Schedule - WordPress Accessibility Day 2022

14:45 UTC,

Opening Remarks

Joe Dolson, co-lead organizer of WP Accessibility Day will kick off the event with brief opening comments.

15:00 UTC,

Keynote: Open Source and accessibility: Do it with us, not for us.

Nicolas Steenhout

Free Open Source Software, including WordPress, was going to change the world. My own experience working on Open Source projects over the last 2 decades shows me that it did. For many people. Not so much for disabled people. Many FOSS applications don’t take accessibility into account. Changing the culture of accessibility of a project…

Head and shoulder shot of a white man with short hair and a beard. He's wearing a light blue shirt.

Nicolas Steenhout

Accessibility consultant, Part of a Whole

16:00 UTC,

Selling Accessibility to Skeptical Clients

Panel: Colleen Gratzer, Chris Hinds, Rob Howard

Rob and panelists will address their experiences with the challenge of selling accessibility services as a generalized web design and development agency. How do you handle clients who theoretically want accessibility, but balk at every price point for additional work? How do you engage with clients who say explicitly ableist things (whether they know it…

Colleen Gratzer

Accessibility Educator, Specialist and Designer, Creative Boost and Gratzer Graphics LLC

Chris Hinds

Organizer, Finance Team Lead, COO of Equalize Digital

Rob Howard

CEO, HDC

17:00 UTC,

Lightning Talks: Round 1

Nick McClure, Sandy Feldman, Kelin Chauhan

Dissertation Progress Report - Accessible Online Content for Blind/Visually Impaired

How does a performance improvement model help us understand and develop accessible online content? Nick will report on how his EdD dissertation project is using a performance improvement model to identify a problem, analyze the data, then develop an intervention to solve the problem, all while managing change and evaluating the process.

Nick has a beard and is wearing a black polo shirt.

Nick McClure

American Sign Language Interpreter

Picking a Plugin for Accessibility

How do you know whether a plugin is accessible? Learn how to work through the issues of plugin accessibility, so you can select the best possible WordPress plugin for your needs! Sandy will introduce some key concepts in choosing products for accessibility: How to check and see if you can use the keyboard to access the site,How do you identify…

Sandy has white hair and is dressed all in black; the sunglasses she wears since glaucoma surgery look kind of cool.

Sandy Feldman

Web Design, SandyFeldman.com

Accessibility: The big picture

Starting out with learning web accessibility can feel overwhelming. There's a ton of information out there, which is great, but time and again you may find yourself lost or confused; knowing where to start from can greatly help navigate through the learning process. Knowing the big picture and understanding how the various concepts related to…

Kelin Chauhan

Senior Web Developer, rtCamp Solutions Pvt Ltd

18:00 UTC,

Form Accessibility and Beyond

Rian Rietveld, Morgan Kay

This presentation will be all about webforms. Forms are the most common and important interactive element on a website, the way you communicate with your visitor, so form accessibility is crucial. Everybody should be able to fill out a form. Morgan and Rian will talk not only about the WCAG standards and validating HTML, but…

Rian is a woman with bobbed brown hair and brown eyes

Rian Rietveld

Web Accessibility Specialist, Level Level

Morgan is a white woman with her long dark hair in a braid and a big smile.

Morgan Kay

Software Engineer, Rocketgenius

19:00 UTC,

Proof: Accessible websites can be beautiful too

Gary Aussant, Stephen Plummer

When clients ask for digital accessibility advice, they’re often worried that improving the accessibility of their website will mean sacrificing aesthetic appeal. When we set out to redesign our own website on WordPress, one of our goals was to prove just the opposite. Inclusive design doesn’t have to be boring or clunky — in fact,…

Gary Aussant

Director of Digital Accessibility Consulting, Perkins Access

Stephen Plummer

Creative Manager, Perkins School for the Blind

20:00 UTC,

Growing Accessibility in Our WordPress Community

Panel: Sumner Davenport, Alicia St Rose, Joe A Simpson Jr, Ron Amick, Sally Thoun

If you talk with anyone who's seen Sumner M Davenport speak at a WordPress Meetup, WordCamp, or an Accessibility Conference, you'll hear the same phrases describing her. "Inspirational", "Life-changing", "Paradigm-shifting", and "Empowering" are often thrown around. The Patriarch or Mother Hen of a legion of advocates for accessibility and inclusiveness in the valleys north of…

Wearing her signature color purple, Sumner is a fair skinned female with a twinkle in her blue eyes which gives a hint to her passionate personality which matches her red hair.

