OZeWAI - Accessibility and AI, Ask the Professionals - 11 February 2026

Introduction

The 'Ask the Professional' events are free and recognised as professional development for many organisations.

Join OZeWAI members and guests, including knowledgeable digital accessibility experts, specialists and researchers from all over the world, as well as leaders in the industry, government and non-profit organisations, to explore and support digital inclusion topics and ideas.

Topic: Accessibility and AI.

This panel event will bring together accessibility specialists for you to:

• Ask questions of the experts 

• Share knowledge of similar issues

• Find where to get help with accessibility advice and expertise

Session access requirements

The session agenda and access details will be shared 2 days before the event. This is a remote online event using Zoom.

Please email info@ozewai.org if you wish to share any tools, communication methods or anything else we should consider to ensure you can fully participate in the session.

Thank you from the OZeWAI Committee

Panelists:

Andrew Downie (he/him)

Andrew worked for TAFE NSW for 25 years in the areas of assistive technology and accessible online material. He now works part time for University of Technology Sydney as an Accessibility Consultant.  A psychologist by training and inclination, Andrew appreciates the potential benefit of thoughtfully developed hardware and software.  He is also frustrated by the poor design of much online material. 

Ricky Onsman (he/him)

Principal Technical Writer - Vispero

Ricky is an Australian veteran of accessible web design and development both locally and internationally, from design agency work, freelancing, auditing, and training, to now writing testing rules, guidance articles and training courses for a global digital accessibility consultancy. He’s been a Committee Member of OZeWAI for over 10 years, is a regular host or panellist on Ask The Professionals webinars, presents on accessibility topics at conferences and meetups, and writes articles on related topics. He presented at CSUN in 2024 on AI and Accessibility, and is currently engaged at Vispero on developing AI tools for knowledge assistance, rules engine development, and accessibility training.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickyonsman/

Wilco Fiers (he/him)

Director of accessibility automation - Deque

Wilco has been in the field of accessibility for 20 years, and is the product manager of Deque’s axe-core, advanced rules, and previously of axe linter. He has a leading role at the W3C as Deque’s advisory committee representative, facilitator of the ACT Task Force, and former project manager of WCAG 3.0. On behalf of Deque, Wilco managed the EU-funded accessibility projects WAI-Tools & WAI-Coop, and regularly does public speaking on various topics related to digital accessibility.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilcofiers/

Moderated by:

Jaunita Flessas (she/her)

Jaunita is a Melbourne-based accessibility leader and consultant who previously led the Enterprise Technical Accessibility Team at Navy Federal Credit Union. Empower Accessibility is her consulting practice that delivers audits, training, and policy guidance to embed accessibility across products and organizations. globa11y is her social enterprise that trains and employs people with disabilities to build accessible digital experiences. She serves part-time as Education Manager at Australian Teachers of Media and contributes to the W3C’s Accessibility Guidelines, ARIA, and Accessible Platform Architectures groups. A member of the Internet Society’s Accessibility Standing Committee and a frequent global speaker, she is focused on building a future internet that works for everyone.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaunitageorge/