If you know of any other events in the online or offline accessibility and disability inclusion space, please email them to a11ynews@substack.com or submit the link via form to be included.

Online Events

Teach Access: Accessibility, Ethics, & AI

Wednesday, August 5th, 1:00 - 2:00 pm (ET)

The Teach Access Alumni Network is excited to host a moderated panel discussion about Accessibility, Ethics, & AI. Join the discussion along with Ariana Aboulafia, Disability Rights in Technology Policy Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology; Jutta Treviranus, Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and professor in the faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto; and Rolando Mendez, Director of Education, Teach Access. All three panelists recently contributed chapters to Digital Accessibility Ethics: Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech, published earlier this year.

U.S. Access Board: Accessible Voting in Tribal and Rural Communities: Strategies and Lessons for Polling Places

Thursday, August 6th, 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM (ET)

Join the United States Access Board and The Native American Disability Law Center (NADLC) for a collaborative webinar on polling place accessibility. The Native American Disability Law Center is a private nonprofit organization that advocates for the legal rights of Native Americans with disabilities. This webinar will cover NADLC’s report of polling place accessibility in Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribal elections, discuss community-led advocacy to affect changes in accessibility, and discuss strategies and lessons for self-advocates, families, and professionals to utilize in their work. Additional resources on polling place accessibility will be provided.

Registrants will be able to submit questions in advance during the registration process. Real-time captioning and sign language interpretation will be provided.

WordPress Accessibility Meetup: Creating a Digital Accessibility Program in Higher Education: Jesse Loesberg

Thursday, August 6th, 10:00 AM (Central)

At the University of California, digital accessibility has become an essential part of providing equitable access to information and services.
In this presentation, Jesse Loesberg will give you an inside look at how the library built and implemented a digital accessibility program following a Title II ADA lawsuit and a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice.

deque: Metrics that unite your team to achieve and sustain accessibility

Thursday, August 6th, 11:00 am—12:00 pm (ET), 15:00—16:00 (GMT)

When digital accessibility is a common goal shared across product owners, developers, designers, and leadership, the progress you can make is incredible. But how do you achieve that alignment? You measure.

WordPress Accessibility Meetup: Accessibility Testing: What Automated Tools Will NEVER Catch by Tanveer Khan

Tuesday, August 18th, 05:00 PM (CEST)

Automated accessibility testing tools have become essential parts of modern development workflows. While these tools are valuable for quickly identifying common accessibility issues, they only detect a portion of real-world accessibility barriers.

Accessible Web Development Training from Karl Groves

Wednesday, August 19th - Thursday, August 20th
8:00 AM – 4:00 PM (ET)

During this two-day training, master the technical skills of accessible web development — semantic HTML, ARIA, forms, keyboard navigation, images, media, color contrast, and more. Learn to build websites that work for everyone, including assistive technology users.

Digital Accessibility Experts Live: Lightning Talks

Thursday, August 27th, 4:00 PM (BST)

What we learned in our favourite projects of the last year that can help you.

You’ll hear first-hand stories from the field, across different sectors, teams and types of challenges, to inspire solutions where you work. If you’re interested in how accessibility plays out in practice (beyond theory, guidelines or best intentions) this session will give you a useful, real-world perspective.

Summer of Access

The Summer of Access webinar series is an Accessibility Learning & Design Community effort organized by L’Etoile Education to help educators, instructional designers, and Learning and Development professionals build accessible digital experiences. Sessions run July through August 2026.

We Built It Right, So Why Can’t Anyone Use It? by Angela Fowler

Tuesday, August 4th, 1:00 PM (ET) / 10:00 AM (PST)

Teams follow best practices, use modern tools, and even run automated accessibility checks—yet users still struggle. This session breaks down why that happens. Accessibility failures are rarely caused by a lack of effort. More often, they come from systems that were never designed to support real human use in the first place. Automated checkers only catch a fraction of real issues—they don't identify broken workflows, confusing navigation, or experiences that technically pass but fail in practice. Through real examples and live demonstrations, you'll learn how accessibility issues emerge from tools, training, and process gaps, and how to start recognizing these failures before your users do.

This PDF Looked Easy… Until I Opened the Tag Tree by Angelina Smith

Thursday, August 13th, 1:00 PM (ET) / 10:00 AM (PST)

Accurately estimating document accessibility effort is a critical skill. This session focuses on the early assessment process: identifying PDF red flags, understanding how source files impact the level of effort, and recognizing when a document may require significantly more work than its appearance suggests. You'll learn how to determine level of effort and weigh decisions before sinking time into the tag tree. Ideal for anyone who works with document accessibility, whether you're new to remediation or looking to sharpen your scoping skills.

Beyond Alt Text: Making Complex STEM Visualizations Accessible at Scale by Christin Monroe

Tuesday, August 18th, 1:00 PM (ET) / 10:00 AM (PST)

What does it actually take to make highly visual STEM content accessible? In this session, Christin will share lessons learned from writing alt text and accessibility notes figures in a biomolecular visualization textbook, e.g., molecular models, Venn diagrams, screenshots, and tables.

Grounded in real examples and before/after revisions, participants will explore when alt text is not enough (e.g., complex diagrams and 3D representations). How to handle screenshots, tables, and interactive tools. Designing with color, structure, and cognitive load in mind. Deciding when to describe, simplify, or mark visuals as decorative.

Accessible Clubbing Tip: Kultursommer Wien

The Kultursommer Wien is taking place all across Vienna from July 2nd to August 16th 2026. Many different venues offer amazing live music, cabarets, literature events, dance & performance, theater and much more. At one of these venues, the Northwest station in the 20th district, Beat the Silence is setting up an induction-loop. Through this technology, people with hearing aids will be able to enjoy the performances to their fullest. We are very excited for this summer and more than happy to contribute to its accessibility.

I took all of these courses myself, so I’d be able to tell you which ones to pick based on your level of web accessibility proficiency and learning goals. All are free, online, and self-paced. So ideal for studying over the summer! Hurray!

UNITAR Inclusive Learning Design

A very short training program, maybe two hours all in all. But the examples are not the usual go-to ones and the practice quizzes are written in a way that makes you pause and think. I also appreciated that this training puts intersectionality front and center.

In my professional network (and likely also yours, dear reader), we often mean specifically disability inclusion when we use the term “inclusion” but effectively it refers to all dimensions that can bar one from equal and meaningful participation and opportunity in society.

This one also addresses key concepts such as disaggregated data, gender perspectives, socio-economic influences and power-dynamics.

What will you learn?

• Mainstream gender, inclusivity and disability inclusion intro training design and delivery

• Apply the inclusivity lenses across the training cycle, from analysis to evaluation

• Integrate inclusive best practices into learning environments, materials and facilitation approaches

• Apply do-no-harm principles to avoid unintended negative consequences in training design and implementation

ITC ILO: Disability in the Workplace

A bit different from the others, but equally important in theme. This self-paced course by the International Labour Organization (ILO) focuses on building, implementing and evaluating a disability inclusion strategy for your workforce.

I would particularly recommend it as a starting point for professionals in HR, talent pipeline or company culture.

It includes a ten questions pre-knowledge assessment. Like the UNITAR course above, it is pretty short.

Accessible EU: Accessible Technology Design

Already in its 4th edition, the Accessible Technology Design course is open for enrollment until October 31st. I took the course when it first came out and really appreciated how well it was structured. It covers all the basics, and at the same time goes beyond the surface level, so it’s not boring to advanced practitioners. Plus, it’s Accessible EU, so you know it’s a trustworthy source!

The course consists of 7 modules:

1. Accessibility and Inclusive Design.

2. ICT Accessibility Laws and Standards.

3. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

4. Digital Accessibility Myths.

5. Avoiding Non-Inclusive Design Patterns.

6. Creating Inclusive Designs.

7. Cognitive Accessibility

Students will learn about the foundations of universal accessibility in digital environments and gain the knowledge to design for all from the start. They will also understand accessibility and inclusive design as essential goals, grasp the key principles of Universal Design, and distinguish between legal requirements and technical standards, including current European legislation.

The course also explores why a single, well-designed solution is better than multiple alternatives, and introduces the principles of cognitive accessibility and their crucial role in creating truly inclusive experiences.

The AccessibleEU Campus regularly opens new courses up, it’s worth bookmarking. The Advanced Accessible Technology Design (building on this one above) begins on 14 September.

HDM Stuttgart: Public Courses Accessible Teaching Practices

Laura, why is this random German university in your course recommendations? Because HDM Stuttgart knows ball! If you remember how excited I was to proctor a knowledge badge exam for IAAP DACH, you should know that the chapter members from HDM Stuttgart are coordinating the whole thing!

Besides the KB BFL prep course (which is only in German), two more courses are available for free in English:

• Introduction to Web Accessibility from a User Perspective: Really, really good one to combine with any other on this list! It centers the experience of people with disabilities and offers tools, solutions and practical exercises. The 4 Modules are divided into: Vision, Hearing, Cognition, and Motor.

  I want to highlight the video on: How a Blind Developer Uses Visual Studio

• Accessible Learning and Teaching: Structured into 2 weeks (with ~20 minutes per day), the course introduces you to WCAG and the gang, but zones in on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and how web accessibility applies to teaching materials, especially documents and online platforms. UDL is different from WCAG, so I find that there’s a lot to be learned from it for content design.

DHS Section 508 Trusted Tester

At the beginning of the year, I got scared that the Trusted Tester might also fall victim to the great DEI purge. Since then the Trusted Tester has been a regular guest on this newsletter.

It is a free course that teaches you every step of accessibility conformance testing for ICT according to Section 508. While there’s a case to be made that “compliant” doesn’t automatically equate to “accessible”, it still covers a lot and is highly specific to software testing. POUR principles and WCAG are extensively covered, yet I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners.

It will test your patience, but if you persevere and complete it, you will have my respect! And a certification from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

If you are curious now, check out the series/study group we just concluded:

My Roadmap Recommendations per Level

Now, where should you start? Depends on your career, but this is how I would rank them based on pre-existing knowledge level:

Easy Introductions for Beginners

• UNITAR (for educators, workshop planning, or mentoring)

• ILO (for disability strategy, HR and talent pipeline)

These are great as introductory courses for three simple reasons: They are well researched, they emphasize intersectionality, and they are short. There are so many web accessibility courses and certifications out there. It is hard to tell which ones are a good measure of knowledge and skill.

In my opinion, the real danger lies in underestimating how topics overlap and intertwine. Starting off with a good awareness of intersectionality gives you a stronger foundation.

Plus, as I said, these are short; maybe two hours each. They can fit easily into your work week or maybe even your lunch break if you are especially ambitious. At the beginning, accessibility, inclusion and everything related to it can seem overwhelming (because it is!). Having a clearly defined awareness training can put structure into your learning journey.

Beginners to Intermediate

• Accessible EU

• HDM Stuttgart (Introduction to Web Accessibility from a User Perspective + Accessible Learning and Teaching)

In my opinion, these two together offer a solid foundation across web accessibility basics, user needs, laws and regulations, web and content design, and disability etiquette. They can take you from beginner to a solid intermediate level of understanding. If you can read German and are able to add the KB BFL prep course on top for document tooling, even better!

Advanced Only

• DHS Trusted Tester

While yes, it also covers the basics, this one takes so much time and dedication that it is highly likely to demotivate beginners. It’s a fantastic resource and a certification that shows that you really know your stuff well. But it’s not as easy to do on the side like the others! I can report back based on the study group that professionals with 5+ years in web accessibility auditing found it frustrating to complete. So while it teaches you everything you will need to know to pass the test, this one is a real grind!

Topic 1: Conforming Alternate Version and Non-Interference

Conforming Alternate Version and Non-Interference is, as the name suggests, divided into requirements for the conforming (meaning: accessible according to all the other tests in the Trusted tester) alternate version and non-interference on the non-conforming content side.

Conforming Alternate Version

For most websites, this does not apply as there is usually only one version of the website. In my opinion, this should also be the goal. Except for the examples provided in the course (a data table as the conforming version and a line graph data visualization as the non-conforming one), I cannot think of a scenario in which maintaining two seperate versions instead of a singular accessible one would make sense.

If a conforming alternate version is identified in test ID 1.A, the following 2 IDs check if it is equivalent in information and function (1.B Equivalent Alternative) and if it can be reached in an accessible manner from the non-confirming version (1.C Conformant Mechanism).

Non-Interference (WCAG 5.2.5 Non-Interference)

After checking the conforming version, we turn out attention back to the inaccessible version: Test ID 1.D. Non-Interference covers the most critical accessibility issues that impact users. The purpose of this test is to verify that non-conforming content does not interfere or block the user’s ability to interact with the conforming content. In other words:

These requirements are addressed through these test IDs:

1. Test ID 2.A. Audio Control

2. Test ID 2.B. Blinking, Moving, and Scrolling

3. Test ID 2.C. Auto-Updating

4. Test ID 3.A. Flashing

5. Test ID 4.C. Keyboard Trap.

2.A. Audio Control (WCAG 1.4.2. Audio Control)

If audio plays automatically for more than 3 seconds, a mechanism must exist to pause, stop, or control the volume independently of the system volume.

The browser’s own option to mute the tab does not count here! Which is why, for example, the existence of a “stop ad” or “mute” button at the top of the page would get a passing grade. But existing alone is not enough, no! You also have to be able find the bright, little button.

If the mechanism exists, but it’s hard to find, it still fails.

2.B. Blinking, Moving, and Scrolling (WCAG 2.2.2. Pause Stop Hide)

Any content that moves, blinks, or scrolls for more than five seconds in parallel with other content requires a pause, stop, or hide mechanism.

Again, an example of good practice would be placing a “stop scrolling” or “pause all moving content” button at the top of the main content, or as a visible button at the top of the page, close to the skip links for keyboard users.

2.C. Auto-Updating (also WCAG 2.2.2.)

Users need a way to pause or hide automatic updates or automatically changing content. Likewise, we cannot have a loss in information when the auto changes are paused.

3.A. Flashing (WCAG 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold & 2.3.2. Three Flashes)

The Trusted Tester process has no way to test for the 3 flashes or below the threshold. Non-Interference only says that Flashing must be marked as “does not apply” and if flashing content is present, it is marked “not tested”. But after 5 months of study group, we are better than that! We know that we can run animations and videos through the Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool by the University of Maryland.

4.C. Keyboard Trap (WCAG 2.1.2. No keyboard trap)

We meet again, old foe. Seriously, keyboard traps keep haunting digital spaces. They are so annoying because one keyboard trap alone can stop you from using a whole website.

