Organizer Note
Description
Unfortunately, when developing WCAG2, the Working Group did not envision the current world where mobile is almost ubiquitous. For example, on a mobile device there is no continual access to a keyboard (unless someone is using it as an add-on to the device – or using a Blackberry Classic). WCAG2 requires that all content be accessible to the keyboard interface, but it does not require that all content be accessible to a mouse or to a touchscreen user, which is essential on a mobile device. WCAG2.1 does include some mobile accessibility requirements but doesn’t go far enough. Gian Wild chaired the Mobile Site Sub-Committee to develop a set of Mobile Site Testing Guidelines that are available under Creative Commons. These guidelines are meant to be used in conjunction with WCAG2 (and WCAG2.1) to ensure that sites are accessible to people with disabilities using mobile and tablet devices.
Accessibility is important to all – not everyone using your mobile app, device or wearable will be fully functioning, either because they have a disability, or they are simply engaged elsewhere. Gian talks about the things that are essential to avoid when designing mobile apps, devices and wearables to ensure that everyone can use them. She talks about specific mobile accessibility features: pinch zoom, native screen readers, haptic keyboard, etc., and system accessibility settings: font size, screen rotation, high contrast, etc.
Gian Wild
CEO @ AccessibilityOzGian Wild is the CEO, Founder and President of AccessibilityOz, established in Australia in 2011 and the United States in 2015. Gian has worked in the accessibility industry since 1998. She worked on the first Level AAA accessible web site in Australia (Disability Information Victoria) and developed one of the first automated accessibility testing tools, PurpleCop, in 2000. She spent six years on the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group contributing to the development of WCAG2 and is currently a member of the Automated WCAG Monitoring-Community Group. Gian is on the Higher Education Content Steering Group for Accessibility Switchboard, as well as a committee member of the ICT Accessibility Testing Symposium conference in the United States.
Gian speaks at both web and accessibility conferences around the world, including in the United States, Europe, South America and Canada. She spoke at the United Nations on the importance of accessibility at the eighth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In 2017, Gian was nominated as Australian of the Year, and in 2019, she won the inaugural Accessibility Person of the Year in Australia.
