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Accessibility Presentations and Workshop Materials

The information on this page includes available resources and captioned text files

2024

IT Accessibility Community Meetings

August 6, 2024

The event’s presentation helps us boost our accessibility testing skills with a training on DevTools - the powerful built-in web development tools, known as DevTools, available into Edge and Chrome browsers that allow testers to thoroughly inspect web pages and web apps.

In this training, participants learn how to:

  • Open and navigate DevTools Accessibility features.
  • Inspect and analyze web page elements.
  • Obtain detailed accessibility information.
  • Verify support for screen readers.
  • Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your expertise in accessibility testing!

Downloads:

June 11, 2024

This session of the IT Accessibility Community Meeting introduces learners to accessible tables in electronic documents. During the session, we will review tables in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. We will convert a document to PDF with tables and remediate the document. The presentation will include information on:

  • Creating tables in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
  • Converting to PDF
  • Remediating tables in PDF
  • Best practices for accessible tables

Attendees who wish to follow along with the presenter can download files used in the live presentation:

Downloads:

February 13, 2024

The GSA Government-wide IT Accessibility Program hosted federal employees and others for a presentation on how to use the IT Accessibility Policy Framework to improve the conformance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The framework is designed to help organizations evaluate and update their agency’s IT accessibility policies and procedures. Following an overview of the framework, attendees participated in an instructor-led workshop where they used the Policy Review Template (XLXS) workbook to assess sample policies.

Downloads:

CSUN Assistive Technology Conference

March 18-22, 2024

The California State University, Northridge (CSUN) hosted the 39th annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference which is designed as an inclusive event for researchers, practitioners, exhibitors, end users and other participants to share knowledge and best practices in the field of assistive technology. Among the many workshops and presentations scheduled for the conference were those created by accessibility professionals from the GSA IT Accessibility Program and U.S. Access Board teams including:

  • FED Talk - Section 508 Activities Update (PPTX) - Accessibility experts from the U.S. Access Board and the General Services Administration will provide updates on federal Section 508 ICT accessibility initiatives and activities. They will focus on the issues most applicable to users & implementers.
  • Section 508 ICT Testing Baseline Portfolio (PPTX) - The Section 508 ICT Testing Baseline Portfolio interprets the 508 Standards and sets minimum requirements of accessibility testing for consistent and reliable test results. Learn about the Baseline for Web and a Baseline for Documents is coming soon!
  • OpenACR - the Future of Accessibility Conformance Reporting (PPTX) - Unlock the future of digital accessibility conformance reporting with OpenACRs. Dive into the transformative approach of machine-readable reports, explore the innovative OpenACR Editor, and envision a world of continuous accessibility improvements.
  • Analytical approach to the Government-Wide Annual Assessment (PPTX) - GSA and USAB dives into the analytical approach to the Government-wide Section 508 Annual Assessment, including an overview of the report to Congress, discussion of criteria development, data analysis, proof-points, and data-driven recommendations.
  • Introduction to the Accessibility Requirements Tool (ART) (PPTX) - Accessibility experts demonstrate how to use the Accessibility Requirements Tool (ART) to generate standardized Section 508 requirements language when procuring Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products and services.

2023

IT Accessibility Community Meetings

August 8, 2023

The fourth IT Accessibility Community Meeting of the year continued the theme, “Let’s Take Flight & Continue To Soar” focused on “continuing the meaningful work through unending leadership by example and being the change we want to see ” while reconnecting with our broader accessibility community members and charting the path forward. Attendees traveled to the worlds of Accessible Word to PDF where they were taken on a journey to make an inaccessible Word document accessible during a live demo. If you are new to document accessibility this is a great introduction to showing how easy accessibility can be. Additionally, attendees had the opportunity to take part in an in-flight journey with one of our Soaring Section 508 Superheroes, who shared their accessibility experience as a person who has experienced a lifetime with ADHD.

June 13, 2023

The third IT Accessibility Community Meeting of the year continued the theme, “Let’s Take Flight & Continue To Soar” focused on “continuing the meaningful work through unending leadership by example and being the change we want to see ” while reconnecting with our broader accessibility community members and charting the path forward. During this session we held a targeted focus group that gave participants the opportunity to provide feedback on the website. This includes both content updates and suggestions for new content that should be included on section508.gov.

April 25, 2023

The second IT Accessibility Community Meeting of the year continued the theme, “Let’s Take Flight & Continue To Soar” focused on “continuing the meaningful work through unending leadership by example and being the change we want to see ” while reconnecting with our broader accessibility community members and charting the path forward. Attendees heard how the US Census Bureau discusses their experience in standing up a Section 508 Program Office.

February 14, 2023

The second IT Accessibility Community Meeting of the year introduced the theme, “Let’s Take Flight & Continue To Soar” and focused on “continuing the meaningful work through unending leadership by example and being the change we want to see” while reconnecting with our broader accessibility community members and charting the path forward.

2022

IT Accessibility Community Meetings

December 7, 2022

Continuing our theme, “Be The Change In Accessibility” focuses on “Be The Change In Accessibility: Acquisition” where our speakers shared what CDC is doing currently and planning around the need for accessible communication that is plain, clear, and inclusive, and will share some examples of recent work. Additionally, the speakers discussed how the world around us is shaped by our perspective, and so is our understanding of what we call disabilities.

June 14, 2022

Continuing our theme, “Be The Change In Accessibility” focuses on “Be The Change In Accessibility: Acquisition” where our speakers discussed the federal acquisition processes for procuring Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and how these processes provide key opportunities to ensure accessible technology is being purchased.

April 19, 2022

Continuing our theme, “Be The Change In Accessibility” focuses on “being the change” while reconnecting with our broader accessibility community members and charting the path forward. The topic for this session is “Be The Change In Accessibility: Acquisition” where our participants heard from four speakers.

February 8, 2022

Our overall theme, “Be The Change In Accessibility,” focuses on “being the change” while reconnecting with our broader accessibility community members and charting the path forward. The topic for this session is “Be The Change In Accessibility: Design & Development” where you’ll hear from two speakers.

Reviewed/Updated: January 2025

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