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From: Dennis Deacon
Date: Thu, Aug 20 2015 3:54PM
Subject: Developing an Accessibility Team
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Our organization has been engaged in a digital accessibility remediation
project. In parallel, we've also been working on developing an ongoing
program.

One aspect that we're working on is building an accessibility team. As part
of that, we're initially interested in a few things:

- Do most companies have a full-time team?
- How is the team organized?
- How did other organizations get support from management for a team?

Any other information on building an accessibility team would be greatly
appreciated. Our organization is in the transportation industry with an
eCommerce website and mobile app.

Thanks in advance.

Dennis Deacon

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Thu, Aug 20 2015 4:44PM
Subject: Re: Developing an Accessibility Team
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We believe that the best workflow is to have everyone do the basic accessibility requirements for all files — Word, PowerPoint, Excel, InDesign layouts, HTML webpage content — and regardless of whether this is for internal working drafts, internal communications, or public-facing documents. Accessibility is everyone's responsibility, not just for a designated team.

It helps if the authors have pre-made templates ready for them to use, making it easier for them to format Word documents quicker and more accurately, for example.

Then an accessibility team takes over to test, remediate, and polish the final file.

Sure reduces the time and labor over the long run!

Whether the team is full- or part-time depends upon your volume, but accessibility is their main job. Also, an accessibility technician for documents (ie, Word and PDF) needs different skills than one for websites and apps. Don't try to get all the knowledge in one person.

I think a lawsuit, along with public humiliation and guilt, is probably the most effective way to get upper management to pay attention.

— — —
Bevi Chagnon | www.PubCom.com
Technologists, Consultants, Trainers, Designers, and Developers
for publishing & communication
| Acrobat PDF | Digital Media | XML and Automated Workflows
| GPO | Print | Desktop Publishing | Sec. 508 Accessibility | EPUBs
— — —

From: Pooja Nahata
Date: Thu, Aug 20 2015 4:49PM
Subject: Re: Developing an Accessibility Team
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Dennis,

Sharing my thoughts;

1. Do most companies have a full-time team?
Pooja: Today, with the rise in accessibility compliance awareness most
companies are looking at onboarding dedicated resources to manage
Accessibility as a program than a one-off project. Some companies based on
their understanding take Accessibility team under testing or form a Center
of Excellence (CoE) that collaborates across skills/groups to deliver an
accessible product.

- How is the team organized?
Pooja: If its a CoE - team would comprise of Accessibility SME's who
understand the technical aspect of design, development and testing.


How did other organizations get support from management for a team?
Pooja: This is a tough one :-) Accessibility is a top-down approach which
means the business leaders need to be sensitized that Accessibility
compliance is a business requirement, tech stakeholders need to
accept accessibility as a defacto within design and development
best practices. Legal team need make digital accessibility compliance
mandate to mitigate legal risk - Accessibility is a shared responsibility.
One would need to present a business case on why a focused Accessibility
team is required - stating the benefits around technical, legal, revenue,
etc.

Hope this helps.

--
Regards
Pooja Nahata
Digital Accessibility Evangelist
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
LinkedIn: http://in.linkedin.com/in/poojanahata
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Pooja_Nahata

From: Pooja Nahata
Date: Thu, Aug 20 2015 4:51PM
Subject: Re: Developing an Accessibility Team
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Dennis,

Sharing my thoughts;

1. Do most companies have a full-time team?
Pooja: Today, with the rise in accessibility compliance awareness most
companies are looking at onboarding dedicated resources to manage
Accessibility as a program than a one-off project. Some companies based on
their understanding take Accessibility team under testing or form a Center
of Excellence (CoE) that collaborates across skills/groups to deliver an
accessible product.

- How is the team organized?
Pooja: If its a CoE - team would comprise of Accessibility SME's that
understand the technical aspect of design, development and testing.

How did other organizations get support from management for a team?
Pooja: This is a tough one :-) Accessibility is a top-down approach which
means the business leaders need to be sensitized that Accessibility
compliance is a business requirement, tech stakeholders need to
accept accessibility as a defacto within design and development
best practices. Legal team need make accessibility mandate to mitigate
legal risk - Accessibility is a shared responsibility. One would need to
present a business case on why a focused Accessibility team is required -
stating the benefits around technical, legal, revenue, etc.

Hope this helps.

--
Regards
Pooja Nahata
Digital Accessibility Evangelist
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
LinkedIn: http://in.linkedin.com/in/poojanahata
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Pooja_Nahata

From: Kline, Jeff
Date: Fri, Aug 21 2015 1:10PM
Subject: Re: Developing an Accessibility Team
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There can be many dimensions to developing an accessibility team and program. It is important to develop the key elements of the program first to understand how and where to effectively staff it.



My book on this topic<http://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Accessibility-Organization-Jeff-Kline/dp/1936909189/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&;qid40184031&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=strategic+it+accessiiblity> provides insight and guidance on developing such a program. The book is directed primarily and large organizations, but is easily scaled to smaller ones.







Jeff Kline

Program Director

Statewide EIR Accessibility

Texas Department of Information Resources

Phone 512.463.3248

Mobile 512.426.9779