Overview

Digital accessibility is a complicated subject with many areas to champion. There are legal complexities such as the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations, technical complexities such as being able to procure adequate suppliers, test for accessibility, knowing the technical standards and how to build good accessibility, and there are cultural challenges such as getting staff buy-in, engaging with leadership and embedding accessibility throughout an organisation.

This 1-day course will give you the tools and expertise to champion digital accessibility within your organisation. You will discover how to comply with regulatory requirements from expert trainers who have been working with the regulations for years.

You will learn about the basic accessibility checks you can teach your wider team and how to embed accessibility good practice into processes. You will also be equipped with a range of tips and tricks to confidently support your organisation and additional resources to keep engaged with latest developments.

Objectives:

By the end of this training, delegates will have the knowledge and tools to:

  • Understand the effects and timescales of the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018
  • Recognise their organisations responsibilities under the regulations
  • Develop the content for a compliant accessibility statement
  • Learn how to include accessibility in procurement processes
  • Understand responsibilities when it comes to 3rd party content
  • Confidently engage senior management on accessibility
  • Implement changes across their organisation to deliver accessibility

Trainer Profiles: 

Ben Watson

Ben, a former law librarian and qualified teacher, has a passion for inclusive design that has led him into researching and implementing approaches to inclusive information and technology provision for education.

He has experience of working with all UK education sectors (primary, secondary, further and higher education) and many years experience of working to improve both the physical and digital accessibility of education organisations.

In 2015 he initiated the OPERA (Opportunity, Productivity, Engagement, Reducing barriers, Achievement) project. This project reconsidered approaches to learning and teaching, digital systems and assistive technologies and catalysed a shift towards anticipatory reasonable.

George Rhodes

George is an experienced and award winning public sector professional having worked with Central and Local Government, Universities, Colleges, Schools, NHS, Police Forces, Fire & Rescue Services and more to deliver value for money, effective and secure IT services.

For several years George’s focus has been on the delivery of accessible and inclusive services for all citizens. Known for his extensive knowledge on UK accessibility legislation, he is the author of the original accessibility statement monitoring in Europe and his work on both statements and disproportionate burden misuse has been discussed by the European Commission as an exemplar for delivering accessibility for public services.

His years of involvement with academia have seen George guest lecturing about accessibility as part of Computer Science curriculums and help set best practice for accessibility in educational materials. Now taking on new challenges in the education sector, George is working with the British Computing Society to develop the Digital Accessibility Specialist Degree Apprenticeship Curriculum.

Alongside his Co-Founder Ben Watson, George has led a multi award winning county wide initiative to improve accessibility of public sector organisations.

George is a well versed speaker having delivered talks across a wide variety of events, conferences and lectures both at home and internationally. In his spare time George studies for a PhD to develop improvements for tactile maps used in navigation.

 

Agenda
  • Registration and Overview 
  • Session 1: Understand the digital accessibility requirements for public sector bodies
    • The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 – background and aims (5 mins)
    • Discussion: timeline for implementing regulations and necessary planning
    • Outlining who and what falls under the new legislation and who is exempt
    • Memorandum of Understanding: government monitoring and enforcement
    • Generating buy-in with senior management
    • Prioritisation and risk assessment exercise
    • Budgeting resources and tools to ensure value for money
  • Morning Break
  • Session 2: Prepare your organisation for change, new policy and practical steps
    • Publishing the accessibility statement – outlining the requirements
    • Exercise: accessibility statements and users’ requirements and requests
    • Building a model accessibility statement exercise
    • Procurement: suppliers, tenders and contracts
    • What to expect from suppliers and what to do with existing suppliers
    • 3rd Party systems and 3rd Party responsibility matrix
    • Your responsibilities exercise
  • Session 3: Learn how to check for accessibility problems
    • Reviewing internal processes and training all staff involved on accessibility
    • Basic checks for accessibility – How and where to address the problem
    • Identifying accessibility in all digital content: Image alternatives, video and audio content, documents, websites (intro) and other comms
  • Lunch
  • Session 4: Achieve accessibility under the new standard
    • Understanding WCAG 2.1 and web content accessibility guidelines
    • Testing sites for accessibility using automatic scanning tools versus an audit
    • Exercise: Live testing
    • Understanding accessibility evaluations and testing results
    • Issue reporting, exclusions and disproportionate burden; what is it and what does it apply to
    • How diverse user testing can inform accessibility audits and future development plans
    • Discussion: common accessibility issues and how to overcome them
    • Creating content, including dynamic and visual, with accessibility in mind
  • Afternoon Break
  • Session 5: Drop-in accessibility clinic and Q&A – optional session
    • Delegates are encouraged to discuss real issues they are facing and ask any questions
    • This is an opportunity for consultancy time with experts for advice on real issues
  • Summary and Close 

    *Programme Subject to Change

Who Should Attend

Who Should Attend?

Delegates looking to improve digital accessability at their organisation. Teach your wider team and how to embed accessibility good practice into processes.

*This Training Course is open to Public, Private and Third Sectors

For more information or to make a booking please call 0330 0947 344

Pricing
  • Public Sector Rate: £495.00+VAT
  • Private Sector Rate: £595.00+VAT
  • Voluntary Sector Rate: £445.00+VAT