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Re: IAAP Certification Update

for

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Sep 14, 2015 7:11AM

I keep seeing comments about a desire for more transparency. Would people be willing to describe what exactly they are looking for from an organization like this when it comes to transparency?


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Roger Hudson
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2015 9:02 PM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] IAAP Certification Update

At the risk of pissing a few people off, I find all this IAAP stuff is starting to get a little tiring.

It is hard to develop any process of certification, and this is particularly the case when it has to take in to account a diverse range of linguistic, geographic, technical, financial and cognitive issues. I suspect that unless the IAAP process in much more transparent (thanks Karl) and is affordable to all those who might be interested, it runs the risk of just being a self-serving promotional tool.

Finally, in my opinion two of the most important things that are necessary when it comes to developing or testing accessible content are empathy and commonsense, and sadly neither of these are easy to teach.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: Jennison Mark Asuncion [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Sunday, 13 September 2015 10:36 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] IAAP Certification Update

Paul,

Re your comment: "There is more than one place that you can find tutorials, classes, or workshops on all of these topics." I would expect that IAAP has/will take the lead in compiling a list of such sources to help prospective test takers prepare to write the exam. I for one would not know where to start looking, for all of these diverse topics.

My question is what specific jobs does the IAAP envision someone holding an Associate Level certification being able to obtain? Or, is IAAP's thinking that someone would have to obtain both the Associate Level and one of the other planned certifications in order to help them secure employment in accessibility?

Jennison






On 9/12/15, Paul Bohman < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Dave,
>
> You asked "What would be a good first few steps to prepping for the
> impending certification when it gets finalized?"
>
> That's an excellent question. Here is the list of topics that we
> anticipate will be on the Associate level exam (subject to a final review):
>
> - Disabilities
> - Theoretical Models of Disability
> - Types of Disabilities, Challenges, and Assistive Technologies
> - Disability Demographics
> - Disability Etiquette
> - Accessibility and Universal Design
> - Individual Accommodations versus Inclusive Design
> - Benefits of Accessibility
> - Accessibility Principles (WCAG 2.0) (http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/)
> - The Principles of Universal Design 2.0 (
> http://www.ncsu.edu/ncsu/design/cud/about_ud/udprinciplestext.htm)
> - Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (
> http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines)
> - Usability and User Experience (UX)
> - Standards, Laws, and Management Strategies
> - International Conventions and Treaties (The Universal Declaration
> of Human Rights, Convention on the Rights of Persons with
> Disabilities, The
> Marrakesh Treaty (WIPO))
> - Accessibility Standards and Regulations
> - National and Regional Laws
> - Systematic Organizational Governance and Management
>
> There is more than one place that you can find tutorials, classes, or
> workshops on all of these topics. I am most familiar with the
> resources that I have created (or collaborated on) on the Deque University web site:
> https://dequeuniversity.com/courses/ You could start with the course
> "Web Accessibility Fundamentals," which also includes a section on
> Universal Design in the Physical World, to supplement all the other
> information about Universal Design for the Web.
>
> And there are other similar resources on the web as well, some free,
> some with paid subscriptions. I'll let others chime in if they want to
> add their own resources.
>
> Aside from pre-packaged curricula, you can use the outline above as a
> study guide to do some of your own research. As soon as the Exam
> Blueprint is validated, the IAAP will publish a complete Body of
> Knowledge document with much more detail that can be used as a complete study guide.
>
> Note that the Associate level credential is not just about web
> accessibility. It is about the broad concepts of accessibility in both
> virtual and physical spaces. One of the goals of the credential is to
> encourage people to think across domains, because sometimes the best
> solutions to accessibility problems in one domain are actually in
> another domain.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Paul Bohman, PhD
> Director of Training, Deque Systems, Inc 703-225-0380, ext.121
> https://DequeUniversity.com
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 8:32 PM, Dave Bahr < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
>> Ok, sorry Paul, my bad for not reading that description properly. I
>> see what you mean now about being a tester.
>>
>> Um, not sure what to say to the last post in this thread because I'm
>> not on the direct inside of all the organizations. So...for someone
>> who is a newby at all of this. What would be a good first few steps
>> to prepping for the impending certification when it gets finalized? I
>> have no idea what I'm doing, and I'll freely admit that, because if I
>> didn't, I'd be lying to myself. In the forum post I put out, someone
>> wrote that they know a lot of people who are passionate about
>> accessibility by providing opinions about whether the software is
>> accessible but not necessarily providing constructive feedback with
>> snippets of code or something to try to help the devs out. Or, at
>> least, that's how I read it, I could again have interpreted that
>> wrong. I fear that I may be one of those people. I can tell you when
>> something isn't accessible for me as a user, but I couldn't
>> necessarily tell you the exact coding on how to fix it. For example,
>> I could tell you that if the website you were showing me didn't have
>> headings where there could be headings, then you should put headings
>> there so it's easier to read. But I couldn't tell you what style
>> sheet to use and the exact html coding to do it.
>> That's a basic example, but I hope it illustrates where I'm coming
>> from. I have extensive knowledge about accessibility on desktop and
>> iphone, not android, don't have the money for one right now. I guess
>> I'm feeling overwhelmed right now as to what a good place to start
>> is. I was advised to concentrate on mobile access and, while I
>> completely understand why that's so important, by more knowledgable
>> areas are in desktop and screen reader access since that's what I
>> deal with 98 percent of the time. So, yes, I'd love to be certified,
>> is there a book I can start with or something?
>>
>>
>>
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >


--
Jennison Mark Asuncion
LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jennison Follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/jennison Organizer, Bay Area Accessibility and Inclusive Design www.meetup.com/a11ybay Organizer, Accessibility Camp Bay Area www.accessibilitycampbay.org Co-Founder, Global Accessibility Awareness Day www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org