OZeWAI online event - Ask the Professionals - 4 December 2023

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. 

OZeWAI membership benefits include online events to ask the tough accessibility questions of the professional accessibility specialists. 

This panel event will bring together three accessibility specialists who work for government, 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:

Adam Cooper

Adam has been in and out of the digital accessibility space for the past nineteen years. Earlier in his career, He worked for Vision Australia and the Victorian Office for Disability in a variety of capacities including assistive technology skills training, sales, and support, and digital access policy development. For the past decade, Adam has worked with a number of commercial entities and various government agencies delivering accessible digital solutions, education and awareness, and managerial and strategic consulting. Adam has previously been the lead Digital Accessibility Consultant with NDIA and is currently working with the Australian Taxation Office as a digital and inclusivity specialist.

Geoff White

Geoff has worked in state government for 19 years. His background is in graphic design, photography and multimedia. He’s worked in communications teams producing publications and moved towards digital communications, mainly websites and social media. Starting with the Department of Sport and Recreation in 2004, then in July 2017 amalgamated with Local Government, Culture and the Arts, Aboriginal History, Racing, Gaming and Liquor and the Office of Multicultural Interests. He was seconded to help with the central wa.gov.au website with the COVID Communications Team in 2020. His accessibility journey began when I was invited to a presentation at Edith Cowan University. Knowing nothing, he was curious to learn. That curiosity turned to horror when his department’s website was used as an example of what not to do. Since then he has completed the Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility, accessibility checking/auditing classes and been involved in meetups and conferences in Perth. He has also contributed to the State Government’s web accessibility guidelines and standards (since 2011) to help other departments and agencies meet accessibility requirements. His department’s website has been nominated for the Government Website of the Year in the Australia Access Awards in 2021 and 2023 (winners announced 22 November).

Greg Alchin

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.

Moderated by:

Brigitta (Bri) Norton

Bri is a Digital Strategist and User Experience and Accessibility specialist based in Canberra, Australia and has been an Accessibility Lead for both State and Federal Government. 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 has previously been the Australian Government Digital Transformation Agency’s Accessibility and Inclusivity Lead, is the co-chair and the conference convenor for Australia’s Web Accessibility Initiative OZeWAI.org, a Standards Australian Accessible ICT Procurement Committee Member and a member of the ResearchOps.Community Cheese Board. 

You can find her for a chat on Twitter @algazel or LinkedIn.com/in/BriNorton or join her at the Canberra Accessibility and Inclusive Design Meetup.