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and express your interest.

Promoting OZeWAI

In the meantime, one thing we want to keep doing is promote OZeWAI, its aims and its members to the Australian web tech community that doesn’t necessarily focus on accessibility – but should!

Following our stint at UX Australia’s Design Research 2020 conference (which went online at the last minute), we’ve agreed to participate in their huge UX Australia 2020 conference in August, which will also be completely online (registration is open). Our plan is to conduct online screen reader demos during breaks in conference proceedings, something many non-disability specific web professionals have expressed great interest in.

We’re planning to do something similar at the equally massive Web Directions Summit conference in November this year. We’re hoping that way to increase the profile of accessibility in the digital tech community and maybe attract more people to our own Australian Accessibility Conference and OZeWAI in general.

Stand by for more updates on that.

A11y Bytes

We have to give a huge shoutout to the folks behind A11y Bytes 2020, Australia’s biggest celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on 21 May. If anything, the online format enhanced the overall event, enabling participation by speakers and attendees from all over the world. The quality of the talks and the level of attendee interaction was world class and a credit to Sarah, Adem, Katherine, Julie, Zoë, Stewart and all who made it such a great event.

If you missed it, you can catch the whole 3 hours plus on YouTube – captioned, of course!

Food for Thought

US disability rights lawyer Lainey Feingold – familiar to many of us from her appearance at A11y Camp 2018 – noticed that quite a few accessibility advocates have in recent years used food metaphors to explain and emphasise the role of digital accessibility. So much so that she was inspired to pull them together into a single, compelling and rather tasty article: Accessibility is Delicious: Food Analogies for Digital Inclusion. Enjoy!

OZeWAI Forum

Don’t forget that the OZeWAI Forum is an online channel for you to raise and discuss issues relevant to digital accessibility in Australia. Has something in this newsletter inspired you to make a comment or ask a question? Are you angry about something and want help to do something about it? Do you have an event you want to promote? Got an itch you just have to scratch?

Come and have your say!

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