OZeWAI online event - Ask the Professionals - 14 February 2025

Introduction

OZeWAI has moved from running an annual conference to partnering with many in-person and online conferences and offering membership benefits as part of individual and organisation membership tiers. 

The 'Ask the Professional' events are free for OZeWAI members and have a small cost of $10 for non-members to cover administration and tools to ensure OZeWAI events are accessible. OZeWAI members, please login to your profile to receive the details to register for free. 

By joining OZeWAI (from as little as $50 for the Advocacy level) you will have access to a year's worth of 'Ask the Professionals' for free (including the recordings), and many other benefits. If you wish to discuss assistance with OZeWAI membership, please contact info@ozewai.org.

Topic: W3C Accessibility Maturity Model

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

• Ask questions from 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:

Sheri Byrne-Haber (she/her)

Sheri Byrne-Haber is a prominent global subject matter expert in the fields of disability and accessibility in the business and educational settings.  She is best known for launching digital accessibility programs at multiple Fortune 200 companies including McDonald’s, Albertsons, and VMware, as well as consulting on government accessibility.  Her programs have positively impacted millions of the more than 1 billion global people with disabilities.

Sheri firmly believes that holistic accessibility programs provide people with disabilities the best chance to achieve equality as either customers or employees in an organizational world largely established for the abled.  

To assess how well an organization is doing with respect to employees and customers with disabilities, Sheri co-authored the Digital Accessibility Maturity Model while a Principle Accessibility Policy Consultant at Level Access, the foremost global consultancy dedicated entirely to accessibility.  Her integrated approach links Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) creation, a core component of accessibility programs, to most major departments in an organization including product design, development, testing, marketing, research, human resources, procurement, and diversity/inclusion. 

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

Brigitta (Bri) Norton (she/her)

Bri is a Digital Strategist and User Experience and Accessibility specialist based in Canberra, Australia and is currently a Digital Accessibility Specialist at AbilityWorks.com.au. As part of the Inclusive Design team, she has recently been working with a Federal Government Department on assessing their Accessibility Maturity. 

Bri has more recently co-developed inclusive research workshops to share how to include accessibility earlier in the project lifecycle which includes engaging with people with disability as part of inclusive research activities. Amongst her professional experience with government agencies and local businesses, Bri is the co-chair and the conference convenor for Australia’s Web Accessibility Initiative OZeWAI.org, a Standards Australia Accessible ICT Procurement Committee Member and a member of the ResearchOps.Community Cheese Board. 

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

Julia Hine (any/all)

As the Digital Accessibility and Inclusion Lead at the Australian Taxation Office, Julia is passionate about achieving a best-practice content experience and driving cultural change through awareness and advocacy. A member of the Digital Experience Design team providing specialist advice, reviewing designs, strategies, websites and channels to assess accessibility, resolve complex issues and maximise opportunities for improvement, always with the aim of embedding accessibility and inclusion at every stage, in every design of every product.

Julia works with stakeholders across the ATO to plan, coordinate and deliver customer experience design, testing, and research for channels. This requires working in line with corporate priorities, enterprise frameworks, and legislative and policy requirements, identifying risks and opportunities for continuous improvement, providing workable solutions and guidance to resolve complex issues and delivering training, guidance and coaching on accessibility and digital inclusion.

Julia has 25 years of government, arts and media experience including 10 years in the Tasmanian Government and 5 years in the ACT Government as a digital communications consultant, departmental website manager, project manager, intranet specialist, business analyst, systems analyst and in frontline emergency digital communications roles.

Moderated by:

Greg Alchin (he/him)

Greg Alchin is an inclusive design and accessibility specialist with over 30 years’ experience across education, community, commercial and government contexts. Greg is currently the Principal Accessibility Specialist at Service NSW, where he drives agency culture and capacity to be inclusive by design and accessible by default.  His work also sees him collaborate  on state and national initiatives such as the workplace adjustment passport and the Australian Network on Disability Procurement Taskforce. 

Outside of Service NSW, Greg’s expertise has been sought by the Australian Human Rights Commission, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the United Nations World Food Program.  Underpinning his rich professional experience is Greg’s own lived experience with a visual disability, his industry recognition by both Apple and Microsoft as an accessibility specialist and post graduate studies in accessibility.  All of this enables Greg to speak with authenticity.

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