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stringyland.bsky.social
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Julie G, accessibility dork, at your service. Head of Accessibility Assessment at @intopia.bsky.social. Living in Whadjuk lands. Spending too much time online instead of outdoors or making silly little arts and crafts stuff.
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And dark patterns in social media and security attacks target vulnerable people. One way to build trust is to engage in genuine two-way relationships - learn from people and give back, instead of just taking money and data. The tech industry is in a position of power and needs to use it responsibly
Last for this year’s #A11yCamp2025 we have Natasha Ballantyne on human-centred design. Inclusive design should include people vulnerable to hazards, not just focused on accessibility. We have a “trust pandemic”, which affects how likely people are to reach out to useful sources of support.
Best practises are to decouple sex and gender and remove assumptions. Check if you even need to gather or save the gender or sex data of your users. Consent-driven practices benefit people with disabilities, those escaping family violence & many others in addition to transgender or intersex people.
The real-world consequences of identity mapping errors are wide-ranging. Some are inconvenient, but it can create privacy and safety breaches, incorrect heath care and psychological distress. The impersonal nature of a site or app can also make the problem worse.
A talk I’m excited for: Nathan Ortiz on designing for a trans perspective. Personalisation of a site or app is often presented like a simple, good thing. But when we get it wrong, it can have unexpected consequences for gender-marginalised people. Design choices can create barriers #A11yCamp2025
#A11yCamp2025 is back from lunch for a panel on the future of accessibility. Tash Ballantyne from Scyne Advisory, Ben Moxey from Guide Dogs and Joe Devon the co-founder of #GAAD.
Now it’s Erin McIlroy from one of my favourite clients Canva. She’s talking about the in-progress work she’s doing on integrating AI for accessibility. I especially like how she distinguished between the different things that get lumped under the term “AI” #A11yCamp2025
Laura Moller is sharing how Coles is changing their accessibility processes. Previously web & native apps were separate, but Coles is now moving to an omnichannel approach. Laura’s team have updated and re-organised their support & tools to meet the new challenges #A11yCamp2025
Morning tea at #A11yCamp2025 was yummy, now Bogdan Sikora is talking about how developers can handle accessibility in component-driven projects. Devs often don’t know how to make edits to the components they use. Accessibility consultants should be providing library-specific guidance when possible.
I should have tagged that #A11yCamp2025! Anthony continues with missing affordances: no screen reader on the in-car tablet, no tactile controls. Other issues would apply to all users: no control of air-con & no Where Am I option. Overall he thinks it has potential but is still too expensive.
Waymo in talks to start testing self-driving taxis in Australia
A Transport NSW spokesperson confirmed Waymo has been in contact, with the Google-linked autonomous taxi company having appointed local lobbyists.
www.crikey.com.au
Now Anthony Vasquez is talking about his experiences with using autonomous cars to get around LA. Anthony is blind and an experienced screen reader user. He’s recorded his trips with a Go Pro and we can hear the voice of the car. He says the audio descriptions are good, when/if they’re present.
The benchmarking site is still in staging, not 100% ready for release yet. Not sure if I should share the URL here but will ask Joe later and put it in a reply if he says it’s ok. The site explains how the scores are created for each LLM, & you can drill down into the individual tests
First up is Joe Devon is telling us about his benchmark test for LLM accessibility. It’s like the WebAIM Million, but with sites created by the top 10 most popular LLMs. They’re not great at making accessible websites, but having the data will hopefully drive improvement #A11yCamp2025
Back for Day 2 of #A11yCamp2025 - I had some fun chats with so many people yesterday, and am looking forward to more. The vibe this morning is a little more chill, which is usual on the 2nd day of a conference 🙂 I’m looking forward to more great talks and good food and hanging out with #a11y peeps
Erwin Gelens is talking about the accessibility journey of Schiphol airports which is headquartered in The Netherlands. He’s been using the European Accessibility Act to get the self-service, facilities and co-located businesses create more support for people with disabilities. #A11yCamp2025
Another borrowing from privacy work is Vendor Control Assessments. Define requirements and put in place ways to make sure they’re being met. But meet vendors where they are - if they’re not mature on accessibility, start with the Non-compliance criteria then build on that.
Herin Hentry speaks on how AS EN 301 549 can help or hinder your procurement. Herin & I both love a good framework! I like what she says “There is no secret to success, but there is a system to success”. She borrows from the privacy industry to use both threshold & impact assessments #A11yCamp2025
2. Accessibility features are not always supported! E.g. Reading order doesn’t follow code sequence. You might be able to find external libraries that fill the gaps. 3. Bugs might not get fixed. Accessibility bugs are triaged but rarely fixed by the owners, who leave them to 1st-time contributors.
Our next speakers couldn’t make it to Australia, but we have a recording of them from Finland! Matthew Hallonbacka & Elina Niemelä are sharing 3 accessibility challenges with React Native. #A11yCamp2025 1. A11y info in the docs is incomplete. You’ll need to test with assistive tech.