As 2013 draws to a close, it is a good time to reflect on the progress made toward our collective goal of establishing an international profession for accessibility. For me, the IAAP is a crucial endeavor because it will strengthen and support the network of existing experts and enable the growth of new experts around the world. To create inclusive societies and ensure each person with a disability has equal access to information, education, employment, entertainment, and more, we need a vibrant, worldwide community of people who are skilled in the art and the science of accessibility.
Five years from now, mobile devices, wearable technologies, interactive content, and sensors integrated into the physical spaces around us will usher in another shift in the way people communicate, work, and play. We already see companies working to tightly integrate content and services with their devices, but it is unlikely any single company will prevail. As consumers, you and I will almost certainly be using content and solutions from dozens of companies and organizations every day … and that means accessibility must become an integral part of the way everyone designs and creates technology and content. We are a long way from that being a reality, but this is where IAAP becomes an essential piece of the puzzle. Apple’s VoiceOver has shown that a mainstream company can provide new customer value by tightly integrating assistive technology with its built-in experiences; Google Glass has shown the potential for wearable technologies to enhance day-to-day activities for people with and without disabilities; and Microsoft Kinect has made it possible for computers to recognize a person and understand their speech and gestures – redefining the boundaries of interaction between humans and computers.
Individual companies will continue to push the boundaries and rapidly innovate, but they need a reliable partner to help them establish and maintain a highly skilled workforce of designers, engineers, writers, trainers, business leaders, etc. Their employees need to understand the ‘why,’ ‘what,’ ‘how,’ and ‘who’ of accessibility and inclusive design so they can apply it in their day-to-day work. This is the role our organization, the IAAP, will play for companies, organizations, governments, and individuals around the world.
Because we are setting out on a bold and long-term mission, we have taken the time in the past year to carefully plan our approach before rushing into action. As a result of the thousands of hours of work from our founding members, hired staff, Board of Directors, and volunteers, in 2013 we have:
- drafted a three-year strategic plan,
- developed by-laws, membership guidelines, and membership benefits,
- created our IAAP brand, a basic website, and initial Accessibility Statement,
- begun working with association management vendors to develop an accessible online environment for IAAP communities, committees, and day-to-day operations,
- begun defining the competencies for individual Accessibility Professionals,
- begun defining the vital components for organizational accessibility programs, and
- begun drafting the core elements of an individual certification program.
There is still a lot of work to be done before we officially launch the IAAP next spring, and not all of the work listed above will be final at launch. To reach its full potential, the IAAP will need your support and participation. This is an association of professionals for professionals – a place where each of us can share what we have learned and, in return, learn from the experience of others.
The IAAP and its mission is important to me, personally, because I believe the strategies we have used for accessibility of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the past will fail us in the future. To achieve accessibility in tomorrow’s world, we need an enduring model of professional education and collaboration that is an integral part of every organization creating content or ICT.
I want to close by thanking all of you who have already contributed to the work that has brought us to this point, and I look forward to meeting the many people who will join us on this journey in 2014.
Rob Sinclair
President, IAAP Board of Directors
Chief Accessibility Officer, Microsoft
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LEADERSHIP MESSAGE
 When the founding members of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) along with myself and staff agreed to move forward, I didn’t assume it would be a lightweight task. Significant thought and effort goes into the set-up of operations for an association like this. We are still on that journey, but a great deal of planning has already taken place. We have figured out the membership model and a governance model. We have done strategic planning so as to focus our efforts. And we have raised funds and hired resources to accomplish the tasks. We are fortunate to have a dedicated group of founding members supporting IAAP as we reviewed the initial offerings that were on the table to meet the needs of the community.
One of the key components of a new organization is the development of a platform for us all to work together virtually. In the association world we have lots of technology platforms built for associations to help facilitate membership, events, social collaboration and many other functions. The challenge for IAAP has been (like many industries) that these technology platforms are not accessible. Since many of you are developers, I can imagine you are thinking that we should just build it ourselves or use other platforms that are already accessible but not built for associations. These are great ideas, however, in order to get them to perform the functions we need and integrate with other systems, it would be too complicated and costly.
