Like all current gatherings, the University of Kent and Kent County Council hosted this year’s Digital Accessibility Conference virtually. It ran from 9th to 11th June. In its second year, the conference aims to inform Public Sector organisations about digital accessibility and inclusion. It also covered the impact of the new UK accessibility legislation (Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018).
With a collection of guest speakers from around the world, this conference offered a unique opportunity to chat and ask questions with other learning designers, programmers, service providers and creatives. Expert speakers attended from the UK government, the NHS, and big-name suppliers (such as Microsoft). The speakers shared practical advice about accessibility tools, content creation and how organisations can build accessibility capability.
Jon Lightfoot and James Allen attended different sessions throughout the conference. From hearing how the law has changed, through to public body efforts to enable better content access, and individual experiences of living with accessibility requirements, the conference was enlightening and challenging.
James and Jon use screen readers and contrast checks when building eLearning. They would like to move this forward by developing an accessibility review for existing tutorials. The review would include a close analysis of learning objects and how they affect the different areas of accessibility.
There is so much more to do in the world of accessibility. We’d recommend you find out more about the conference at Eventbrite. Session recordings will be available soon.