Rule of Thumb (or Tab): If you can’t get out of a component with Tab or Escape, and the website doesn’t tell you either, you likely have a trap on your fingers.

The Non-Interference requirements are so important because just one of them alone can sabotage access to the rest of the content.

Once we have a solid foundation, with basic accessibility measures in place, then we can pursue truly inclusive design that minimizes harmful stereotypes and reflects dignity.

Study Group Resources

• GitHub repository

• ANDI Accessibility Testing Tool (bookmarklet)

• WebAIM Link Contrast Checker

• WCAG 2.2

• US Access Board: Revised Section 508 Standards

• Recordings of previous sessions

• Slides and Transcripts

• Summary posts

• GDG Vienna

Apply now!

What is the Disabled Leaders Network?

The Disabled Leader Network (DLN) is a member-led organization to facilitate peer exchange between young leaders with disability. If you’re an emerging or established voice in your sector, if you’re passionate about leadership and disability justice, this is the place for you.

And what’s in it for you?

• Exclusive events and leadership workshops

• Networking and collaboration with fellow members and sector experts

• Tailored opportunities to grow your platform and drive change

• A platform to shape the future of disability leadership

And so much more! Applications only open once a year so don’t miss this opportunity to apply.

Who should apply?

We welcome anyone with disabilities aged 18+ who have demonstrated excellence or leadership potential in their field. This includes professionals, students, entrepreneurs, campaigners, changemakers, and anyone with a drive to make an impact.

You don’t need to have a traditional career path; we value lived experience, non-conventional journeys, and all forms of leadership.

We are especially keen to hear from Black and Global Majority disabled people, LGBTQ+ disabled people, and people from lower-income backgrounds, and those underrepresented in leadership spaces.

How to apply

The application form is a written online form, with a video introduction, but if this is inaccessible for you, please contact the DLN via email: DisabledLeadersNetwork@ucl.ac.uk

You can also watch the full session on YouTube.

18.A. Resize Text (WCAG 1.4.4)

Text must be resizable to at least 200% without any loss of content or functionality and crucially, without relying on assistive technology. Browser zoom, OS-level features, or built-in page controls all count as valid mechanisms.

The following 4 criteria must all be met for a pass:

1. A non-assistive-tech-reliant mechanism exists to resize text to ≥200%

2. Text remains uncropped, untruncated, and unobscured

3. All interactive functionality stays accessible

4. No content disappears when zoomed

Common Failures

• Overlapping paragraphs or bleeding text

• The navigation menu disappears when zoomed in

• Cut-off or truncated text (that just ends in the middle of the wo…)

• Fixed-position elements that obscure other parts of the page

Examples

A bit of critique on the course materials is due: One example was a screen recording of the DHS See Something Say Something campaign scaled to 200% zoom. I thought optimistically that I could use this page as a live example for the study group and grabbed the link. Color me surprised when I tested it and half of the screen was taken up by a blue banner. The text is still readable, but personally, I would not consider this a good practice example.

Let this be a lesson in that accessibility will deteriorate if not considered with every continuous update. As a passing example, I used Accessibility First instead.

19.A. Multiple Ways (WCAG 2.4.5)

Users must have 2 or more functional methods to locate any given webpage within a website structure. Your non-exhaustive list of options includes:

• Site maps

• Search forms

• Table of contents

• Navigation menus (dropdowns/trees)

• Contextual links between pages

But remember: Having multiple options is meaningless unless they actually work and lead to the correct destination.

Practical Example

A news article may be reachable via:

• Top menu navigation

• Footer links

• Site search

• Article-to-article linking (”more news”)

2 or more working pathways = passing

Exceptions:

• Standalone single-page sites (no page hierarchy)

• Sequential-step processes (checkout flows, locked quiz steps)

• Confirmation/final transaction pages

• User-generated search results pages

These scenarios are inherently linear or conditional, so expecting alternative paths wouldn’t be within reason.

20.A. Parsing (is Part of History, but also WCAG 4.1.1)

Parsing has been deemed as obsolete and was entirely removed from WCAG 2.2. Since the Trusted Tester is built on WCAG 2.0. it is still included there. Now this begs the question:

How to test for 20.A. Parsing?

You don’t. That’s right, 20.A. Parsing is marked as “Not Tested”. The Trusted Tester methodology never included automated parsing checks as ANDI is not capable of that, and manual code review falls beyond the intended tester scope.

Why Was It Removed?

Originally designed to address early assistive technology struggles with malformed HTML. Modern AT no longer needs to directly parse HTML - the underlying technical challenges either vanished or shifted elsewhere and are covered by other success criteria.

Coming Up Next: The Grand Finale

Mark your calendars! We are live one more time on Friday, July 10th at 4 PM, diving into two advanced topics plus Q&A:

1. Conforming Alternate Versions – Understanding when alternate versions qualify for compliance

2. Non-Interference & Conformance Reporting – Best practices for documenting findings professionally

3. Practical tips for taking the exam and Q&A opportunity - Submit your questions as issues on GitHub or ask them in the live chat.

Study Group Resources

• ANDI Accessibility Testing Tool (bookmarklet)

• GitHub repository

• WebAIM Link Contrast Checker

• Recordings of previous sessions

• Slides and Transcripts

• Summary posts

Read more about the study group below, and join the next session through GDG Vienna.

Since publishing it, I’ve learned a number of new things that I would like to add. So grab some popcorn for the sequel: “Deaf Blindness, the Often Overlooked Side Character: Still Not in the Dark!” Coming to an interface near you, now.

The Prequel: The Often Overlooked Side Character

While I picked that title purely for the pun (even comparing it to the second lead in K dramas, who never end up with the main character), it was quite accurate.

Since I work in assistive tech for low vision and digital accessibility, I’ve learned to think of deaf-blindness as something to study up on whenever possible because there is just so little when it comes to standards or good practices that one can reference. I am by no means an authority on the topic now, but when there was a rare panel discussion on deaf-blindness, I would go there. I would read up on aspects that puzzled me because it might become relevant to my own work later on. Recently, I was invited to a podcast on deaf-blindness alongside an advocate with lived experience, which made me realize how terrifyingly easy it is to be considered knowledgeable in something that is otherwise talked about so little.

Hello Standardization, Where Are You?

Blindness is extensively covered in the WCAG & Co., and Deafness/Hard of Hearing have great community resources as well. Both are also the focus points of plenty of innovations around the globe. Deaf-blindness, which theoretically falls under both of them to spice things up, is rarely regarded as a viable demographic. Yes, it’s not the biggest market opportunity, and if you’re in assistive tech for the money, you won’t find happiness here. But that does not make it any less valuable to know.

Designing for Deaf-Blind

Compared to the many options blind shoppers have (hypothetically, we're not looking at price tags or local availability), deaf-blind people are limited in their choices because most innovations for low vision rely on audio interfaces.

Yet designing for deaf-blindness is not that complicated, if you know what to look out for (pun very much intended).

The needs of deaf-blind individuals are a combination of known challenges in interface design, like customization of screen interfaces to fit the individual vision, independence from audio-only, limited surface contact with the body, and receiving information in relation to oneself.

And while those are some tricky challenges in design, if we claim to be good at our jobs, we should be able to figure out the problems and address them.

The Sequel: Tactile Signing

To be honest, in the first part, I focused more on misconceptions surrounding deaf-blindness, but now I know that communication strategies are just as important- if not even more so- for inclusive design.

Tactile signing is an example for use of different communication channels. Observing it from the outside, it looks similar to sign language, but it is experienced fundamentally different. Sign language heavily relies on visual information, while tactile signing uses - as the name suggests - tactile channels. Different types exist, one of which is tactile fingerspelling, which is what Anne Sullivan used with Helen Keller. Other variants are hand-over-hand or hands-on signing, ProTactile, braille singning and the lorm alphabet.

Here is a simple, but important example for ProTactile:

To get the deaf-blind person’s attention, tap on their shoulder/arm. You may need to keep your hand on their shoulder or arm until they face you.

If a deaf-blind person appears to be in danger, draw an “X” on their arm or back (to indicate an emergency), and then lead the person to a safe area. Upon arrival at a safe place, explain what is happening.

Please keep in mind that not all deaf-blind individuals will be familiar with “X.” It depends on when the onset of hearing and/or vision loss occurred, as well as their experience with survival tips.

Quick Guide to Serving and Communicating with Individuals who are Deaf, Deaf-Blind, Late-Deafened, or Hard of Hearing

The Lorm alphabet is mostly used in German-speaking countries as well as the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, and Georgia. I find this fascinating, because it does not matter whether you look at it from a linguistic or geographical perspective; either way, at least two of them are not like the others. I was not able to figure out yet why, but would love to learn more about the history of my Landsmann (fellow Austrian) Heinrich Landesmann aka Hieronymus Lorm.

Learning from Deaf-Blind Individuals

My first sign language teacher was deaf-blind, therefore the first lesson included communication rules. Looking back, this shaped my understanding of Deafspace and how the necessary adjustments can be very simple.

I noticed that many people, as they initially start thinking about accessibility, chase the phantasm of a ‘fully accessible space’. Be it in the digital world, workspaces or events. Achieving that is impossible and thinking about it can be tiring. But the real tragedy is that it distracts us from person-to-person interaction. On the inter-personal level, most accommodations are surprisingly easy: wearing black clothes for better visibility while signing for light skin types and light-colored clothes for dark skin types, facing someone when talking or signing and not facing away from them or standing at an angle, having the room well-lit, and asking for and remembering their preferred way to to grab their attention (stomping, flickering the lights, or lightly tapping the upper arm are common ways, but the best choice is to be respectful and simply ask).

On a systemic level, accessibility and inclusion are complex, but on the individual level, it boils down to one thing:

You have to ask and be willing to listen.

Resources

• HellenKeller.org What is DeafBlind Awareness Week?

• Deafblind UK: Deafblind Awareness Week 2026 #SeeHearUs Campaign

• American Foundation for the Blind: Helen Keller Biography

• ProTactile

• aj granda & Jelica Nuccio (2018). Protactile Principles. Seattle, Washington: Tactile Communications.

• National Center on Deafblindness: Overview on Deaf-Blindness Factsheet

• Deafblind International

• Project Ideal

• Assisitve Technology and Equipment Living with Deafblindness

• National Center on Deafblindness: Assistive Technology

• Deaf-Blind Communication Technology

• Unique Technologies Presented at First Deaf-Blind International Conference

Topic 17: Synchronized Media

Here’s a little challenge for you: The study groups always start as live broadcasts and are later published as recordings. While you read, think about how the study groups would measure up to which test ID, at these different stages.

17.A. Captions (WCAG 1.2.2)

This test ID ensures that accurate, time-synchronized captions are provided for all pre-recorded audio content within synchronized media, except when the media serves as a clearly labeled alternative to text. The captions must include all dialogue plus equivalents for non-dialogue audio information, such as sound effects, music cues, and speaker identification, without obscuring relevant visual content on the screen.

• Failing examples: Captions are present but lack time synchronization, or fail to identify speakers.

• Transcripts aren’t captions: Even if a separate transcript is available, alone it does not satisfy this specific requirement.

Throwback to 16.A. Audio-Only

Questions to help determine if a sound is relevant (Throwback to 16.A. Audio-Only):

• Does the sound add pertinent information or cues? Some sounds contribute to setting the scene or adding additional explanation to the narration or dialogue. If so, the sound is relevant and should be included in the transcript.

• If the sound was not part of the transcript, would a user lose some information, or would their experience change? If so, the sound is relevant and should be included in the transcript.

• Is the sound irrelevant? While it is not required to include sounds in the transcript that convey no meaning, such as music playing in the background, relevant sounds must be included. An instance where music is relevant and needs to be included in the transcript is when the song “Jailhouse Rock” is heard during an interview with its performer, Elvis Presley.

17.B. Audio Descriptions (WCAG 1.2.5)

Audio Descriptions (as we’ve learned from Netflix!) are a narration track that describes important visual details that cannot be understood from the main soundtrack alone. These descriptions must fit into natural pauses in the dialogue or narration to ensure they do not overlap with spoken content. While documentaries with heavy narration may require little additional descriptions, any scene where visual context is lost without narration fails 17.B.

Again: A simple text transcript is not enough; the description must be an integrated part of the synchronized audio experience to pass.

17.C. Captions (Live) (WCAG 1.2.4)

Unlike pre-recorded content, there is some leeway for mistakes. For example, words being replaced with [unintelligible] because the live transcribers couldn’t understand what the speaker was saying, or minor spelling mistakes. The captions must still be generally accurate, synchronized with the speaker, and equivalent enough that they do not significantly impact the viewer’s understanding of the program.

Note why live captions are judged differently compared to pre-recorded media: It is assumed that human transcribers will be doing the captions. Today, that is not always the case. While auto-generated captions still benefit from the grace for minor discrepancies, in my opinion, they should be held to stricter standards to incentivise procurement of software with high accuracy.

Section 508 503.4 Caption Controls

Section 508 503.4 User Controls for Captions and Audio Description – Where ICT displays video with synchronized audio, ICT shall provide user controls for closed captions and audio descriptions conforming to 503.4.

Section 508 503.4.1 Caption Controls – Where user controls are provided for volume adjustment, ICT shall provide user controls for the selection of captions at the same menu level as the user controls for volume or program selection.

Section 508 503.4.2 Audio Description Controls – Where user controls are provided for program selection, ICT shall provide user controls for the selection of audio descriptions at the same menu level as the user controls for volume or program selection.

17.D. Caption Controls (503.4)

Any media player presenting synchronized video with audio must provide user controls that allow viewers to enable or disable closed captions. These controls must be functional and selectable (also called: “buttons must do their job”). This test ID only checks for controls, not the accuracy of captions.

Ironically, even if a video has open captions baked in, the standards still mandate separate user controls for captions within the player interface.

17.E. Audio Description Controls (also 503.4)

Similar to caption controls, this test ID does the same with user controls for audio descriptions. The control mechanism must be activatable and work as expected to toggle the descriptive narration on and off. If the option is missing entirely, disabled, or non-functional when selected, the media player fails.

17.F. Caption Control Level (503.4.1)

Continuing from the test process of 17.D., 17.F. we check where the CC controls are. User controls for captions must appear at the same menu level as other primary controls, like volume adjustment or program selection.

The goal is to prevent accessibility features from being harder to find than basic playback functions. In practice, this means the “CC” button should be just as prominent as the “Volume” button.

17.G. Audio Description Control Level (503.4.2)

17.G. is the same process as 17.F., only this time we apply it to the audio descriptions instead. Again: Audio description controls must be at the same level as audio controls or program selection. It’s okay if audio controls are on the main menu and the program selection and audio description are both in a submenu, but the audio description (and captions) cannot be relegated to a submenu alone.

