Anytime is a good time to visit Austin, TX. Be it for the Austin City Limits Music festival (ACL),  South by Southwest® (SXSW®) or most importantly the Web accessibility training program, John Slatin AccessU.  AccessU is named after a pioneering leader in web accessibility, the late John Slatin, a professor at the University of Texas.  Knowbility is the host of this training program, a nonprofit organization with the mission of improving technology access for millions of youth and adults with disabilities all over the world . This years keynote speaker for AccessU 2019 is Haben Girma, a disability rights attorney and advocate.

What can you expect @ John Slatin AccessU 2019?

You can expect inspirational, hands-on digital accessibility training by the world’s leading experts. There are 7 different tracks over 4 days from Tuesday, May 14th, to Friday, May 17th. The location is the beautiful St. Edwards University campus in South Austin.  This is a great opportunity to become a part of the community of accessibility advocates and experts.

IBM has been a partner with Knowbility and a sponsor for the common cause to promote and improve digital accessibility since the early days. Our involvement goes as far back as 1998, when the first Internet Rally was launched, now known as Open Air.  Since then Open Air has grown to become a global web accessibility challenge. During OpenAir rally, teams of web developers and designers paired with registered non-profits, create or improve the non-profit’s website for accessibility.

As always, a number of our team members listed among the instructors will represent IBM at the event. You can join us at the pre-conference workshop on Tuesday, May 14, where IBM will  lead a full day Inclusive Design Thinking Workshop, presented by our own  Mary Jo Mueller, Phill Jenkins, Charu Pandhi, Hope Turner and DA Anguiano.

The workshop is filled with fun, hands-on interactive exercises mixed with informative lectures to get you started with Inclusive Design Thinking. Attendees will learn about the accessibility and aging user needs through user research and an empathy building exercise. We’ll then dive into user experience (UX) and visual design by designing a ‘real life’ mobile app.

IBM will also host several learning sessions during the main AccessU event.  Here’s our lineup:

Wednesday May 15^th:

• Organization Accessibility Maturity Model and Assessment Framework taught by:Phill Jenkins


• VPAT 2 Essentials for Conformance Reporting taught by: Mary Jo Mueller


• Build Accessible Experiences Using Carbon with React or Angular taught by: Thomas Brunet and Brent Shiver

Thursday May 16^th:

• Improving Accessible Quality Through Automated Tools and DevOps Practices taught by: Thomas Brunet and Charu Pandhi

Whether you’re a designer, developer, project manager, or administrator do not miss this awesome opportunity to learn practical skills that you can use right away.  Take advantage of the valuable networking opportunities, technology demos, and fun.

Join us, it’s not too late. Register for AccessU! (Registration includes breakfast and lunch each day.)

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