So, what is a startup association to do with limited budget and non-accessible technology? We go to the third party companies and ask them to make their software accessible! Again, easier said than done! However, I am happy to report that when I approached the key software companies that we were interested in using, they embraced the idea to make their platforms accessible. To help them accomplish this task, our founding members have been working hard with these companies to guide them in the process to get their platforms accessible. While it is a process that takes time, it will serve the needs of our community and also the needs of other associations. We’ll keep you posted on how this was accomplished as we believe it could make for an interesting case study.
One of these platforms that we will use will be the focal point for our new association. It is a social collaboration product that will allow all our members to create communities, forums and libraries to provide and consolidate resources so members (especially those new to our profession) can more easily find what they need. In order for this to be a success it is less about IAAP finding all these resources and more about all of our membership sharing and collaborating to build a vibrant and diverse community.
I am excited about where IAAP is headed and even more excited to share with all of you the efforts that have been made to create this opportunity to enhance the accessibility profession. While I know success will not happen overnight, we will look to measure it on many levels over many years. The initial success story will be that people join together to work toward a bigger goal to make accessibility a larger, growing profession with more respect than ever before. We all know that if we succeed at this we are going to have more products, content and services accessible around the globe and accomplish our ultimate goal of accessibility for all people.
While we continue on this journey over the next few months, we look forward to meeting many of you at CSUN when we will officially launch IAAP for membership and plan our future work together.
David Dikter
CEO, IAAP
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The International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) is a new membership based association for individuals and organizations. We welcome those who have already developed expertise in accessibility and those who need to better understand accessibility and learn how to integrate it into their everyday work. Through this association we will strive to help accessibility professionals develop and advance their careers and to help organizations integrate accessibility into their products and infrastructure.
Accessibility is a broad term and providing access to all things - technology, environments, and services - is a goal we all share. The initial focus of IAAP will be on providing access to information and communications technology. But this organization will provide a place for all individuals to gather, share experiences and connect to others of similar interests. Through networking, education and certification we hope to effect the creation of more accessible products, content and services.
IAAP plans to open for membership in First Quarter 2014. We plan to be at the CSUN 2014 Conference with more to share with you at that time.
When we officially launch the association, we will make membership open to individuals at no charge for membership during the first year. Organizational membership levels will also be available for a fee to large corporations, small to medium sized businesses, not for profits, government agencies, and institutions of higher education.
In preparation for the launch of the association, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter if you haven’t already so you receive all future announcements.
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GET INVOLVED
Every association needs a strong infrastructure to support it. We have been working hard over the past six months to create an accessible environment which can support the needs of our IAAP membership organization and the activities required for a connected and collaborative society of accessibility professionals.
This new system will be available when we launch the association and open officially for membership in 2014. It will be designed to provide for robust discussions of topics important to accessibility, promote information sharing and provide a portal for resources or links to other key organizations and resources. You will be able to easily share tips, tricks, best practices, documents, videos and more. In addition, you can create your own interest-based communities connecting professionals around the world.
As we continue to develop this long term solution, we have created an interim website which allows us to keep you updated on the strategic goals of the association, the volunteers who have helped to shape this organization through their efforts as Board of Directors or Founding Members, and much more. Please view our interim website at www.accessibilityassociation.org. And feel free to contact us at info@accessibilityassociation.org.
We also plan to offer two newsletters on a regular basis. The first is this newsletter, the IAAP Community Update, which will be available to all IAAP members. We anticipate publishing this six times per year. Its goal is to keep you updated on the progress of the many association projects and plans. The second newsletter is called Accessibility Now and will be monthly to start. This newsletter will provide you with a digest of recent news that impacts the accessibility industry. We hope to be able to consolidate information from many sources so that you can select which topics are of interest to you to review in depth.
These are just some of the many projects under way. We are building a platform to bring accessibility professionals from around the world and their ideas together. Join us to make this organization the best that it can be!
