OZeWAI online event - Ask the Professionals - 4 June 2024

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. Benefits include online events to ask the tough accessibility questions of the professional accessibility specialists.

Topic: Neurodivergence and Accessibility

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:

Lisa Seeman-Horwitz - IBM (She/Her)

Lisa is the facilitator of the Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force at W3C, and can share resources for making things accessible for people with cognitive and learning disabilities.

Lisa is an internationally recognised expert in digital inclusion, Web accessibility, Web interoperability, the Semantic Web, knowledge modeling accessibility and web protocols. She has been a key member of the W3C Forum working groups on web accessibility. She drafted the first versions of ARIA, the base accessibility layer for the web and has been instrumental in creating the standards that are accepted as the benchmark for interoperability and accessibility worldwide.

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

Rose McAlister - Aquent (She/Her)

Rose is a Senior Talent Agent, Design & Technology at Aquent. She is a seasoned Recruitment Professional with a focus on CX, UX, UI, Product, Service Design, Accessibility, and Development. Her passion lies in connecting with outstanding individuals and championing diversity and inclusivity. She excels in establishing robust partnerships with her clients and candidates, guiding them through informed recruitment journeys. As a staunch advocate of equality and diversity, Rose's commitment extends beyond her professional life into her personal endeavours. She openly identifies as queer and embraces her ADHD, embodying her values of inclusivity and acceptance.

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

Rosie Putland - ModalityCo (She/Her)

Rosie is proudly Disabled, Autistic, and the leading force behind Modality Co. She’s a trained digital accessibility consultant having worked in one of Australia’s largest Digital Accessibility consultancies, and made a big impact with public speaking and training. Rosie has worked with Australia’s biggest banks, large universities, but also small local councils and not-for-profits.

Rosie is known for her ability to create engaging presentations that change perspectives, her unwavering passion for the accessibility and disability community, and her special interest in ducks.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosie-putland 

Moderated by:

Amanda Mace (She/Her)

Amanda is a Subject Matter Expert in Digital Accessibility with more than 10 years of experience in the industry. She manages the Australasia office for GrackleDocs while growing and promoting the brand across the region. She also manages the audit team which is responsible for manual WCAG audits for our clients. Amanda is one of only two Australian-based W3C evangelists and the W3C Australian Western Region Chapter manager.

When it comes to accessibility, she believes that innovation with accessibility built into it provides security, independence, and privacy for people with disabilities and ultimately better, more usable digital products for all. She has spent her career advocating that it is everyone's job to do their bit to remove barriers so all people can have equal access and equal opportunity to the digital world. Using her expertise in WCAG and PDF/UA to educate and help others understand digital access as well as how to go above and beyond standards, to ensuring great user experiences.

She is certified by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) as a Certified Professional. Having begun her accessibility career as a WCAG auditor/tester, she worked her way up in that small business through to management. Throughout her career, She has had many opportunities to contribute to educating others about digital accessibility including, co-authoring a book chapter for the textbook, "Web Accessibility A Foundation for Research," as well as a white paper entitled, "Digital Accessibility: Perceptions, Expectations and Reality."

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-mace-85171b77/