Study Group Resources

• ICT Baseline: Synchronized Media

• Content Creation: Video and Other Synchronized Media

• ANDI Accessibility Testing Tool (bookmarklet)

• GitHub repository

• WebAIM Link Contrast Checker

• Recordings of previous sessions

• Slides and Transcripts

• Summary posts

Read more about the study group below, and join the next session through GDG Vienna.

If you know of other events in the online or offline accessibility and disability inclusion space, please submit via form or email them to a11ynews@substack.com to be included.

Online Events

Intopia Assistive Technology Survey 2025: What We Learned

Wednesday, 8th of July, 12:30 PM to 1:15PM AEST

From emerging trends to persistent barriers, we’ll unpack what the results mean for creating more inclusive digital products. You’ll hear directly from the Intopia team members who designed and ran the survey, analysed the data, and authored the report, giving you an inside look at the findings and what they mean in practice.

You can join through Zoom on the day or watch the recording on YouTube after the webinar. Live captioning will be included.

GDI Hub Introducing the Global OPD Map: Connecting the Transnational Disabled People’s Movement

Thursday 9th July, 12-1pm GMT

The map is an open-source data collection project, resulting in the largest-ever documentation of advocacy groups led by disabled voices in the transnational disability community.

Final installment of the Section 508 Trusted Tester Study Group: Conforming Alternate Version and Non-Interference, Conformance Reporting, and tips on taking the exam

Friday, 10th of July, 4:00 - 5:00 PM (CEST)

The final session of the DHS Section 508 Trusted Tester Study Group. The final preparation before taking the Trusted Tester exam!

The Accessibility Army of One: 3 Permission-Free Workflows for Inclusive Design by Jacob Wook

Tuesday, July 14 | 1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PST

Many organizations treat accessibility as something to check at the end of a project, long after barriers have already been created. But even if your team places accessibility last, you don't have to. This session teaches three habits you can use today: a pre-build accessibility lens that helps you spot barriers before you create them, a quick keyboard-only workflow check, and a professional way to communicate accessibility decisions as intentional design choices. You'll gain repeatable actions that fit into your workflow.

Accessibility Basics Training from Karl Groves

July 15-16 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM US Eastern Time

Learn the foundations of digital accessibility — WCAG standards, assistive technologies, legal requirements, and universal design. Everything you need to build inclusive experiences and prepare for IAAP CPACC certification.

Building Free WCAG Tools for Under-Resourced Institutions: Lessons from A11yGuidance by Dil Rawat

Thursday, July 16 | 1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PST

Most schools, small colleges, and small public institutions face DOJ Title II compliance deadlines without the budget for commercial accessibility platforms. In this session, Dil walks through the real-world deployment of A11yGuidance, a free WCAG scanner with plain-language remediation guidance built specifically to bridge that gap. You'll learn what automated scanning genuinely catches (and where human WCAG knowledge still has to take over), why plain-language guidance for non-technical content editors matters as much as detection, and common WCAG failure patterns across institutions. Geared toward instructional designers, accessibility specialists, and education professionals working with limited budgets and small—or solo—accessibility teams.

Disability Pride Month Live Panel: A Discussion for the Workplace and Beyond

Thursday, 16th of July, 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM (ET)

This 75-minute live virtual panel features disability advocates, speakers, and thought leaders in an honest, facilitated conversation about Disability Pride, workplace dynamics, and what inclusion looks like in practice.

• Regular ticket price: $39.00

• Community rate: $10.00

• Corporate streaming rate (unlimited spots for the entire organization): $500.00

ASL interpretation and autocaptions will be provided.

AI for Hearing Access

Thursday, 16th of July, 4:00 PM (CEST)

From speech-to-text tools and automatic captions to smart hearing devices and emerging communication technologies, AI is already transforming how many people with hearing loss access information, participate in conversations, and navigate everyday life.

Join EFHOH for an interactive discussion exploring the opportunities, challenges, and future potential of AI for hearing accessibility. Together with experts from the fields of disability rights, hearing technology, and artificial intelligence, we will examine how AI can support inclusion while ensuring that the needs and experiences of hard of hearing people remain at the centre of innovation.

A Busy Person’s Guide to Accessibility Testing by Lyssa Prince

Tuesday, July 21 | 1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PST

Testing digital materials for accessibility can be complex and time-consuming. It's difficult to know where to start and how to test more complex things, especially if you don’t consider yourself a technical person. It’s also difficult to fit a comprehensive audit into a busy schedule, even if you’re already a strong accessibility tester. This session will benefit you if you have a solid grasp of accessibility principles but want to go beyond counting the number of errors and alerts in an automated tool. This session will also greatly benefit participants who are comparing software to buy or use, as the checks performed make up a great set of high-impact checkpoints that can help you rule products in or out. This session will break these tests down into manageable chunks and give you hands-on experience with identifying failures. You’ll also learn about a series of no-cost learning modules and resources that will help you continue to develop your testing skills. We’ll primarily focus on testing websites and web applications rather than documents, but some document testing practices may be shown where relevant. For each of the testing practices, we’ll test a real webpage. Bring your laptop to follow along!

Angular Accessibility - Why are page titles important?

Tuesday, 21st of July, 1 PM - 2 PM (CEST)

Ready to dive into the world of Angular with a focus on making your apps more accessible? This online event is perfect for developers looking to boost their skills and create inclusive web experiences. Expect cool tips, tricks, and discussions on accessibility best practices using Angular.

WordPress Accessibility Meetup: From “Inaccessible” to Inclusive: A Practical PDF Remediation Demo

Tuesday, 21st of July, 05:00 PM (CEST)

PDFs are one of the most common and most misunderstood document formats when it comes to accessibility. In this practical, demo‑led session, we’ll take a PDF and work through how to remediate it step by step. The session will focus on what good looks like, common pitfalls to avoid, and when a PDF is (and isn’t) the right format to use. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of PDF accessibility and the confidence to start improving your own documents.

Hassell Inclusion: Kiosks Everywhere. Accessibility Nowhere?

Thursday, 23rd of July 4:00 PM (UK-time)

From buying train tickets and checking in at airports, to ordering food, paying for parking, or using supermarket self-checkout — kiosks have become the default way many retail services are purchased.

At the moment, most are trailing website and mobile app accessibility by a long way. But under the European Accessibility Act (EAA), kiosks will need to catch-up over the next few years so people with disabilities and those who are older aren’t excluded from purchasing the way everyone else does.

Hybrid Events

AccessibleEU Spain - Break the frame: designing and living a culture without limits

Wednesday, 1st of July, 12:00 - 2:00 PM (CEST)
Auditorio CentroCentro. Plaza de Cibeles, 1, 28014 Madrid. Spain

Since 2006, Fundación ONCE has been promoting the International Biennial of Contemporary Art, a pioneering initiative aimed at showcasing, supporting and giving visibility to the work of artists with disabilities.

AccessibleEU Latvia - Riga on the Move: An Accessible City for Everyone

Thursday, 2nd of July, 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM (EEST)

This AccessibleEU workshop co-organised with the Riga City Council Traffic and Transport Affairs Committee and the Association of Disabled Persons and their Friends ‘Apeirons’ aims to gather the opinions of various Riga residents and specialists on mobility in Riga - mobility opportunities for people with various types of disabilities in public transport, with a wheelchair or on foot, as well as challenges when using public transport or in the surrounding environment, including public transport infrastructure or car parking spaces.

AccessibleEU Greece -Municipal initiatives for Ensuring Equal Access for Persons with Disabilities to Infrastructure and Services

Friday 10 July, 10:00 - 14:00 (EEST)

Jointly organised by AccessibleEU and the National Confederation of Disabled People (N.C.D.P.), this event aims to promote the exchange of good practices among key stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of inclusive local policies.

Public Meeting of the U.S. Access Board

Wednesday, July 29th, 1:30 – 3:00 PM (ET)

All are welcome to attend the public session of the next meeting of the U.S. Access Board, which will be open to the public and take place on Wednesday, July 29 from 1:30 – 3:00 PM (ET). The agenda for the meeting includes several Board votes, brief reports from standing Board committees, federal agency updates, and a report by Executive Director Sachin Pavithran.

Members of the public may attend and listen to the session through Zoom for Government, by phone, via livestream, or in person at the Board’s Washington D.C. Conference Space. For further information, contact events@access-board.gov.

AccessibleEU Portugal - Portugal in Data: Disability and Quality of Life

Friday 31 July 2026, 10:00 - 17:00 (WEST)

What does quality of life for people with disabilities in Portugal actually look like, and how do we improve it? AccessibleEU and Centro de Vida Independente are joining forces to bring together researchers, disability advocates and policy experts in a conversation that matters.

In-Person Events

Accessibility Meetup München #09

Donnerstag, 2. Juli · 18:00 bis 21:00 CEST

Das Accessibility Meetup Munich vernetzt die Münchner Community rund um digitale Barrierefreiheit, Web-Entwicklung und inklusives UX/UI-Design. Egal ob ihr Experten oder neu im Thema seid, ihr seit herzlich eingeladen!

Talks

1. Carina Schneider, Zeljka Peric (Pfennigparade Chancenwerk): Barrierefreie Audiodeskriptionen in der Praxis

2. Manuel Matuzović: 13 1/2 Dinge, die du nicht über Barrierefreiheit in HTML und CSS wusstest

National Federation of the Blind Convention

Friday, July 3 – Wednesday, July 8
JW Marriott Austin, Texas

The National Federation of the Blind National Convention is the largest gathering of blind people in the world. It is the premier event for training, support, and information for the blind community. The National Convention offers hundreds of sessions, dynamic presentations, and countless opportunities. Review each of the following sections for all the details on what to expect.

Accommodate This: Improv for Every Body

Sunday, July 5, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM (MT)
RISE Comedy, 1260 22nd St, Denver

Warm up for Accommodate This: A Night of Disability Pride Comedy with a beginner-welcoming, low-pressure session where you’ll learn the basics of improv in a space designed for every kind of mind and body. No experience needed, just show up ready to play.

AccessibleEU France - Design for All: Accessibility in Practice!

Wednesday 8 July 2026, 09:00 - 14:30 (CEST)

Design for All — also referred to as Universal Design or Accessible Design — is entering a new phase of strong standardisation. Through practical case studies, expert insights, and collaborative workshops, the event illustrates how Design for All can become a catalyst for innovation, user-centered design, and organizational transformation.

AccessibleEU Czechia -With Théseus over the Obstacles 2026

Tuesday 14 July 2026, 09:30 - 16:30 (CEST)

The event intends to bring together representatives of public sector bodies and private organisations affected by the requirements of the WAD and the EAA. It will also be valuable for accessibility experts and researchers, designers, developers, individuals with disabilities, and other stakeholders interested in creating more accessible products, services, and digital environments.

Look At Us Now! A Celebration of Disabled Joy

Monday 27th July 2026 - Wednesday 29th July 2026

Location: The Forum, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1TF
Opening times: Mon - 1PM - 3PM, Tue 9AM - 5PM & Weds 9AM - 3PM

The Look At Us Now! project aims to remove the societal barriers for disabled individuals by co-designing high-fashion editorial campaigns focused on personal lived experiences of disability and advocacy in standard settings.

This project strives to provide more access to an inclusive modelling experience, and through the co-design process aims to help visualise essential stories and ideas directly from the disabled community.

Look At Us Now! A Celebration of Disabled Joy showcases co-designed editorial campaigns that stem from real lived experience stories of those living with disabilities.

You can expect to find photographic campaigns alongside visual aid props, project documentation and the written campaign stories.

The work has been created to increase accessibility and visibility for disabled people within the creative industries, celebrating disabled joy in a bold and playful manner, whilst sharing the crucial message - nothing about us without us.

‘One Community, Many Voices’

Thursday 30 July • 3 PM - 5 PM
Chew's YardPreston, England

One Community, Many Voices: showcasing positive practice in accessibility!

Recordings from COSP19

Last month’s issue included a number of COSP side events, some of which are available as recording. Linked below is From Youth Representation to Meaningful Participation in Political and Public Life in which I was delightfully surprised to see Enzo Romero Muñiz, my fellow member of the Disabled Leaders Network, talk about you representation and influence in his company LAT Bionics.

AccessibleEU’s online course on Accessible Technology Design

Monday 25 May 2026, 00:00 - Saturday 31 October 2026, 23:59 (CET)

Students will learn about the foundations of universal accessibility in digital environments and gain the knowledge to design for all from the start. They will also understand accessibility and inclusive design as essential goals, grasp the key principles of Universal Design, and distinguish between legal requirements and technical standards, including current European legislation.

The course also explores why a single, well-designed solution is better than multiple alternatives, and introduces the principles of cognitive accessibility and their crucial role in creating truly inclusive experiences.

This course consists of 7 modules:

1. Accessibility and Inclusive Design.

2. ICT Accessibility Laws and Standards.

3. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

4. Digital Accessibility Myths.

5. Avoiding Non-Inclusive Design Patterns.

6. Creating Inclusive Designs.

7. Cognitive Accessibility

Free registration on the online campus.

Before we start: WCAG Disclaimer

The Trusted Tester process builds on and explicitly references WCAG 2.0 as its foundation. For the accessibility topics covered in this session (content order, audio alternatives, and video alternatives) the content and conformance levels have remained consistent between WCAG 2.0 and 2.2 versions. As in previous sessions, I recommend referencing the latest standards.

Topic 15: CSS-Positioning

While it may sound very technical, I assure you that the testing process is not.

15.A. Content Order and Meaning (WCAG 1.3.2)

This test ID asks a simple question: Does the reading order of the content remain understandable if CSS positioning is removed?

When the sequence in which content is presented affects its meaning, a correct reading sequence must be programmatically determined. In practice, this means checking if your layout holds up even if it’s stripped of its decorative CSS.

The Testing Method

To verify this, we use the ANDI bookmarklet (specifically the “Focusable Elements” module):

1. Open the Advanced Settings within ANDI (hiding behind the gear icon).

2. Check the “Linearize Page” checkbox.

   This removes CSS positioning on the page. Glowing turquoise boxes will appear around all elements previously positioned with CSS.

3. Review the linearized content. Does the sequence still make sense?

Examples

• Passing Example: The content may shift positions visually, but the logical flow remains intact. For example, if a page lists “Products” and “Locations” side-by-side, removing CSS might move the “Locations” block below “Products”. If the list items (e.g. Telephones & Computers are still listed under Products) still logically follow their respective headers, then the page passes.

