“Bring your own problems” : the path to WCAG 2.0 conformance through industry based training

The importance of access to online government information is articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) [1] through Article 9, which focuses on accessibility and Article 29, which protects the right of people with disability to participate in political and public life. The Australian Government as a signatory to the UNCRPD has made a commitment to ensure that all Federal, State and Territory websites are accessible to World Wide Web (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (2.0) [2] through the National Transition Strategy (NTS), which was formalized on the 30 June 2010 [3]. However, as Hollier [4] notes, the transition to Web accessibility requires a concerted effort to address a range of potential barriers to adoption. This paper reports on the implementation of a university accredited non-award certificate program to address several of the identified issues likely to impact on the achievement of the Australian Government’s NTS goals and timelines. The paper outlines the aims, objectives and structure of the course, interim evaluation findings and issues identified by participants as challenges in making the transition to web accessibility compliance.