Sumner Davenport

Specialist Web Accessibility, Sumner M Davenport & Assoc. LLC

Alicia is a bronze woman with freckles and extremely short hair to 1/4 inch, wearing a white summer dress. She is smiling in an outdoor tented area with a musician on stage in the background.

Alicia St Rose

Owner, WP with Heart

Joe A Simpson Jr

Digital Communications Administrator, Metro (Los Angeles)

Caucasion male with glasses, a smirky smile, and receding blonde hairline due to advancing colorful brain.

Ron Amick

Web Developer, Lucky Cat Creative

Sally Thoun

Owner / Head of U.S. Partnerships, Sa11y Gurl Digital Accessibility|Marketing / AAAtraq

21:00 UTC,

Think smart and adapt: meeting WCAG 2 without rebuilding from scratch

Michal Ziemak

Being more accessible is a continuous effort rather than a one-time features application. Setting up that mindset will allow you to approach accessibility in a completely different way. But how to adapt to changes and requirements without complete recontruction of your existing website? Michal's presentation will teach you how to: Look for options to upgrade,…

Mike - a blond man, sitting on a park bench, wearing a sweater with a crocodile (or an alligator) on his chest, having a slightly thoughtful look.

Michal Ziemak

Project Manager, Cut2Code

22:00 UTC,

Lightning Talks: Round 2

Robert Jacobi, Nick Croft, Katie Gleason

Session Sponsored by: Cloudways, WP Engine, Gravity Forms

Can the Cloud Accelerate Accessibility?

Where does accessibility success start? What is the role of a hosting company in the larger ecosystem of accessibility? At the root, the cloud's fundamental role is to provide access and support for developers, end users. If the environment is accessible, that's an important first step to accessibility. Robert will talk about the many different…

Robert Jacobi

Director, WordPress, Cloudways

Aria State Management and Modern CSS

Explore how to use CSS and Aria States to control the display of accordion cells. This take on modern CSS with aria based selectors brings aria states and controls into the forefront so that developers will create accessible first components instead of adding aria as an after thought.

Nick is a white male in his early 40s. He has dark hair and beard with plenty of natural silver highlights.

Nick Croft

Lead Developer, ReaktivStudios

Introducing Accessibility to Existing Designs

Introducing accessibility into the design process can be tricky, even more-so when you work within the confines of an existing design system and brand. In this talk, Katie will address how the Digital UX Design team at WP Engine tackled this process and laid the framework for accessible design moving forward.

Katie Gleason

Web Designer, WP Engine

23:00 UTC,

Pssst, hey you! Not everyone likes videos!

Michele Butcher-Jones

With the popularity of TikTok, Instagram/Facebook reels, YouTube, and other video sharing platforms, just EVERYONE thinks that their content should move into videos. While this is all great and fine to make videos, the more we do videos as content, the less we are adding in content, making transcripts of said videos, or even doing…

Michele Butcher-Jones

Head Geek, Can't Speak Geek

00:00 UTC,

Developing Accessibility-First WordPress Themes

Nikole Garcia, Annie Heckel

Many WordPress agencies are including accessibility audits as part of their launch packages, but what if we started with accessibility? WordPress offers a plethora of solutions to make the back-end code of themes more accessible at their core, but too few developers tap into them. This both costs companies extra money fixing the problems, and…

Nikole Garcia

Full Stack Developer

Annie is a pale-skinned, freckled, mid-40s woman with short dark blond hair and a quiet smile.