• Failing Example: The removal of CSS results in a jumble where context is lost. If products and location names are mixed into a single, indistinguishable line (e.g., “Products Locations Telephones Wisconsin Computers Idaho”), the meaning gets lost. The user cannot distinguish which items belong to which category without the visual grouping.

It is acceptable for the layout to change, but it is not acceptable for the semantic relationship between headings and their content to be remixed into oblivion.

Topic 16: Pre-Recorded Media

This will all be relevant to the next topic, so take notes!

16.A. Audio Only (WCAG 1.2.1)

For any prerecorded audio-only content (such as podcasts or interviews), this test ID checks if there is a text-based transcript that accurately represents the audio content.

How to Write a Good Transcript:

A passing transcript must meet three specific criteria:

1. The transcript cannot be an image of the text. It must be selectable, copy-pasteable plain text. This allows users to adjust font size, contrast, or paste the text into assistive tools.

2. The transcript must match the audio exactly. It cannot omit information.

   • Speaker Identification: In dialogues, speakers must be identified by name before they speak (e.g., “Host Name: ... Guest Name: ...”).

   • Sounds: Relevant background noises (music, sirens, door slams) must be included if they contribute to the meaning of the content.

     Questions to help determine if a sound is relevant:

     • Does the sound add pertinent information or cues? Some sounds contribute to setting the scene or adding additional explanation to the narration or dialogue. If so, the sound is relevant and should be included in the transcript.

     • If the sound was not part of the transcript, would a user lose some information? Would their experience change? If so, the sound is relevant and should be included in the transcript.

     • Is the sound irrelevant? While it is not required to include sounds in the transcript that convey no meaning, such as music playing in the background, relevant sounds must be included. An instance where music is relevant and needs to be included in the transcript is when the song “Jailhouse Rock” is heard during an interview with its performer, Elvis Presley.

3. Basic Accessibility Functionality: The method to access the transcript must work with pointing devices, keyboards, and screen readers.

This does not apply to synchronized media (but again: foreshadowing), static visual elements within a player, or non-content alerts like error beeps or notification sounds that also have a corresponding visual indicator.

16.B. Video Only (also WCAG 1.2.1)

Is there a text or audio alternative that provides an equivalent experience to the video? This is the counterpart to 16.A., specifically for prerecorded video-only content (video without sound). Since there is no audio track to convey the action, an alternative description is mandatory. You can satisfy this requirement by providing either:

1. An audio description that narrates the visual actions.

2. A detailed text transcript describing the visuals.

Just like with audio-only content, images of text do not count. The alternative must be modifiable (in size, color, and font) by the user.

What Makes a Good Description?

The alternative must capture the meaning, not just the literal pixels. Consider the Banana Slug example from the course:

• Weak: “A yellow slug moves.”

• Strong: “A yellow banana slug sits on a mossy rock, slowly moving its retractable tentacles. The camera zooms out to show it stretching across a branch, then wrapping itself around the tree.”

The strong version includes the environment, the specific movements, and the context of the scene.

Note on Sign Language Alternatives

Exclude any video-only content intended as a media alternative for text if it is clearly labeled as such, since this type of video-only content presents no more information than what is already presented in text directly or via text alternatives.

If a sign language interpretation is clearly labeled as a media alternative for the text content itself (e.g., “Sign Language Version of Submission Guidelines”), it is excluded and noted as Not Tested.

Materials

• Join the next session: GDG Vienna

• Previous GDG Vienna Accessibility Webinar Series

• GitHub repository

• Study Group recordings playlist on YouTube

• Session slides and transcripts on Google Drive

What are the Accessibility Requirements for Synchronized Media?

As a global media platform, there’s a lot to keep in mind: accessibility compliance across different legislations, compatibility with who knows how many different end user devices (not only different operating systems for mobile apps and a desktop version, but smart TVs too), localization of content…

That’s a lot of quality assurance to do! If you want to learn more about what pertains to accessibility testing of synchronized media, watch out for the recap of the June 12th study group session.

SDH or CC…? Say what?

If you are wondering if there is a difference between Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH), Closed Captions (CC) and subtitles, then yes, technically there is! And I really mean in the technical specs here. The terms are often used interchangeably, but sometimes the distinction may be helpful:

• Captions can either be in the same language as the original media or a translation of what is said. Watching the original sound version with captions in your preferred language is often simply called “subtitles”.

• SDH Subtitles reflect the language of the media.

Below is an explanation from the Netflix Partner Help Center: What is the difference between subtitles, SDH and CC?

SDH (subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing) and CC (closed captions) are both intralingual [where the language of the subtitle file is the same as the language of the video it relates to] and close in form, contents and purpose but have some key differences.

Both file types are intended to support the viewing needs of people who cannot hear the audio fully - the files replicate dialogue, music and sounds in text form - but differ in terms of technical spec and style. (from Netflix Partner Help Center: What is the difference between subtitles, SDH and CC?)

Audio Descriptions: What’s important on the Screen?

Audio descriptions (sometimes also called visual descriptions or visual commentary), like image descriptions, are always a bit of a subjective matter: What is important? How much should be described in order to understand the scene, but not to overwhelm the audience?

A documentary may need little additional description thanks to the continuous commentary. Action scenes are a different breed: How well could you follow the scene from the sounds of explosions alone?

The answer will always depend on the nature of the original content you are working with. But the one aspect that will not change is your goal: You want people to independently understand and enjoy the content.

Q&A with Elisa Beniero, Senior Manager of Strategy & Innovation at Netflix

What is the product roadmap for accessibility features at Netflix?

Beniero: We are continuously expanding our catalog of titles with Audio Description (AD) and Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH) across more languages and more titles. Today, all Netflix original films and series support AD and SDH for the language in which they were originally produced, and we continue to make these features available across more of our catalog and in more languages

Do you have further statistics on the use of Audio Descriptions or captions?

Beniero: Nearly one-third of all Netflix users use accessibility tools and features, underscoring how central accessibility is to the Netflix experience. In 2025 alone, we added more than 13,000 hours of Audio Description across 34 languages, adding over 30% more hours than we did in 2024.

Titles like Squid Game and Adolescence are among the most watched with subtitles, while Wednesday and When Life Gives You Tangerines rank among the most watched for users using dubbing or audio descriptions.

What is the quality assurance process like for AD?

Beniero: Netflix works with a network of experienced partners to produce and quality control AD across our catalog. Our process includes review stages to ensure accuracy, quality, and consistency before content is made available to users.

We recently launched an authoring tool for AD workflows, Originator Studio, which was designed with full screen reader compatibility as a core principle, ensuring that blind and low vision professionals can fully participate in AD workflows. Additionally, we encourage all our specialized AD partners to include blind and low vision talent in their workflows.

What is the average time span until ADs are available to users?

Beniero: Netflix has an established process for ensuring all of our original films and series support AD for the language in which they were originally produced. For our original catalog, on average, nearly all of the AD and SDH we produce is available at launch, meaning users can access these features from the moment a title goes live on the platform.

We are continuously working to expand AD availability across more languages and more titles. Availability may vary depending on the title and the region in which it is available.

As a global service with users in more than 190 countries, we know language and format are instrumental in how people connect with stories. A decade ago, non-English language series and films represented less than a tenth of total viewing on Netflix. Today, it’s more than a third. In 2025, 70% of viewing on Netflix came from users watching a title from a country other than their own.

What accessibility features do you use?

For me, it’s become a habit to switch on the captions. Even if I understand the language, some accents still give me trouble, especially if combined with background noises or in hushed conversations (which are all too often very relevant to the plot!). Captions just make it a more relaxed experience, without having to rewind because I couldn’t catch a word.

What do you need to enjoy Netflix & Chill? Is that covered with the accessibility features we talked about here? Which features do you actively use, and are there any you would like to see as part of the future of streaming?

Share your own feedback to improve accessibility on Netflix: How to share accessibility-related feedback

Resources

• Netflix Partner Help Center: What is the difference between subtitles, SDH and CC?

• Help Center: Share your feedback

• Disability Belongs: Netflix Disability Inclusion Report (2023)

• US Access Board ICT Baseline for Web: Synchronized Media

• Content Creation: Video and other Synchronized Media

The recording is also on YouTube.

Topic 13: Sensory Characteristics & Color Contrast

Back to the basics! Topic 13 covers Use of Color, Sensory Characteristics and Color Contrast.

13.A: Use of Color (WCAG 1.4.1)

Color cannot be the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, or distinguishing one element from another. In theory, it is oh so simple, but in practice, it is somehow still the most common WCAG failure (WebAIM Million report).

• Passing: An error message uses red text and an asterisk (*) or explicit text saying “Required.” A status column uses a red star icon and the text “Overdue.”

• Failing: A pie chart uses only different colors to distinguish slices (without patterns or labels on/in close proximity to the slices). Links that are only distinguished by color without an underline or indicator.

• Not Applicable: Decorative colors (in branding banners) or for color change of a visited link.

13.B.: Sensory Characteristics (WCAG 1.3.3)

Instructions must not rely solely on sensory characteristics like shape, size, visual location, orientation, or sound. Attention: This test ID references WCAG success criteria 1.3.3 which has changed from 2.0 to 2.2: WCAG 2.2 explicitly added “color” to the above list.

• If the instruction says, “Click the green button,” it fails. Easy fix: Add the button label (which we definitely have programmatically defined as we learned in topic 5) and change it to something like: “Click the green ‘Submit’ button”.

• If a system alerts you with a bell sound, there must be a visual alternative (like a popup modal dialog or icon).

• Failing Example: A timed test that says “Press space bar at the sound of the bell” with no visual countdown or indicator fails. This is not an audiologist appointment.

13.C.: Color Contrast (WCAG 1.4.3)

The Rule: Text and images of text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 or 3:1 for large text. My contrast checker of choice is the WebAIM Link Contrast Checker (it allows you to check 3 colors againt each other), but any contrast checker tool will do.

What counts as ‘large text’? Let’s look at the WCAG:

• Point to pixel converter

• Exemptions: Logos, disabled elements, and incidental text in images (e.g., a scoreboard in a stadium photo that isn’t the focus).

• Common Fail: Gray text on a light gray background, or any combination of white and yellow. Even a slight dip below 4.5:1 is a failure.

Topic 14: Data Tables, Cell Association, and Layouts

Here we are covering the different types of our tables and their assistive tech output, which should be clear. Heads up about these tables: All success criteria associated with topic 14 are based on WCAG 1.3.1 which didn’t change between 2.0 and 2.2. version.

14.A.: Data Tables (WCAG 1.3.1)

For tables which contain data points (or any type of data that will vary depending on one or two different factors which are displayed alongside it), we need to ensure that they are programmatically identified as data tables so assistive tech can navigate them.

For the Trusted Tester, testing this is rather simple: Use the ANDI tables module. For ANDI to detect a table, at least one must use <table>, role="table", or role="grid". If the tables module does not show up in the list, it means that no programmatically defined table is present on the page.

If the table has role="presentation", it fails 14.A. (Spoiler alert: If it’s a Layout Table, you will see in 14.C. that 14.A. does not apply and a role="presentation" is exactly what we want.)

14.B.: Cell Association (WCAG 1.3.1)

Building on 14.A. Data Table, this is the next step for such tables: Every data cell must be programmatically associated with its row and/or column headers, so that the content within the cell is accompanied by the relevant labels.

Testing 14.B.: Navigate the table in ANDI. Hover over a data cell (e.g., “2:00 PM”) and check the output.

• Pass: Output reads “State and Market Square, 2:00 PM” (Header + Data).

• Fail: Output reads only “2:00 PM” without the route name (Where are we going? On an adventure, apparently.)

14.C.: Layout Tables (WCAG 1.3.1)

Coming back to our spoiler from 14.A.: Tables used purely as an aesthetic choice, meaning as a visual layout only, must make sure that they are not misinterpreted as data tables. Basically, the opposite of 14.A. Data Table.

How to pass 14.C. Layout Tables:

• Option 1: ANDI does not detect a table (no <table> tag). For layout tables, this is perfectly fine!

• Option 2: The table has role="presentation". This tells assistive tech to ignore the table structure.

Study Group Resources

• ANDI Accessibility Testing Tool (bookmarklet)

• WebAIM Link Contrast Checker

• WebAIM Contrast Checker Bookmarklet

• Point to pixel converter

• Recordings of previous sessions

• Slides and Transcripts

• Summary posts

• GitHub repository

Read about the previous study group session below, and join the next session through GDG Vienna.

If you know of other events in the online or offline accessibility and disability inclusion space, please email them to a11ynews@substack.com or submit via form to be included.

Online Events

AccessibleEU Germany: Accessible public spaces – accessible and tangible for all

Every Wednesday in June 02:00-03:00 PM (CEST)

How can we design public spaces and environments so that they are equally discoverable, accessible, and pleasant to use for everyone? Older adults and people with disabilities are, of course, an integral part of our public life—they move about in cities, communities and facilities, just like everyone else. At the same time, there are tourists and people from other countries and regions who must find their way in an environment that is unfamiliar to them.

Closing the Accessibility Resolution Gap: How to Clear and Prevent the Backlog

Thursday, 4th of June, 1:00 PM (ET)

Accessibility shouldn’t be a fire drill. But when teams only fix issues after experiences are built, backlogs grow and last-minute rework derails launches. We call this problem the “resolution gap”—and thankfully, it’s reversable.

Funka Foundation: ACT rules – update on automatic and manual testing

Friday, 5th of June, 1:30 PM (CEST)

In this webinar, we take a look at what is new in the Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) rules and discuss their limitations. Harmonising test procedures are important but need to align with legal requirements.

Speakers:

• Malin Hammarberg, Accessibility Specialist and Senior UX Designer

• Susanna Laurin, Managing Director and Chair, Funka Foundation

Just Transition in Action: Advancing Social Inclusion and Sustainability Reporting with a focus on persons with disabilities

Tuesday, 9th of June, 09:30 AM (CEST)

The corporate sustainability agenda is at a crucial turning point, driven by strong momentum from investors and regulators, as well as international agreements on key issues such as biodiversity and human rights. While the need for climate action is evident, leading companies now understand that achieving a green transition must also involve ensuring a just and equitable transition that leaves no one behind.

Disabled Leaders Network: Getting into Public Appointments

Thursday, 11th of June, 12:00 PM (GMT)

The Disabled Leaders Network is partnering with the UK Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to bring you this free webinar on Public Appointments (board member roles within public bodies). We will learn what Public Appointments are and the types of roles available; DCMS has around 400 Public Appointment roles across 42 UK Public Bodies including Historic England, the Charity Commission, the National Gallery, UK Sport, and the National Lottery Community Fund.

