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Re: Accessibility training?

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From: Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC)
Date: May 2, 2016 8:43AM

There are three great accessibility related conferences.

John Slatin AccessU hosted by Knowbility and held each May in Austin Texas. http://www.knowbility.org/v/john-slatin-accessu/

Accessing Higher Ground will be held in November http://accessinghigherground.org/

CSUN is held each spring http://www.csun.edu/cod/conference

Also I believe that Deque, Paciello Group and others offer accessibility training. And there are a lot of really good on-line resources and blogs.

And of course this forum has always been a great resource for getting answers to questions and learning about accessibility.

As far as how to get into the field, it kind of depends upon what you do now. If you are a developer you can make sure to add accessibility into the work that you are currently doing - become the go-to person for accessibility in your office. If you are more of a tester or designer start applying accessibility to that work. Once you have had a chance to put your skills into practice look for opportunities that are more accessibility focused. Most institutes of higher learning and government agencies now have dedicated accessibility specialists and/or accessibility coordinators.

I started out as a volunteer with Knowbility and was lucky enough to have some great mentors in the field. People like John Slatin, Jim Alan, Jim Thatcher, Sharon Rush and Glenda Sims. If you have people in your professional circle who have accessibility knowledge work with them. Everyone I have met in this field seems to be very willing to share what they know.

Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Civil Rights Office
(512) 438-3431 (Office)