Annie Heckel

Electronic Information Technology Accessibility Manager, Cornell University

01:00 UTC,

Accessibility is a partnership that requires communication

Maxwell Ivey

Maxwell Ivey will share how people with disabilities want to feel welcome or even needed by developers. People with disabilities are loyal consumers who influence friends, family, and our online communities, and communication during the creation process is where accessibility really needs to start. Help learn how to encourage developers to build relationships with disabled…

Maxwell Ivey

online media publicist, The Blind Blogger

02:00 UTC,

Lightning Talks: Round 3

Gregory Hammond, Amy Carney, Melanie Hawkes

Getting Started With Accessibility

Accessibility can be overwhelming and it can be hard to know where and how to get started. Gregory will cover the basics, such as colour, images, headings, language, and more. This is a great beginner talk, but also a refresher for those who may have forgotten the basics or want to make sure they cover…

Gregory is a young man with piercing blue eyes. He is wearing hearing aids.

Gregory Hammond

Website Consultant, Gregory J Development

You, Me, and Your Content I Can’t See

What do sticky navbars, ellipsis-hidden content, and overlays have in common? They all prevent me from accessing your content. I will touch on these and other design choices, of which your website or app is keeping a visually-impaired user, like me, from using your service. Join me for a brief glimpse into the inaccessible web…

Amy Carney

Accessibility Specialist & Web Developer, Digilou

Video captioning and transcript tricks

Melanie manages the YouTube page for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) of Western Australia, and her work involves captioning the videos and writing transcripts. Over the years she has done a lot of captioning and learnt a great amount. Melanie will share her tips and tricks for doing good captions quickly and…

Melanie is a white woman in her 40's with short reddish-brown hair. She is sitting in her wheelchair with a big smile on her face.

Melanie Hawkes

Video and Media Assistant, Department of Fire and Emergency Services Western Australia

03:00 UTC,

The Alt Scene: When and How to Write Alternative Text

Meg Miller

Alternative text: you know you need it. But how do you write beneficial alt text and how do you know when it's best not to? This talk is an in-depth guide with tricks and techniques for ensuring your alt text is as effective as possible.

Meg Miller

Lead Developer/Accessibility Specialist, AccessiCart

04:00 UTC,

Overlays Underwhelm

Adrian Roselli

Overlays are an ongoing accessibility, privacy, and legal concern. Adrian will discuss issues with overlays broadly, avoiding focus on any single platform. Learn the weaknesses and risks in using website overlays on your website.

Shaved head white guy in a white collared casual shirt trying his best to look pleasant.

Adrian Roselli

Consultant, Adrian Roselli LLC

05:00 UTC,

Beyond Colors and Captions: How to Provide More Inclusive Accessibility

Bela Gaytan

When designing accessible content, it’s likely that the first two courses of action will be to include captions or a transcript and to employ colors with sufficient contrast. These are great, but accessibility is so much more! In addition to providing equitable access to individuals with hearing and vision disabilities, we need to expand to…

Bela has dark curly hair, a nose ring, and tattoos on both her arms

Bela Gaytan

Technical Instructional Designer, Pantheon

06:00 UTC,

Digital Accessibility Testing: How to Get It Right

Tamar Schapira

All people have the right and the ability to use the internet and participate in the digital world as they wish and as they are capable of. When speaking of users with disabilities, there are specific ways and functions by which people use digital products. Digital accessibility is the inclusive practice that removes barriers for…

Tamar Schapira

Co-founder & CEO, SenseIT

07:00 UTC,

Accessibility of common Gutenberg blocks

Graham Armfield

Much has been made over the last few years about the accessibility of the new WordPress editor from the perspective of a content creator in the WP admin screens. Well, this session is not about that - but it is about the accessibility of the web pages that are shown to site visitors when content…

A portait-style photo of Graham in front of a white background. Graham has short hair and glasses.

Graham Armfield

Web Accessibility Consultant, Coolfields Consulting

08:00 UTC,

Inclusive Coding and Design

Andrija Radojev, Lazar Bulatovic

Blind people are often unable to do basic things on the web, because developers don’t follow accessibility standards. Where most talks explain ways to make websites equally available regardless of disability, experiences of real users are left behind. This speech aims to show how the inaccessible web affects daily life for the blind. With practical…

Andrija is a white man ih his late 20's with short black hair, dark-brown eyes and short facial hair on his chin

Andrija Radojev

Technical Website Builder III, GoDaddy

Lazar, a blind man, wearing a blue button down shirt and using his laptop.