Join us to learn about the roles available and how you can get involved. We will particularly learn about applying for these roles with a disability and hear from a current public appointee offering their experience and insight. There will also be a Q&A giving you the chance to ask questions directly.

Live captioning and British Sign Language Interpretation will be provided whilst you can let us know of any other access requirements via the registration form or by emailing disabledleadersnetwork@ucl.ac.uk.

DHS Section 508 Trusted Tester Study Group

The series builds on our previous Accessibility Webinar Series. If you are new to accessibility auditing, review the recordings in advance or in between sessions, as we won’t go into details that have already been covered before.

Session 10: Synchronized Media
Friday, 12th of June, 4:00-5:30 PM (CEST)

Session 10 will exclusively talk about topic 17: Synchronized Media. This topic encompasses more Test IDs than most other topics in the programme, so it gets its own session. We will go in-depth into how to test for these topics, which WCAG 2.2 success criteria the test IDs are based on, and (interactive) examples for passing, failing and not applicable content.

Session 11: Resize Text, Multiple Ways, Parsing
Friday, 26th of June, 4:00-5:00 PM (CEST)

Session 11 covers 3 different, and way smaller topics, starting with topic 18: Resize Text, 19: Mulitpe Ways, and 20: Parsing. Each topic has only 1 test ID, so this session will likely finish in less than one hour.

Axess Lab: AI and Accessibility – What have we learned so far?

Friday, 12th of June 2026, 12:30-13:00 (CEST)

Join our upcoming webinar to explore the rapidly evolving intersection of AI and accessibility, from its use as an assistive technology to supporting plain language. We will share our latest findings to help you navigate the real benefits, hidden risks, and common pitfalls of relying on AI for digital inclusion.

AccessibleEU Belgium: Webinar on Diversity & Inclusion for Tourism SMEs across Europe

Tuesday, 23rd of June, 12:30 - 01:45 PM (CEST)

Within the framework of the INSPIRES project, and in collaboration with AccessibleEU and ENAT, we are pleased to invite you to the Tourism Lab on Diversity & Inclusion. This webinar aims to strengthen the capacity of tourism businesses across Europe by integrating inclusive and accessible practices, in line with the Transition Pathway for Tourism. It brings together practical insights, tools and exchange to help you move forward.

deque: What’s new in Axe DevTools

Tuesday, June 23, 15:30 (GMT), 8:30 am (PDT), 11:30 am (EDT)

Developers need to move faster than ever: writing code with AI, shipping features more frequently, and maintaining high-quality standards. Accessibility can't be left behind.

Hassell Inclusion: Six blockers that undermine your accessibility programme, and how ISO 30071‑1 can clear them

Thursday, 25th June 4:00 PM (BST)

Many organisations face the same recurring obstacles that stall accessibility progress, from fragmented leadership buy‑in to capability gaps and unclear processes. In this webinar, we’ll show how the ISO 30071‑1-1 Standard gives you a practical, structured way to diagnose issues, prioritise action and embed accessibility effectively across your organisation. You’ll learn how ISO 30071‑1 takes a complementary angle to WCAG to help you shift from reactive fixes to a confident, measurable, organisation‑wide approach.

Axe-Con Mini: The EAA anniversary

Tuesday, 30th of June, 9:00—10:30 am (EDT), 15:00—16:30 (CEST)

The EAA is gaining momentum. One year in, European monitoring bodies are scaling their audits and following up on consumer complaints, working groups are aligning, and legal proceedings are well underway.

COSP19 Side Events

The nineteenth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP19) will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 9 to 11 June 2026. This year, the session comes at a significant moment as the global community marks the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Shaping the Future of Disability Inclusion: From CRPD at 20 to the Global Disability Summit 2028

Tuesday, 9th of June, 15:00 - 16:15 (EST)

This side event will bring together governments, organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), UN agencies and partners to explore emerging priorities for the Global Disability Summit.

From Youth Representation to Meaningful Participation in Political and Public Life

Wednesday, 10th of June, 8:30-9:45 (EST)

Twenty years after the CRPD, youth with disabilities are more visible in public life, but remain underrepresented where decisions are made. This side event will explore how to move beyond participation towards genuine leadership, representation, and influence, ensuring young persons with disabilities help shape the policies and institutions that affect their lives.

The event will have International Sign Interpretation, CART and language interpretation in French and Spanish.

ILO Global Business and Disability Network

Thursday, 11th of June, 10:00- 11:15 AM EST / 4:00- 5:15 PM CEST

At Twenty years of CRPD: Leadership by business and allies on Article 27 ‘work and employment’ - the ILO Global Business and Disability Network side event at the 19th Conference of States Parties (COSP19) to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) - you will hear the latest regarding practices and initiatives by businesses and their allies on the promotion of employment of persons with disabilities.

From Commitments to Implementation: Aligning G20 Priorities with the CRPD and SDGs through Global Disability 20 (D‑20) Engagement

Thursday, 11th of June, 4:45 PM (EST)

This dialogue will explore how disability-led leadership can help translate commitments under the CRPD and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into measurable action through economic participation, inclusive innovation, disaster resilience, accessibility, employment, and international cooperation.

The session will highlight lessons from Brazil’s 2024 D-20, South Africa’s 2025 D-20, and priorities for the United States’ 2026 host year as disability leaders work together to build a lasting global platform for collaboration and influence.

Hybrid Events

A11yNYC: Scaling Accessibility with Design Systems

Tuesday, 2nd of June, 7:30 - 9:00 PM (EDT)
72 Spring St · New York, NY

Twenty million New Yorkers. Forty-five agencies. Tens of thousands of web pages, forms, and applications. What does it take to scale accessibility across an entire state?

This event will be online on YouTube and in-person (New York City). The speaker and live stream starts at 7:30 pm ET. In-person attendees may arrive as early as 7 pm ET.

AccessibleEU European Event: Advancing Accessibility in Transport

Tuesday, 9th of June, 09:30 AM –04:30 PM (IST)
Aviva Stadium, Dublin

As mobility systems evolve through digitalisation, multimodal integration and new mobility services, accessibility has become a fundamental requirement for equitable, inclusive and sustainable mobility aligned with EU legislation and policy framework

AccessibleEU European Event: Accessibility’s Achievements and Challenges in Contemporary Architecture and Urban Planning

Monday, 29th of June, 02:00 - 04:00 PM (CEST )
Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB)

This event aims to foster collaboration among architects, public authorities, universities, experts and organisations of persons with disabilities, creating a milestone within the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 Barcelona programme.

In-Person Events

DevFest Vicenza: How blind people navigate the world—on and offline

Saturday, 6th of June, all day
VIEST Hotel, Vicenza

The WCAG are our non-tactile guiding lines for web accessibility, but many of us working in web accessibility have never experienced the real world through low-vision eyes. This talk is a collaboration between UX for hardware and front-end development to give you the best of both worlds: on and offline.

Together we will explore how a white cane can take you from point A to B and how a screen reader works through your main user flow. At the core of this talk will be the fact that blindness is a spectrum and therefore, no one-size-fits-all solution exists. However, if you understand how blind users interact with your website, it's going to be easier to make decisions on what will be useful to users in a particular flow, design in a usable way, and choose the right tags in your code.

Note for participants: if you'd like to test the screen reader yourself, please bring your laptop (with NVDA installed if you are not using a Mac) and a pair of headphones.

AccessibleEU Italy - Inclusive and Smart Tourism Destinations: Strategies for Innovation

Thursday, 18th of June, 09:30 AM - 07:00 PM
Aquarium of Genoa

Through panel discussions, workshops, and networking sessions, participants will explore how accessibility can enhance the quality and competitiveness of tourism services while ensuring equal opportunities for everyone. The event will also highlight successful case studies and encourage collaboration between public and private sectors to foster long-term, sustainable change.

BarCamp Digitale Barrierefreiheit in Tübingen

Friday, 26th of June 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Westspitze Tübingen

Nach dem erfolgreichen Barcamp Digitale Barrierefreiheit 2025 am Bodensee geht es in die nächste Runde: Dieses Jahr kommen wir in Tübingen zusammen! Das Barcamp bringt Menschen mit Behinderung, Unternehmen, Selbständige und Lösungsanbieter aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz an einen Tisch. Gemeinsam lernen wir voneinander, teilen Praxiswissen und gestalten die süddeutsche Region barrierefrei – offen, partizipativ und auf Augenhöhe.

Nominate for the Zero Project Awards 2027

Every year, the Zero Project Network reaches out to organizations worldwide, inviting them to nominate their innovative solutions for the Zero Project Awards regardless of sector, organization size, or country.

The shared mission is to advance the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Call for Nominations 2027 (#ZeroCall27) focuses on the topics of Independent Living, Political Participation, and Assistive Technology.

#ZeroCall27 is now open. Submit your nominations by June 21, 2026 [23:59 CEST] at the latest.

IAAP DACH Knowledge Badge for accessible teaching practices

multiple exam dates in June/July 2026

IAAP DACH is offering the Knowledge Badge exam “Barrierefrei lehren” (KB-BFL) once again. The accompanying study course is now available in both German and English:

Free Public Courses

I am happy to report that I will be hosting 3 exam dates in Vienna. Last year, I took the exam in Linz and was shocked that the one and only option to take this (at the time also free) exam in Austria, had such low turnout. After passing, I wanted to offer it in Vienna as well, hoping for better turnout here.

Regardless of the exam, the study course is a great way to deepen your knowledge on accessibility. It covers a bit of legal, a bit of disability variety, and a lot of document tooling which is often skimmed over.

I highly recommend you check it out!

As a UX researcher for assistive tech, one of my biggest professional fears is accidentally creating a disability dongle. I have seen a good amount of them across expos, conferences and fairs, so in this newsletter I set out to answer the question: Where does it go wrong?

If you would like to contribute to the Austrian GAAD initiative through an article, video, infographic, case study, or sponsoring, you can reach them at hello@gaad.at

Inclusive UX Research: Understanding Users & Avoiding Disability Dongles

User research is all about finding the right problem to solve. But in regard to accessibility (and accessibility testing with users), there usually exists this double standard that the problem we are looking for is already defined in advance. Barriers.

What kind of barriers? All of them. All barriers which stop you from using a specific product.

Okay, so far so good, but if we think about it: After removing access barrieres, we have only reached the state of an MVP (minimal viable product). At this point, users can just use the product - as we intended it. That’s supposed to be the starting point for usability tests.

When it comes to accessibility, testing is often concluded with: "It works! It's accessible!" Would be cool if it were actually that simple and straightforward!

Disability Dongles: When well-intended is not good enough.

'Disability Dongle' describes a product developed for people with disabilities, but does not take their life realities into account. The term was introduced in 2019 by Liz Jackson:

The definition satirizes an outcome in which designs or technologies “for” disabled people garner mainstream attention and accolades despite valid concerns disabled people have about them.

It is a solution to a problem that is not really a problem. A manifestation of "well-intentioned". Examples often include variations of exoskeletons, wheelchairs with stair-climbing function, or AR glasses with automatic subtitles, facial recognition, or recognition of facial expressions.

An example in web design could be overlays1, which are still used even though it has already been scientifically proven that they do not sustainably improve accessibility and user experience2. "Accessible versions" of websites and apps, which are often advertised as "optimized for screen readers”, also fall under this category.

Liz Jackson criticized in particular that people with disabilities are not or only very limitedly integrated into the design process. It is designed for them, not with them.

Another aspect of the issue is that it is often about adapting people with disabilities to societal standards, not the other way around. Instead of addressing barriers that prevent participation in social life, non-disabled product developers zero in on what amounts to more or less cosmetic problems and get hyper-focused on them.

Social Model of Disability: Barriers in Society, Not in the Body

To understand Disability Dongles, it helps to look at the social model of disability:

[In the Social Model] the impairment is not at the center, but the societal conditions and physical barriers that make inclusion difficult or prevent it.3

This thought is often the starting point, the dissonance arises through the different interpretations of "societal conditions and physical barriers." Non-disabled product developers define barriers as something that their perception shows them as external impairments. This leads to misjudgements regarding what disabled demographics want or need, such as the exoskeleton to be able to walk upright, which was mentioned above.

An upright gait is not a determinant for social participation, and a Gundam Mecha suit definitely stands out no less than a wheelchair.

Empathy Is Not Enough: Lived Experience Overcomes Bias

Empathy is the starting point, but it is not a substitute for expertise. Someone who has lived with a disability for a long time (possibly their entire life) will assess what constitutes “a barrier” differently than someone without personal experience. Even with the best intentions, ideas are influenced by bias.

We all carry unconscious prejudices or stereotypical ideas in our heads. In user research, it is important to become aware of them so that we do not let them influence our research. It is never pleasant to admit that you have stereotyped another person in your head. But this confrontation is necessary to leave stigmatization out of the design process.

We are all shaped by our social environment and values. But it is often forgotten that our test users are just as much shaped by them.

Language and Power Dynamics: Who Speaks With Whom?

Many IT professionals worry about how to speak correctly with people with disabilities and about disabilities. Here we already encounter the first problem:

the "Othering" or making different of people with disabilities. The concept comes from philosophy and describes that we partly define our identity through distinction from others (or other groups). The self defines itself through what we are not:

In philosophy, the Other is a fundamental concept referring to anyone or anything perceived as distinct or different from oneself. This distinction is crucial for understanding how individuals construct their own identities, as the encounter with "otherness" helps define the boundaries of the self.4

This applies to all people and is easily forgotten in user research with individuals from marginalized groups. How people talk about their experiences depends on whom they are speaking with. In a time-limited meeting, we have very limited influence on the psychological safety of the situation. What our participants feel comfortable telling us about their disability (or disabilities) depends heavily on their identification with and confidence in regard to the topic.

More Than a Diagnosis: Intersectionality in Design

Disabilities are not homogeneous. They also do not exist independently of other realities of life, since our life experiences influence each other.

Many disabilities are associated with aging and thus often form an additional dimension of identity: Some people reject the label "disabled" because it is not compatible with their self-perception. This rejection can stem from socialization and the values and stereotypes with which one lived before acquiring a disability. Part of this is internalized ableism:

Ableism refers to the unequal treatment of people based on abilities. Depending on what someone looks like and what gender the person has, where they come from, whether they are poor or wealthy, disabled or non-disabled, someone is considered able or unable (in a certain situation or generally).5

A Disability Dongle is — at its core — a product that cements ableism by demanding that people with disabilities adapt to non-disabled norms instead of designing the environment or circumstances in an accessible and inclusive manner.

