Over the next few years, I realized that the Accessibility community largely focused on the US. Over the years, I have found my place & am part of the Accessibility community globally and in the US. The people have gone from being just names to friends and colleagues whether it is Lainey Feingold, Sharron Rush, Matt May, Jennison Asuncion, Axel Leblois, Mike Paciello and so many more.

But I think it is time to realize that Accessibility is a global issue. There are some amazing people around the world that are some of the most brilliant accessibility experts that I have met.

Australia — Andrew Arch

Andrew is the Principal Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design Consultant at Intopia Digital. I met Andrew when he was a part of W3C and was focusing on increasing the accessibility of the Web for people with age-related accessibility needs as well as for people with disabilities. I think we have a lot to learn from him!

India — Yours Truly

I as in Shilpi , founded BarrierBreak & 247 Accessible Documents to deliver digital accessibility at scale and to prove a point that people with disabilities could be a part of the solution as we conduct accessibility testing and provide accessibility consulting services globally.

Japan — Makoto Ueki

Makoto is a Web Accessibility Consultant at Infoaxia (Tokyo, Japan) who provides a wide range of consulting services with full support for compliance with WCAG and JIS X 8341–3 (Japanese Industrial Standards). Makoto has been a part of formulating accessibility standards and that is where I first got to know of him.

Mexico — Mónica Duhem

Monica is the Founder of Hearcolors. She is an expert in access to telecommunications services and ICT. With HearColors, Monica created a unique model in Mexico to push for a more inclusive internet for persons with Disabilities.

Sweden — Susanna Laurin

Susanna is the Chief Research & Innovation Officer at Funka. She has more than 20 years of experience in working with disability-related issues. One of the key technical experts to EN 301 549 and a believer in harmonised standards. I met her through G3ICT and admire her wealth of knowledge.

So, broaden your network of the amazing accessibility people & the fantastic organizations globally focusing on accessibility.

The post Accessibility is Global — Accessibility Champions beyond the US appeared first on Leader in Offshore Accessibility Testing | Section 508 Compliance | WCAG Conformance | BarrierBreak.

VPAT 2.0 was expanded to include the leading ICT accessibility standards, the Revised Section 508 (US), EN 301 549 (EU) and W3C WAI’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) develops the VPAT and ensures that it is updated with the latest developments happening in different ICT accessibility standards and guidelines.

VPAT comprises of different Editions, WCAG, Section 508, EN 301 549 and International (Int) that include different accessibility standards and guidelines. The INT Edition of VPAT includes all the 3 leading ICT accessibility standards.

VPAT 2.4 was revised in February 2020 and was made available for download on March 7, 2020. Discuss your VPAT Strategy with an Accessibility Expert today. 

VPAT 2.4 Updates

Some of the key changes in VPAT 2.4 are:

• Template date: template date is now removed from the document as it created confusion with the Report date. The date will be there in the filename and only version information will be present in the document.
• Edition specific instruction: Instructions are changed based on the Edition, for e.g. in the WCAG Edition, only instruction related to WCAG is available.
• Table heading: A table missing heading in the previous version is now been added.
• EN 301 549 version: Links and tables of the EU and INT Editions are updated to reflect the new version of EN 301 459.

All in all, major update in VPAT 2.4 is associated with the EN 301 549 which reflects the new version of the standard and the other updates are relatively minor ones. So if you are focusing on the European Markets, time to update your VPATs.

We would love to hear from you! Share your inputs with us using the comments box below!

As a VPAT vendor, we provide VPAT audit support to our customers by conducting Section 508 testing and assisting them to create a VPAT and ACR for their product wherein we provide a third-party view of the product. If you are looking for an external accessibility consulting agency to author or update the VPAT for your product or service, write to us at sales@barrierbreak.com!

The post What’s new in VPAT 2.4? appeared first on Leader in Offshore Accessibility Testing | Section 508 Compliance | WCAG Conformance | BarrierBreak.