Lazar Bulatovic

Blind Public Speaking Coach, GlobalSpeak

09:00 UTC,

Accessibility Testing in the CI/CD process

Maciek Palmowski

There are many ways thanks to which we can automate accessibility testing. Thanks to this, some parts of our website can be tested in an automatic way, preventing us from deploying a broken patch. While this solution isn't perfect, it's a great foundation to start your adventure with accessibility. Learn about how you can integrate…

Maciek is a white man in his 30's with dreadlocks, glasses and smile.

Maciek Palmowski

Development Advocate Analyst, Kinsta

10:00 UTC,

Designing a webpage for the Institute for the Blind and Visually impaired

Ole Guldberg, Anna Ingeborg Linnet

When designing a new webpage for the Institute for the Blind and Visually impaired in Denmark, we chose to use Wordpress. Ole and Anna will talk about the process of designing the webpage and the considerations they had when designing the pages for both users with blindness and low-vision and for professional consultants in the…

Ole Guldberg

ICT-Specialist, Institute for the Blind and Partially Sighted (Denmark)

Anna Ingeborg Linnet

Communication and accessibility consultant, The Danish Institute for the Blind and Partially Sighted

11:00 UTC,

How we made Joomla 4 accessible

Carlos Cámara

In this session, Carlos will explore the features and changes the Joomla accessibility team made to Joomla to improve its accessibility: from improving Joomla's accessibility as a content editing tool to helping Joomla 4 users create more accessible websites. Joomla and WordPress share a lot of user base, and are both free open source projects…

Carlos Cámara

Web Developer, Hepta Technologies

12:00 UTC,

Boost up conversions with accessible e-commerce

Panel: António Carreira, Lazar Bulatovic, Anne-Mieke Bovelett, Piccia Neri

In the first part of this panel Anne Bovelett (all-rounder accessibility advocate) and Piccia Neri (UX & UI designer focussing on accessibility) will discuss daily web usage experiences with a blind user, Lazar Bulatovic, and a colour-blind developer, Antonio Carreira. In the second part, we’ll focus on examining their experience specifically when it comes to…

António Carreira

Web Developer, MindProcess

Lazar Bulatovic

Blind Public Speaking Coach, GlobalSpeak

Anne-Mieke Bovelett

Accessibility & Possibility Advocate, ANNEBOVELETT.EU

Piccia Neri

Designer, speaker, educator and accessibility advocate, Piccia Neri/ Design for Conversions

13:00 UTC,

Lightning Talks: Round 4

Empish Thomas, Sam Alderson, Peteris Jurcenko

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: How Alt Text Communicates Accessibility and Inclusion

A picture is worth a thousand words, and we know the value images, graphics and pictures bring to a website and blog. Eye catching images enhance any website. Yet for those with vision loss those very images can communicate exclusion if alt text is not provided. Empish will share importance of alternative text to creating…

Empish Thomas

Freelance Writer and Blogger, Self Employed

Accessibility on social media - why you should be thinking about it

You've made your site and content accessible, but have you thought about the content that you post on social media? What about your Tweets, stories and TikToks? Are you making sure that your audience can read, watch and understand your messaging? What if you think you're doing a good job, but you're actually making it…

Sam Alderson

Social Media strategist, Yoast

The Future of Accessibility Statement

Peteris will teach you about Accessibility Statements and introduced the Accessibility Statement WordPress plugin and its development vision: A machine readable, standardised format,Local accessibility guidelines integrated/referenced,Automated tools for accessibility evaluation.

Peteris is a white man with medium brown hair and short beard. He is standing in front of the windowsill on which is a large, green houseplant.

Peteris Jurcenko

CEO/ UX designer/ accessibility expert, SIA Turn Digital

14:00 UTC,

Dialogs, Modals, and Popups

Damon Cook

Damon will cover a brief history of dialogs (also known as popups, modals), then dive into the best practices for building an accessible experience in this type of interface.

Damon Cook

Developer Advocate, WP Engine