Conclusion: From Validation to Co-Creation

Ableism is often invisible because it hides in seemingly “well-intentioned” solutions. If we assume in the design process that we already know what a barrier is, we reproduce exactly this unequal treatment. We prioritize our own perception over the lived reality of our users.

Proper user research can prevent ableism in design. It forces us to question our prejudices, recognize power structures, and practice co-creation instead of mere validation.

From Disability Dongle to Disability Design

For accessibility not to end with an MVP stage, we need to change our approach to accessibility testing & user testing (and stop separating them):

• Learn about disabilities: Even within the same diagnosis, disabilities are nuanced. Before talking with test users, study up on about how disabilities actually affect life. You can start on Wikipedia to research common causes and diagnosis, then move on to lived experience reports and educational content by creators with disabilities.

• Think about intersectionality: Do not only ask a homogeneous target group, but actively look for different and potentially contradictory voices. Intersectionality is what makes a design robust for various life situations.

• Design with, not for: The design process should be led by the opinions and assessments of persons with disabilities. User tests should not only serve as confirmation. The slogan “Nothing about us without us” is heard in every discussion about inclusive design, so why is it still not everyday practice?

• Avoid tokenism: One test user is not enough. Look for representative patterns, not confirmation.

• Learn from communities: What topics are relevant to the communities? How are they discussed and is there a consensus?

• Be critical of your design: Could it contribute to stigmatization instead of reducing it? Would this feature strengthen or restrict the autonomy of users?

• Show respect: Learn the basics about disability etiquette. Do not push people to show vulnerability in order to learn from it.

On Global Accessibility Awareness Day and beyond: Inclusion is not a technical feature to be added afterwards. It is an attitude that we must integrate into every step of our design process.

Watch your Language!

Topic Eleven covers the “Language of Page” and “Language of Parts.”

11.A Language of Page (WCAG 3.1.1)

The default human language of a webpage must be programmatically determined, typically through the lang attribute on the HTML element. It looks like this: lang=”en-US”

For the Trusted Tester, we use ANDI structures to verify if the correct language subtag, is defined according to the IANA registry. Sometimes fails happen simply by mixing up the language shorthand, like “sp” instead of “es” for Spanish. Always check if the lang attribute matches the output language.

11.B Language of Parts (WCAG 3.1.2)

While Language of Page applies to the entire document, Language of Parts requires that any specific phrases or passages differing from the primary language is marked with the correct language attribute. Here is an example from Mozilla mdn^:

<p>This paragraph is English, but the language is not specifically defined.</p>

<p lang=”fr”>Ce paragraphe est défini en français.</p>

Does every single word need a language definition? No! Exceptions exist for proper names, technical terms, and words that have become part of the vernacular of the primary document language.

Give it a Title: pages, frames and iframes

Say my name, say my name, or at least give your frames and pages names. The title attribute and tag have to be defined in the code.

12.A Page Title Defined (WCAG 2.4.2)

Every web page must have a non-empty title element. Easy as that. For the Trusted Tester process, we don’t need to inspect the code, ANDI already alerts us if the page has no title or multiple title tags.

But it’s still good to know where to look. You usullay find the HTML document title element in the header element, and it looks like this:

<title>This is your webpage title</title>

12.B Page Title Purpose (also WCAG 2.4.2)

Beyond mere existence, the “Page Title Purpose” criterion requires that the title accurately describe the content or purpose of the page and distinguish it from other pages within the same site. This is particularly important for dynamic web applications, such as email clients, where the title should remain stable even as new content arrives.

12.C Frame Title & 12.D iFrame Name (both WCAG 4.1.2)

Any frames or iframes used on a page need descriptive title attributes that explain their content. In contrast to 12.A and 12.B that look at the <title> tag, 12.C and 12.D are concerned with the title attribute. The difference is that the tag can stand alone, while the attribute is nestled inside other tags (in this case, inside the <frame> and <iframe> tags.

<iframe
  title="Wikipedia page for the HTML language"
  src="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML"></iframe>

An <iframe> outside the tab order or those that are not visible are marked “not tested” but any interactive or visible embedded content must be properly labeled.

Even if using <frame> is not encouraged, if you spot one in the wild, the title attribute looks the same as in an iFrame. Sidenode: A frame should be used within a <frameset>.

Study Group Resources

• For checking language attributes: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Language Subtags, Tag Extensions, and Tags

• ANDI Accessibility Testing Tool (bookmarklet)

• Recordings of previous sessions

• Slides and Transcripts

• Summary posts

• GitHub repository

• Next sessions: GDG Vienna

As the ESC is produced by each country’s public broadcaster, they are already obligated to offer an accessible listening/viewing experience. This includes not only captions, but also international (or local) sign language translations, and audio descriptions.

A milestone in designing an accessible Song Contest was already achieved in Vienna 2015. At that time, participating acts were broadcast with music signing in International Sign Language for the first time. What was a premiere back then has since become standard. In 2026, ORF will again produce all songs with music signing and offer them to all participating broadcasters for transmission.

Eurovision.tv

But sign translations do not describe them accurately. Instead of word-for-word interpretation, sign performances convey the energy and feelings in the song, matched to the beat. After all, there’s an immense difference between “yeah yeah fire” and a stage performance of Eleni Foureira’s Fuego.

Live interpretation from spoken to sign doesn’t always match the grammar used in sign language. For example, think of the difference between American Sign Language (ASL) and Signed Exact English (SEE).

In court interpreting, at official institutions, or in healthcare settings, exact interpreting is crucial. But music is about artistry.

Sign Performers at Vienna 2026

In January, ORF announced the casting call for sign performers. The call was open to members of the Deaf community (including people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or wearing a cochlear implant), who are experienced with artistic expression.

The jury included representatives from local D/deaf community: Ilona Seifert (WITAF), Sabine Klein (equalizent) and Helene Jarmer (ÖGLB). As well as Judith Weissenböck from the ORF’s regional studio for Vienna and Sabine Weber from the ORF television editorial department.

Eurovision’s 2026 sign performers are:

• Alice Hu Xiaoshu (Shanghai/China), who already performed at the 2015 ESC in Vienna

• Amanda Jovanovic (Vienna/Austria)

• Anja Burghardt (Linz/Austria)

• Carina Kilinc (Vienna/Austria)

• David Obermaier aka silentbeat (Graz/Austria)

• Julia Kulda Hroch (Berlin/Germany)

Together with performance coaches Magdalena Schramek and Delil Yilmaz, who led the casting, they created and recorded the visual interpretations of the contestant songs.

The finished song performances will be broadcasted in the Eurovision Song Contest live shows on ORF ON and ORF 2, the public viewing at the ESC village, and on the official Eurovision YouTube channel. Last year, the videos with sign performances were unlisted and only discoverable through a playlist, so you may have to look through the playlist collection to find them.

ESC Sign Project in 2015

In the video, Alice Hu Xiaoshu and Delil Yilmaz explain how they created fitting sign performances for ESC Vienna 2015:

First, they started by analyzing the lyrics and the themes of the songs. The interpreters recorded demo versions of the songs for the performers. Then the sign performers brought them to life with their personal, artistic style in international sign.

As I said before, sign performances aren’t one-to-one translations of the lyrics, as it is usually the case for interpretation in parliament, court or appointments, where accuracy is key. Delil Yilmaz emphasises that while the accuracy of the information relayed is the responsibility of every interpreter, this key point plays a lesser role in music because it is an art form. For instrumental breaks, there is no direct translation.

Instead, the team turned sounds into stories. For example, for love songs, to set the mood, they would introduce a person waiting for their significant other, and as they appear, the lyrics take over.

For the rhythm, they used subwoofers (strong bass or sub-bass loudspeakers designed to amplify low-pitched frequencies, not to be confused with Subwoolfer, the Norwegian 2022 ESC act). High-energy songs were embodied with more energetic movements in the upper body.

My favorite ESC 2025 Sign Performance Acts

After rewatching all ESC 2025 acts with the sign language performances, I wanted to share my favorite ones. Sadly, I was not able to find the names of all 2025 sign performers. Please let me know if you know their names, I would like to credit them as well.

The Lighter Dance Break

Lighter was one of my favorite entries from last year, and I love how they re-interpreted the dance break to fit the song’s theme of resilience and finding one’s inner strength.

Cyprus’ High Energy

I’m sorry, I did not care about Cyprus during the contest, but I am now a fan of their sign performer! The face card really said: No limit on facial expressions!

The Dedicated Drink Guy

My favorite one, and a great summary of Eurovision, has to be Australia’s entry: Milkshake Man. Not only because it’s still hilarious that Australians were such dedicated fans that they became part of the competition, but because they always show up and show out! With catchy, fun songs, glitter, and a stage performance for the books, Australia never disappoints in ESC, and neither did their ISL interpreter.

Espresso Macchiato and Milkshake Man were signed by the same person, and wow, now I hope there will be more beverage-themed songs this year.

Serving (Kant)

Following complaints about profanity, the lyrics ended up being censored in the live show. But with the sign performance, Barbara Rossier was still serving Kant.

More on ESC Sign Performances & Accessibility & Disabled Volunteer Experiences

• Official Playlist: Eurovision 2025 with International Sign

• ORF enhances accessibility for Eurovision 2026 with sign language performances

• Music performance in sign language: ORF launched casting for sign performers at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest

• Eurovision 2025: fully accessible on RSI, RTS and SRF

• 70. Eurovision Song Contest barrierefrei: ORF startet Casting für Sign-Performer:innen

• Eurovision Song Contest: Musikerlebnis in Gebärdensprache

• Den Song Contest für alle erlebbar machen: Worauf es bei Liedern in Gebärdensprache ankommt

• Rollstuhlfahrerin berichtet erneut von ihren Erfahrungen als Freiwillige beim ESC

• Volunteer Experience 2026: Das Kick-off-Event beim ESC

Here is a summary of the key takeaways from Session 6: Repetitive Content & Content Structure

Topic 9: Repetitive Content

‘Repetitive Content’ means parts which are the same across multiple pages of a website. We want to ensure that users can bypass repeated blocks and navigate consistently across the same website.

9.A. Bypass Function (WCAG 2.4.1)

The goal is to allow users to jump straight to the main content, without having to plow through the same thing over and over. Instead, what we want is a keyboard-accessible mechanism that allows us to skip over blocks of content repeated on multiple pages, e.g. navigation, footer, or sidebar. “Skip to Main Content” links are the most well-known mechanisms for this, but other bypass methods like hotkeys or scripted elements also exist.

This test does not apply to single-page sites (like a standalone survey) or sites where repeated content is limited to small sections, e.g. single words or individual links.

9.B. Consistent Navigation (WCAG 3.2.3)

Consistency is key, not only in skincare. If a user learns the layout of one page, they should be able to expect the same layout on the next.

Navigational mechanisms repeated across pages must occur in the same relative order. The exact text of the links can change (e.g., “Next Page” vs. “Continue”), but the order of the navigation elements relative to each other must remain constant.

How to test: Compare the Reading Order and Tab Order across pages using ANDI to ensure the sequence of elements (e.g., Logo -> Search -> Menu -> Footer) to check if they remain consistent.

9.C. Consistent Identification (WCAG 3.2.4)

This criterion ensures that components performing the same function are identified consistently across the site. Users rely on consistent naming to build mental models of the site. If a search icon is labeled “Search” on the homepage but “Find” or “Locate” on internal pages, it fails.

Function Over Form: An “X” icon might mean “Delete” on one page and “Deny” on another. This is acceptable only if the accessible name (text alternative) reflects the specific function (e.g., “Delete Document” vs. “Deny Request”).

Topic 10: Content Structure

The second half of the session shifted to how content is organized. Assistive technologies rely on code to understand the page hierarchy, not just visual styling.

10.A. Heading Purpose (WCAG 2.4.6)

Headings must describe the topic or purpose of the content that follows them. This requires a manual inspection - or rather: simply using your brain - to compare the heading text against the content following it.

Our fail example was a shoe store page with a heading “Flat Shoes” but then followed by text describing stilettos and pumps, the complete opposite of what the heading references. The heading must accurately reflect the content. This test does not apply if a page has no visual headings, e.g., a simple news article with only body text.

10.B. Determinable Heading (WCAG 1.3.1)

This is a “two-way street” test:

1. Every visual heading must be programmatically defined as a heading (<h1>–<h6>).

2. Every programmatically defined heading must also be a visual heading.

It still happens far too often that people style text to look like a heading without using the proper HTML heading tags, or the opposite: use heading tags for emphasis.

10.C. Heading Level (also WCAG 1.3.1)

The hierarchy of headings must logically match the visual presentation. If a section is visually the most important, it should have the highest priority level (e.g., <h1>).

Be aware that testing and development differ here: While best practice suggests sequential levels h1 -> h2 -> h3 (with the h1 ideally also matching the URL slug), the Trusted Tester process actually allows skipping levels, if the visual structure supports it. However, the programmatic level must still make sense in context. If there is a conflict between HTML and ARIA-labels, ARIA takes precedence.

Even if it doesn’t impact Trusted Tester conformance, I would still suggest making a note of skipped heading levels in your test report.

10.D. Lists (again WCAG 1.3.1)

Another test criterion of the “if it looks like a thing, it should also be that thing” type: Visually apparent lists must be coded as lists (<ul>, <ol>, or <dl>). A numbered list created using CSS counters or just typing “1.”, “2.”, “3.” is not apparent to assistive technology. Proper list tags are:

• <ul> Unordered Lists: These are typically bullet point lists (like this one!), where the order of the list items doesn’t matter.

• <ol> Ordered Lists: Typically rendered as a numbered list, but you also probably have seen them starting with a) or i) before.

• <dl> Description Lists: Less often seen than the two above, these lists enclose a list of groups of terms and descriptions. Think of a glossary listing multiple terms and their definitions.

Notable exception: Navigational menus that happen to be coded as lists but are part of the navigation framework (not main content) are excluded from this specific test.

Halfway through the Study Group

The study group is now halfway through the curriculum! The next session will tackle Language, Page Titles, Frames, and iFrames.

As always, recordings and transcripts will be available on YouTube and Google Drive shortly after the session. Whether you are preparing for the Trusted Tester certification or simply want to improve your web development skills, the study group is open to anyone who wants to learn.

Materials

• Join the next session: GDG Vienna

• Study Group recordings playlist on YouTube

• Session slides and transcripts on Google Drive

• GitHub repository

• Short summaries on A11y News

• Previous GDG Vienna Accessibility Webinar Series

• WebAIM Million Report

• DHS Section 508 Coordinators: Quick Reference with Test Conditions

The tool that resulted from DevFest Ireland eventually became a SaaS: VolenScribe, tailored to the needs of IT conferences.