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In October 2012 a group of 20+ organizations – large and small – gathered to discuss the challenges faced by the accessibility industry. This group developed a strategic plan and committed to the creation of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. From that meeting we launched an effort to recruit a diverse set of founding member companies who are geographically diverse, represent a wide range of industries, and can collectively fund the first two years of start-up operations for this new organization.
You can view the list of Founding Members on our website. These twenty-three organizations do business globally from headquarters in five different countries across North America and Europe. They range in size including nine large corporations, eleven small businesses including several accessibility consulting firms, and three non-profit organizations. They represent seven different industries: IT, Telecommunications, Financial Services, Accessibility Consultants, Media, Assistive Technology, and Non-Profit.
These founding members are committed to the goals of the organization and have been actively participating in committees to provide guidance as we build the foundation for the programs and resources to be available through IAAP.
We are still accepting Founding Members up until we officially launch the association. If you are interested in becoming a Founding Member, contact us at info@accessibilityassociation.org.
If you feel that Founding Membership is not for you but are interested in general membership when that becomes available, we welcome your participation. This organization will be strongest when we have individuals and organizations from every nation around the world representing all industries!
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After our initial meeting in October 2012, the participants in that meeting volunteered for numerous committees to help guide the plans for the association. Over time, we decided to utilize the group of volunteers who were working on the governance plan for the association to form our first Board of Directors. This group of individuals meet monthly and provide the guiding hand as we forge this new association and make decisions for its shape. Each individual also participates on several committees which provide the oversight to the planning for such things as membership levels, branding, web design, professional development, certification, etc.
You can view the list of Board of Directors on our website. These individuals have devoted many hours to the effort to create this association. They represent the US, Canada and Europe, and come from both large and small organizations from several different industries.
This group will continue to guide the organization as we finalize the by-laws for the association and complete the infrastructure plans. Once we officially launch, we will announce a plan to allow for a formal nomination process and the elections of a new Board of Directors.
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David Dikter is providing overall executive management of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. David is the CEO of the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA). He sits on the W3C-Web Accessibility Initiative Steering Council and works with diverse groups to promote AT, accessibility, and the needs of individuals with disabilities. Prior to joining ATIA, David worked in technology start-ups and spent 15 years working in school districts as a teacher of students with disabilities and a technology leader, training and promoting educational and assistive technologies.
Sharon Spencer is providing overall programs management for the IAAP. Sharon is a management consultant with fifteen years of experience in the accessible technology industry including seven years as Executive Vice President of Sales for Freedom Scientific. She also served for four years on the Board of Directors and as President of the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA). Prior to that, she held several executive positions in technology companies including IBM and Tech Data and a start-up software company.
Caroline Van Howe is providing logistical and accessibility project management for the IAAP. Caroline is COO of the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA). Caroline is a senior executive with thirteen years’ experience in the assistive technology industry including seven years on staff with ATIA and six years as Director of Customer Marketing / Implementation Services with Intellitools, now Cambium Learning Technologies, while serving on the ATIA Board of Directors and as ATIA Board President. Prior to that, Caroline held executive positions with technology companies including Synon Inc, now Computer Associates. Caroline originally trained as a Special Education teacher in the UK.
Amanda Wood is providing marketing communications management for IAAP. Amanda is the Marketing & Communications Director for SmithBucklin in Washington, D.C. She has more than ten years of experience developing and managing marketing programs, which includes membership strategy, event promotion, media relations, crisis communications, brand management, brand identity standards, and communications guidelines.
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The International Association of Accessibility Professionals is excited to introduce a logo designed with our mission in mind. A team of volunteers worked with VoxVerde, a graphic design firm with experience in accessible design, to translate the goals of our new association into a visual brand that communicates who we are and what we want to accomplish. We chose the connected double A’s to convey a place where connections between existing and new accessibility professionals can be made. Building a strong, unified community plays a very important role in what we hope to accomplish. The double A’s also symbolize a bridge which reflects the pathway we are building to a new future for the accessibility industry.
In many places you will see a six color element. These colors were also carefully chosen and represent the most common colors used within the flags of our international community. This design element is a reminder to emphasize our mission as a global association.
We hope you agree as our brand rolls out that it captures the exciting new vision of our organization.
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