To celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), Minnesota IT Services’ (MNIT) Office of Accessibility hosted a series of short virtual presentations for State of Minnesota employees. The goal is to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital accessibility and inclusion.

The presentations showcased the value of accessibility and how accessibility improvements drive more inclusion.

Here are links to YouTube video recordings of each session. All recordings include ASL interpreting and closed captioning.

Introduction to accessibility standards

Learn what accessibility guidelines are and how they change over time. Minnesota created its digital accessibility standard using Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. This session covers what’s next for WCAG and how WCAG 2.1 will help people with disabilities have greater access to digital information.

• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%201%20Transcript_tcm38-533033.pdfIntroduction to accessibility standards transcript (PDF).
• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%201%20Presentation_tcm38-533195.pdfIntroduction to accessibility standards presentation (PDF).

Speakers:

• Governor Tim Walz
• Rachael Bradley Montgomery, Co-chair of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Accessibility Guidelines Working Group
• Jay Wyant, Minnesota’s Chief Information Accessibility Officer, MNIT

End user impact of accessibility standards

Lived experiences of people with disabilities are the most powerful ways to learn why accessibility matters. Understand the first-hand experiences of individuals with a variety of disabilities. Understand how digital accessibility impacts their professional and personal lives.

/mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%202%20Transcript_tcm38-533034.pdfEnd user impact of accessibility standards transcript (PDF).

Speakers:

• Ken Rodgers, Disability Programs Coordinator, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT)
• Kimberly Carlson, Management Analyst, Department of Human Services (DHS)
• Angela Christle, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Sr, Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED)

Buying accessible technology

There are many individuals involved in purchasing technology. When a technology purchase is not accessible, there is a real effect. Learn about the “happy path” to buy accessible technology – including accessibility at the beginning.

• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%203%20Transcript_tcm38-533038.pdfBuying accessible technology transcript (PDF).
• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%203%20Presentation_tcm38-533196.pdfBuying accessible technology presentation (PDF).

Speakers:

• Tracy Gerasch, Procurement Director, MNIT
• Lolly Lijewski, Digital Accessibility Coordinator, DHS
• Tamera Williams, Contractor, Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Projects that shift left for accessibility

Dive into a case study of planning a project with accessibility in mind. Learn why the MDE project team included accessibility in specific parts of their project plan and timelines. Accessibility played a key role in the project's success. This case study was also covered in a recent blog post.

• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%204%20Transcript_tcm38-533037.pdfProjects that shift left for accessibility transcript (PDF).
• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%204%20Presentation_tcm38-533321.pdfProjects that shift left for accessibility presentation (PDF).

Speakers:

• Jane Davison, System Analyst Unit Supervisor, MNIT partnering with DHS
• Courtney Petrosky, Project Management Supervisor, MNIT partnering with MDE
• Kim Wee, Digital Accessibility Coordinator, MNIT partnering with MDE

Creating accessible visual content

How do WCAG guidelines benefit all document users? Graphic designers, content creators, and trainers can learn how to make documents, PDFs, and forms that everyone can understand.

• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%205%20Transcript_tcm38-533036.pdfCreating accessible visual content transcript (PDF).
• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%205%20Presentation_tcm38-533197.pdfCreating accessible visual content presentation (PDF).

Speakers:

• Tamara Sawyer, Digital Accessibility Coordinator, Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB)
• Jessica Cavazos, Health Educator, Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)
• Jeremy DePew, Senior Designer and Communications Advisor, MNIT

Web application accessibility

This is a story about eating your vegetables. And the considerations we need to make sure that websites and applications meet WCAG guidelines. Experts from the Minnesota Department of Revenue share how they created processes, tools, and resources to resolve accessibility challenges that developers face.

• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%206%20Transcript_tcm38-533035.pdfWeb application accessibility transcript (PDF).
• /mnit/assets/GAAD%20Session%206%20Presentation_tcm38-533343.pdfWeb application accessibility presentation (PDF).

Speakers: 

• Joan Redwing, Chief of Application Development, MNIT
• Lexi Hafften, CBAP, Business Analyst, Revenue
• John Watne, Java Developer and Digital Accessibility Coordinator, Revenue