As an organizer for my local GDG and WTM events, I know what a challenge it is to provide access on a budget. This is why I reached out to feature this as a guest article: I applaud GDG Portlaoise’s can-do attitude, because I think developer groups thrive from the following mindset, “if you are interested in technology, you are welcome to join”.

VolenScribe offers community rates for verified non-profits, community groups, and educational institutions. Additionally, Jordan was so kind to set up the discount code A11YNEWS for 30% off all standard pricing.

I tried to make DevFest Ireland accessible and ended up building a SaaS

A few months into organising DevFest Ireland 2025, I received messages from a couple of deaf developers asking if they could attend. Not in a vague “looks interesting” kind of way. They wanted to come. They wanted to sit in the talks, meet people, be part of it properly. And the question they asked was completely fair: would there be an Irish Sign Language interpreter?

I didn’t have a solid answer for them at the time. I thought it would be one of those things that would take a bit of organising, a few emails, some budget approval, and then get sorted. That was my naive version of it anyway.

It turned out not to be like that at all.

ISL Interpreter Shortage

Once I started looking properly, I ran into the shortage almost immediately. There simply are not enough ISL interpreters available, especially for full-day events. Availability is tight, booking needs to happen early, and the logistics are harder than most people realise from the outside. For a conference, you are not just solving for one slot in a timetable. You are trying to cover a long day, with the practical reality that this kind of work cannot just be dumped onto one person and expected to somehow stretch across everything.

That was the point where it stopped feeling like a normal organiser task and started feeling like a structural problem.

The hardest part was that I now had real people waiting on an answer. I could not hide behind “we’re looking into it” in my own head, because that still leaves someone wondering whether they can actually come.

It wasn’t only about interpretation

The more I sat with it, the more obvious it became that this was bigger than one accessibility request.

Yes, ISL interpretation mattered. A lot. But so did transcription. And not only for deaf attendees. There are hard-of-hearing attendees who do not use sign language. There are people who find spoken content much easier to process when they can read along. There are neurodivergent attendees who benefit from seeing the words as well as hearing them. There are remote viewers. There are people trying to follow a technical talk delivered quickly by someone with a strong accent while half the room laughs at a reference they missed.

Once I started thinking about it that way, live transcription stopped feeling like a backup option. It felt central.

The options were not great

So, I started talking to captioning and transcription providers.

The split was basically what you would expect, but more frustrating when you are the one making the call. Human captioning looked strong. High accuracy, experienced operators, something you could trust. But it came in at the kind of price that forces a community event to think very carefully about whether it can carry it.

AI captioning was somewhat easier to justify on cost - although it still ran into 4 figures(!) and the quoted level of accuracy just was not good enough for a technical conference. Not with fast speakers, different accents, library names, acronyms, product terms, and all the weird ways developers talk when they are explaining something they know too well.

That was the bit that kept bothering me. The choice seemed to be either spend a lot or accept something that would let people down. That is not much of a choice if the whole point is accessibility.

“I need this to exist for DevFest” - so I built it.

At some stage, after enough comparing and researching and getting annoyed by the gap, I stopped asking who I should buy from and started asking what I actually wanted the software to do.

I wanted live transcription that could keep up with technical talks. I wanted something accurate enough that a person could depend on it, instead of politely pretending it was helpful. I wanted it to be affordable enough that smaller events could realistically use it.

I was not thinking, “this should be a SaaS.” I was thinking, “I need this to exist for DevFest.”

So I built it.

It started the way a lot of things start: messy, practical, not especially glamorous. A lot of testing. A lot of fixing. A lot of checking the output and asking myself whether I would trust this if I were relying on it to follow a talk. That was the standard that mattered to me. Not whether it looked clever. But whether it actually helped.

From a solution for one event to VolenScribe

That tool eventually became VolenScribe.

VolenScribe is the SaaS that came out of all of this. It does live AI transcription for events, and it grew directly from trying to solve this problem in a way that did not feel half-baked.

The AI transcription model used by VolenScribe has an average word error rate of 3.9%. That matters to me more than any vague claim about being smart or scalable or next generation or whatever else people like to say. The actual question is simpler: if someone is reading these captions, can they follow what is being said without constantly correcting the machine in their head?

That is the bar.

What actually mattered here

The strange thing is that I never set out to build a company around this. It came from a very specific problem, at a very specific event, because a few people asked a very reasonable question, and I realised I did not have a good answer.

I think that is why this has stayed with me.

I do not think organisers should have to choose between something expensive and something unreliable. I do not think accessibility should become one of those things people care about right up until the invoice lands. And I definitely do not think the answer should be “well, this is the best we could do” when the result still leaves people out.

VolenScribe started because I could not find something I trusted enough to use. It just happened that solving that for DevFest Ireland 2025 turned into something other people needed too.

And really, it all goes back to those first messages. A few deaf developers reached out because they wanted to be there. Everything that came after, including the software, came from taking that seriously.

Questions for Jordan

Remembering my own dilemma of preparing the names of Pokémon and code elements with the conference transcribers from How to prepare your talk for live transcription and sign language interpretation, I wondered how an AI tool would handle that. Maybe not the Pokémons, but the technical terms and abbreviations you hear all around at a tech conference.

How does VolenScribe handle technical and development-specific terminology?

VolenScribe lets organisers split an event into individual sessions, each with its own title and description. When a session goes live, that text is fed into the AI model’s phrase-hint system, pre-loading technical terms, library names, and acronyms as expected vocabulary. When the broadcaster moves to the next session, the hint list rebuilds on the fly, so captions stay accurate end-to-end across the whole event.

What was the feedback from the Deaf attendees?

They found it great to be included, especially with the shortage of ISL interpreters, making it impossible for us to get one on the day, but they flagged that reading captions from 9-to-5 on their own device was exhausting.

That directly shaped what shipped next: second-screen and green-screen output, so captions can live on a dedicated display or as an OBS overlay instead of an attendee’s phone.

Captions will never replace sign language, but cutting the physical effort of consuming them was the most important takeaway from the day.

Jordan Harrison

Jordan Harrison is the founder of GDG Portlaoise and one of the organisers of DevFest Ireland. He approaches his craft as a software developer through a creative lens, constantly exploring new ways to push the boundaries of what’s possible with digital experiences. This also includes Tutors, an open-source web toolkit for creating learning experiences.

Reach out to Jordan via hello@jouwdan.com or follow his work on GitHub, LinkedIn or Unsplash

This article was originally published on Jordan's Dev.to

More on event accessibility

• Conference Accessibility by Zero Project

• The Disabled Leaders Network is working on an accessible event framework, which will be published soon.

Keep an eye out for DevFest Ireland 2026!

If you know of any other events in the online or offline accessibility and disability inclusion space, please email them to me by replying to this newsletter or add them as a comment.

Online Events

Section 508 Trusted Tester Study Group

With GDG Vienna, I host a 6-month study group for the DHS Trusted Tester certification. We meet every other Friday at 4 pm CEST to study the topics covered in the Trusted Tester course and check in on participants' progress. The upcoming sessions this month are:

• Session 7: Language + Page Titles, Frames, and iFrames
  Friday, May 1, 4 PM CEST

• Session 8: Sensory Characteristics and Contrast, Tables
  Friday, May 15, 4 PM CEST

• Session 9: CSS Positioning + Pre-Recorded Audio-Only, Video-Only, and Animations
  Friday, May 29, 4 PM CEST

Funka Foundation: Accessible name – make it or break it

Friday, May 8, 13.30-14.00 CEST

Every button, link, and image on your interface must have an accessible name. Get it right and assistive technology users can find it, understand it, and activate it. Get it wrong and you have locked them out completely.

WordPress Accessibility Meetup: Web Accessibility 101: Small Things That Make a Big Difference: Maria Maldonado

May 19, 2026 05:00 PM CEST

Making your website more accessible doesn’t have to mean a complete overhaul. In this introductory webinar presented by Maria Maldonado, Accessibility Specialist at Equalize Digital, you’ll learn how small, intentional changes can dramatically improve usability for people with disabilities—and create a better experience for all users.

Accessible does not equal Equitable: Real Human Experience vs Compliance

Thursday, 20 May | 10 AM AEST

In this webinar to celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we explore the uncomfortable truth that a product can be fully compliant and still fail the people it’s meant to support. Drawing on real user experiences, we’ll expose the hidden friction that standards don’t capture, from cognitive overload to interaction fatigue and loss of confidence.

GAAD Austria

Thursday May 21, all day

The purpose of Global Accessibility Awareness Day GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than One Billion people with disabilities.

The Call for Papers is still open at GAAD Austria, so submit your ideas for blog posts, infographics, case studies or video entries.

Live Theme Accessibility Testing Workshop

Thursday May 21, 10:00 AM – Noon U.S. Central (3:00-5:00 PM UTC)

Want to participate by testing free WordPress themes for accessibility and providing feedback to their developers, but not sure how? Join Amber Hinds for a live theme accessibility testing workshop on Zoom.

Funka Foundation: Attitude – approach - accessibility

Friday May 22, 13.30-14.00 PM (CEST)

One of the “new” requirements in the EAA is about support services. What does an accessible customer service look like and how do you succeed in organising, providing and maintaining it?

Speaker: Susanna Laurin, Managing Director and Chair, Funka Foundation

The Friday webinar series is free of charge, but you have to register in advance.

Hassell Inclusion: All the questions you wanted to ask during GAAD - but didn’t get the chance

Thursday 28th May 4pm UK-time

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on Thursday 21st May is always energising. But once the week is over, the momentum can fade. The questions people meant to ask never get asked. The practical “what do we actually do now?” conversations don’t happen.

So the week after GAAD Hassell Inclusion is hosting an open Q&A session with many seasoned accessibility experts, so you can ask the questions you need to make accessibility for 2026 not just for GAAD.

Hybrid Events

AccessibleEU Czechia - Agora 2026

Saturday 16 May 2026, 09:30 - Sunday 17 May 2026, 14:30 (CEST)

AccessibleEU co-organises Agora one more year, a conference on information and communication technologies for experts in the field and users with visual impairments, which has been organised by the Teiresias Centre of Masaryk University since 2015.

AccessibleEU Sweden - Visible and invisible disabilities - a networking event about meeting accessibility needs for all

Monday 18 May 2026, 09:30 - 16:30 (CEST)

The most well-known symbol for persons with disabilities shows a person in a wheelchair. The wheelchair is clearly visible. But most disabilities cannot be seen. This, however, does not mean that those who are affected have no accessibility needs.

AccessibleEU Romania - Enterprising for Tomorrow 2026

Tuesday 19 May 2026, 09:30 - 16:30 (EEST)

The Enterprising for Tomorrow 2026 Conference (#EFT2026) is organised by ADV Romania Foundation, with AccessibleEU as co-organiser. Through thematic panels and networking opportunities, participants will explore current challenges and opportunities for strengthening the social economy ecosystem, supporting social enterprises and promoting inclusive labour markets.

AccessibleEU Italy - Accessibility Days 2026

Thursday 21 May 2026, 09:30 - Friday 22 May 2026, 19:00 (CEST)

Accessibility Days is the largest and leading Italian event dedicated to digital accessibility and inclusion. Co-organised by Accessibility Days APS and AccessibleEU for a fourth year in a row, it attracts designers, developers, public administrations, companies and experts.

IAAP Nordic: Design Day 28 May 2026

Thursday 28 May, 10.00-17.00 (CEST)

Join an interactive workshop focusing on accessibility, visuals and design! Four inspirational presentations are followed by breakout groups with exercises and sharing of knowledge. Free of charge and open to all.

AccessibleEU Latvia - Accessibility in Cultural and Historical Buildings to Ensure Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities for Recreation and Tourism

Thursday 28 May, 10:00 - 18:00 (EEST)

Persons with disabilities have the right to travel, gain new experiences, and explore various cultural and historical sites, museums, and their exhibitions. Equal opportunities for all must be ensured.

AccessibleEU France - All Different, All Learners!

Thursday 28 May 2026, 09:00 - 13:00 (CEST)

This AccessibleEU event aims to raise awareness on inclusion in adult education, focusing on how to make learning environments more accessible and inclusive for diverse learners.

In-Person Events

AccessibleEU France - Accessibility: from compliance constraint to strategic advantage

Tuesday 5 May 2026, 09:30 - 16:30 (CEST)

AccessibleEU and AFNOR bring together workshop key stakeholders for a pivotal moment: understanding how accessibility is reshaping products, services and environments across Europe. This workshop is built as a two-part journey. The morning session will focus on decoding the regulatory and standardisation landscape with the key objective of moving from legal understanding to operational implementation. The afternoon session will focus on bringing accessibility to life with the key objective of positioning accessibility as a driver for design quality, innovation and competitiveness.

AccessibleEU Netherlands - Accessibility celebrates its 25th anniversary!

Wednesday 6 May 2026. 12:30-18.30 CEST

What started with a single mission – improving digital accessibility – has grown into an integrated approach to digital, physical, and social accessibility. For a quarter of a century, Accessibility Foundation has been working with partners in the Netherlands towards an inclusive society in which everyone can participate. What have we done, what is still necessary and what will the future bring?

AccessibleEU Hungary - Professional Pre-Conference of “The Day of Traffic Culture”

Thursday 7 May 2026, 08:15 - 14:30 (CEST)

"The Day of Traffic Culture” in Hungary (“A Közlekedési Kultúra Napja”) is a series of nationwide awareness days dedicated to promoting safe, respectful, and responsible behaviour in traffic. It focuses on improving transport culture among all users of transport infrastructure, including drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and public transport passengers. It also aims to increase awareness and broaden the understanding of traffic culture by incorporating accessibility, universal design and equal participation for everyone—particularly persons with disabilities, older adults, and others with specific mobility requirements.

AccessibleEU Poland - Accessibility in Geographic Space

Thursday 14 May 2026, 10:00 - 14:20 (CEST)

The scientific seminar, co-organised by AccessibleEU with the Adam Mickiewicz Universit, will address accessibility issues related to different aspects of mobility in a geographical space.

AccessibleEU Belgium - Inspiration Day: Spaces for Care and Wellbeing in Public Buildings

Tuesday 19 May 2026, 10:00 - 16:00 (CEST)

How do we design public buildings in which everyone feels welcome, comfortable, and supported? Many needs related to care and wellbeing remain invisible today, yet they have a significant impact on how people experience and use spaces.

