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Advice for those interested in accessibility

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From: Michael Ausbun
Date: Jan 21, 2020 8:27AM

Greetings,
If you had someone, or a series of someones, interested in a career in accessibility, what advice might you give them to prepare or to ease their gaining, maintaining, or advancing a career in accessibility?

* College/university degrees in computer science, software development, instructional design or educational technology?
* Bootcamps designed around web development?
* Just read the specifications!
* I.A.A.P. is a good place to start!
* Education around, and exposure to, training disabled people in the use of their technology?
* A combination of these?
* None of these!
* Something else?
I know a lot of disabled people who are unemployed or under employed, interested in a career in accessibility. Time and time again though, they are turned away from the table and provided little to no feedback in what specifically they can do to be better prepared to get a place at the table.
I thought it might be a good idea to have others thoughts what it would take, so when I give advice to my network I can do so confident in the collective knowledge of experts who have, collectively, been around improving access for generations.
Thanks for any thoughts!
Respectfully,
Michael