Vienna: A-TAG 2026

Thursday, May 21st, 9:30 - 17:00 Techgate Wien

Der seit 2006 stattfindende A-Tag ist der Treffpunkt für Internet-Accessibility, veranstaltet vom Verein Accessible Media. Vorträge werden in Österreichische Gebärdensprache gedolmetscht. Der A-Tag ist kostenlos, erfordert jedoch eine Anmeldung.

Not among the top 6 greatest hits of web a11y issues, but also included in this session was topic 8: Adjustable Time Limits.

Hey, Listen! Links, Links, Links

6.A. Link Purpose

Let’s start with the basics of navigation. Test ID 6.A., Link Purpose, asks a deceptively simple question: Can a user determine where a link goes just by reading the link text or its surrounding context? It sounds obvious, but the reality of the web is riddled with “click here” links or empty social media icons that offer no clue to a screen reader user.

The rule is strict: the purpose must be programmatically determinable. This means that when you run the ANDI tool, the output for a link must clearly state its destination or function. If you have a row of social media icons, the accessible name should make it clear what platform it’s linking to. The surrounding text can help, but it cannot be the only source of truth. There can be exceptions, however, for the sake of mystery: If a link is part of a game or an intentional surprise, like “Door 1” or “Door 2” in a guessing game, then the mystique is part of its purpose.

But for 99% of the web, ambiguity is a fail.

6.B. Change Notification

Once you know where a link goes, you need to know what happens when you click it. This brings us to Test ID 6.B, Change Notification. When a user interacts with a link, the page might update, a menu might expand, or a new window might open. The critical question is: Does the user know something changed? If the change happens silently, or if the focus jumps to new content without warning, the user is left disoriented. The fix is pretty simple: ensure the link’s name describes the action, or use ARIA live regions and keyboard-accessible dialogs to announce the change. One of those would already be enough.

The Many Faces of Images

If links are the roads, images are the scenery, the landmarks, and sometimes, the roadblocks. Topic 7 is a deep dive into the five distinct ways images are handled in the Trusted Tester process, ranging from the purely decorative to the security-critical.

7.A. Meaningful Image

This applies to any image that conveys information, emotion, or function. The golden rule here is that every meaningful image must have an equivalent text alternative. This doesn’t always mean a literal description of pixels; it means a description of the image’s purpose. For a search icon, “Search” is better than “Magnifying glass.” For a complex diagram, the alt text might simply point the user to the detailed explanation in the adjacent text. The goal is to ensure that if the image were removed, the user would still understand the content.

7.B. Decorative Image

These are the images that exist solely for aesthetics: swirls, spacers, or custom bullet points. They should have an empty accessible name so that assistive technology ignores them completely. The trap here is leaving them with meaningless text like “spacer image” or, worse, forgetting to mark them as decorative when they contain no information. If an image is decorative, it must not be in the tab order, and it must not be the only way to convey important data.

7.C. Background Image

Then there are the tricky background images covered in Test ID 7.C. Just because an image is behind the text doesn’t mean it’s invisible to the user. If a background image contains text or critical information, that information must be available elsewhere on the page. We tested this by using the “Hide Background” feature in ANDI. If hiding the background removes the button text or the agency name, the page fails. The information must persist even when the visual flair is stripped away.

7.D. CAPTCHA

In an age of sophisticated bots, CAPTCHAs are everywhere, but they can be insurmountable walls for users with disabilities. The rule is clear: if you use a visual CAPTCHA, you must provide an alternative that doesn’t rely on vision, such as an audio challenge. Conversely, if you use an audio CAPTCHA, you need a visual alternative. You cannot force a user to choose between vision and hearing; you must offer both.

7.E. Image of Text

Generally, text should be text, not an image of text. Wild concept, I know! This allows users to zoom, change colors, and use screen readers effectively. The only exceptions are when the specific visual presentation is essential, such as a logo or a sample image of a specific font. If you use an image of text for a paragraph of content, you must provide controls that allow the user to customize the font, size, color, and background without pixelation. Browser zoom isn’t enough, the customization must be built into the webpage itself. And at this point, you should ask yourself: Is this really worth the effort, or would a text paragraph also do?

When the Clock Starts Ticking

The final topic of session 5 addresses a stressor that affects everyone but hits users with disabilities hardest: the ticking clock. Whether it’s a security session timeout on an online banking app or an inactivity countdown in a checkout flow. We should not punish users for needing more time.

The Section 508 web standard requires that for any time limit set by the content, the user must be able to do one of three things:

1. Turn the time limit off entirely,

2. adjust it to at least ten times the default duration, or

3. receive a warning with at least twenty seconds to extend the limit with a simple action like clicking a button or pressing a key.

This ensures that a user isn’t abruptly kicked out of a session. The reasons why they need more time can range from navigating slowly with a switch device or needing extra time to process the information presented. Ultimately, the reasons don’t matter, only the mechanisms that can accommodate them.

Exceptions: The Final Countdown

Real-time events like auctions, essential activities like timed exams where extending the time would invalidate the test, and time limits longer than twenty hours are exempt. But for the vast majority of web interactions, the timer must be flexible. If a user is logged out after five minutes of inactivity with no warning and no way to extend the session, that’s a no-no. The user must always have the power to control their own pace.

Your Cheat Sheet for Session 5

To wrap up, here is your quick reference guide for the three topics we covered. Remember, these are not just rules; they are the safeguards that ensure your digital content is usable by everyone.

• Links: Ensure every link has a clear purpose derived from its text or context. If a link triggers a change, the user must be notified either through the link’s name, a dialog, focus movement, or a live region. Ambiguity is only allowed for intentional surprises.

• Images: Distinguish between meaningful and decorative images. Meaningful images need equivalent text alternatives; decorative images need empty accessible names and must not be in the tab order. Background images must not hide critical information, and CAPTCHAs must offer both visual and audio alternatives. Images of text are generally forbidden unless they are essential logos or fully customizable by the user.

• Time Limits: Users must be able to turn off, adjust, or extend time limits. The extension must be simple and allow for at least ten times the default duration or a twenty-second warning period. Exceptions exist for real-time events and essential timed activities, but the default should always be flexibility.

Before our next session on Repetitive Content and Content Structure, take a moment to run tests above on your own projects. Spot those empty links and missing or incoherent alt texts. The WebAIM Million report showed us - once again! - that these issues are persistent. But you have the tools to identify them and advocate for better, more inclusive website design.

Happy testing, and see you in the next session!

Materials

• Join the next session: GDG Vienna

• Study Group recordings playlist on YouTube

• Session slides and transcripts on Google Drive

• GitHub repository

• Short summaries on A11y News

• Previous GDG Vienna Accessibility Webinar Series

• WebAIM Million Report

• DHS Section 508 Coordinators: Quick Reference with Test Conditions

Low contrast takes the first place - once again - by a landslide with 83.9%, which is even a bit of an uptick from last year’s 81%. Our runner-ups — who would have guessed it — are missing alternative text and missing form labels, followed by empty links and empty buttons, and 6th place takes missing document language.

Now, these are not all issues detected, only the top 6 greatest hits of all time. And somehow neither their type nor ranking seems to change over the years:

1. Low contrast text 83.9%

2. Missing alternative text for images 53.1%

3. Missing form input labels 51%

4. Empty links 46.3%

5. Empty buttons 30.6%

6. Missing document language 13.5%

96% of all errors detected fall into these six categories. These most common errors have been the same for the last 7 years. Addressing just these few types of issues would significantly improve accessibility across the web.

Overall theme here: Most websites are unfinished.

But why? Why is it so hard to do it right?

In part, I believe, it is due to the increase in homepage complexity. Keep in mind that the Million report only evaluates homepages specifically. It also features a section on homepage complexity over the past 7 years, which has steadily increased: Since last year, complexity has increased by 22.5% and approximately doubled since the first report in 2019.

Sorry to say this, but, “It’s definitely a Dev issue”.

The last few years, I focused on the issues above. But since they aren’t changing, let’s redirect our attention towards the frameworks and libraries associated with them instead.

That’s not to say that the tech itself was responsible for the errors, but when I saw that the JavaScript library SweetAlert2, which is present on only 1% of the sample pages, was associated with a +81% up in errors, it made me stop for a moment. When I looked that library up, I almost spit out my matcha latte because it explicitly claimed to be accessible. Something’s not adding up here!

JavaScript Frameworks

The number of homepages is somewhat evenly distributed across frameworks, at least in comparison to the situation of the libraries. It’s also impossible to flat-out state that the issues stem from any specific part of the tech stack, but if you find your preferred tools in the red/+ category, maybe take it as a word of warning:

Pages using Astro, Next.js and React had significantly fewer errors than the average of 56.1 per page, and Nuxt.js had just slightly less. Stimulus, Vue.js, AMP, RequireJS all had more errors than the average, and AngularJS and Firebase were deep in the red with +36.4% and +47.7%

While AngularJS at least offers a developer guide on accessibility, Firebase either doesn’t have any official documentation on accessibility, or it is so well hidden that I can’t find it. In both cases, I would argue that it’s not a born-accessible product, meaning that accessibility has to be consciously built in. Which hinges on you, the developer.

It’s not that React is ‘better’ than AngularJS, it’s that the React ecosystem has matured to provide better guardrails, documentation, and tooling that help you catch these errors before they can reach production.

JavaScript Libraries

The most prominent libraries used were jQuery, tallying up over half a million, and jQuery Migrate with 180.000 homepages. Luckily, if you search for “jQuery accessibility” hit after hit pops up. The resources are out there, but you have to know them in order to apply them to your website.

It makes sense that popular libraries are associated with more errors because using them often requires at least some degree of customization. And with that comes the good old “hacking to make it fit”, which we love, unless it breaks pre-existing accessibility features.

Can we fix the Web?

So what do we do about this? Well, not one of the six greatest hits of web accessibility errors is new; so the good news is: there are already plenty of guides and tutorials on how to fix them. The bad news: if we already knew that missing alt text was a problem in 1999 (WCAG 1.0), why is it still an issue 27 years later?

Look out for DX - Developer Experience

You know about UX (User Experience), and CX (the broader defined Customer Experience), but what about DX? What about the experience of building something on the web?

Some questions to ask yourself to evaluate your tech stack:

• Is the framework’s documentation actually accessible?

• Does the framework ship with accessible components out-of-the-box? And follow-up question: Does it only say that on the website, or is that claim verified through a software tester I trust?

• Does it enforce patterns that prevent errors? Or does it encourage patterns that make accessibility harder to achieve?

• Does the framework encourage “over-engineering” simple elements, e.g., turning a simple <a> tag into a complex custom component? Does it increase the opportunity area for errors?

• How does the framework handle Single Page Application (SPA) routing? Do they break skip links or focus management when navigating without a full page reload?

Surely, your answers are in part dependent on the maturity of a framework, if the library is being actively (and enthusiastically) maintained and community feedback is being taken into account, but also on how comfortable you are handling them. How you answer them will change over time, alongside your understanding of web technologies.

Low contrast text 83.9%

Why are we still here? Just to suffer? Every year, we see low contrast text in the top spot. How is the first thing you learn about in every web accessibility training still the number one issue worldwide?

On average, each home page had 34 distinct instances of low-contrast text.

No more excuses for it: WebAIM Contrast Checker

Missing alternative text for images 53.1%

Images without an alt attribute in the <img> element count towards missing alternative text. It does not count alt="" (also called an “empty” or “null” alternative text) because that would mark the image as purely decorative and therefore safe to skip without losing any information on the page.

What I found particularly interesting was the extra side note on linked images:

45% of the images missing alternative text were linked images—resulting in links that were not descriptive. One out of every four linked images was missing alternative text.

And no-effort-made alt-text:

10.8% of images with alternative text had questionable or repetitive alternative text—such as alt=”image”, “graphic”, “blank”, a file name, etc., or alternative text identical to adjacent text or the alternative text of an adjacent image.

Missing form input labels 51%

We use forms, a lot of forms, everywhere. Technically, you may have even encountered one on your way to this article in the form of an email input field alongside a prompt to subscribe to A11y News.

And you have options for how to label them: <label>, aria-label, aria-labelledby, or title. Yet 51% chose nothing instead.

We also covered this topic in the Trusted Tester study group: Have you ever been personally victimized by an inaccessible form?

Empty links 46.3% & Empty buttons 30.6%

I’m grouping these together because they work fairly similarly: No text is present to describe the function of the link or button. No anchor text and no aria-label.

Generally, a simple link looks like this:

<a href="https://website.com">Link Text</a>

And a bare bones button looks like this:

<button>Button Text</button>

The text does not only label it visually but also for assistive tech. Then why would one be left empty? Well, if we think back to missing alternative text and the fact that “45% of the images missing alternative text were linked images—resulting in links that were not descriptive”, we can link these three issues together: When you put images inside links or SVGs inside buttons (e.g. when linking to a company’s social media channels, or if you want the logo to also act as a home button/link), it will still need label text! Yet this is often left out because the visual render of the text is unwanted in these scenarios.

And also relevant to this topic:

15.2% of pages had ambiguous link text, such as “click here”, “more”, “continue”, etc. (an increase from 13.7% of pages in 2025, though down from 23.2% in 2020). These pages had 5.3 instances of ambiguous links on average (down from 6.8 in 2025).

17.1% of home pages had a “skip” link present, up from 15.3% in 2025. One out of every ten “skip” links were broken—either they were hidden in a way that made them inaccessible or the link target was not present in the page.

For a cheat sheet on links and buttons, check CSS Tricks: Links and Buttons Guide.

Missing document language 13.5%

It’s honestly a bit disheartening to see the report come out every year and see almost no progress being made. At least missing document language has been on a steady decline- going from 33.1% in 2019 to 13.5% in 2026 - so there is hope that we may see it leave the Top 6 at some point.

For the 87.3% of pages that had a document language defined, the report also features a table of homepages sorted by language and tallying up the average number of errors on them, as well as the percentage difference in errors from the overall average:

This is a reminder that most content on web accessibility is currently available in English. If you see your native language in the red/plus section, and have considered it before: Let me encourage you to start producing content about accessibility in your native language.

While English is still the dominant language in web development, we can’t afford to gatekeep knowledge behind it. The strongest developers are not necessarily English native speakers. We need to start laying the foundation for web accessibility education to become a globally accessible resource, that you can learn about in your native language.

Glossary

• WebAIM Million Report 2026

• WebAIM Contrast Checker

• Screen Reader User Survey #10

• Designing for Screen Reader Compatibility

• Alternative Text

• About the Empty Link Error

• About the Empty Button Error

• Links and Buttons Guide

• AngularJS Developer Guide Accessibility

• CSS and JavaScript accessibility best practices

• Accessible UI Component Libraries Roundup