Case Study: Wachovia Accessibility
Monday, August 14, 2:00-2:45 PM
by Brian Williams, Lee Wilson, and Jeremiah Rogers
Whether by ethical or legal mandate, ensuring equal access and opportunity for people with disabilities is a big, unending job for us all. The checkpoints and standards of WCAG and Section 508 are essential tools for reaching a certain threshold of accessibility; but, even at full compliance, significant barriers to usability may still remain. We'll examine ways in which Wachovia is crossing the threshold of legal compliance, looking beyond reasonable accommodations to actually see the Web from the first-hand perspective of real people encountering real barriers. We'll also discuss the challenges and payoffs of instituting a culture of accessibility.
About Brian Williams
Brian Williams is the Technical Design Director for Wachovia Bank. A former Art Director with over 10 years experience in Web development and design, Brian's expertise spans multiple disciplines. Apart from his role in advancing enterprise standards for accessible markup and style sheets, his design credits include Calibre.com and WachoviaChampionship.com. In addition to his work at Wachovia, Brian has written for A List Apart, and been showcased at CSS Zen Garden.
About Lee Wilson
Lee Wilson is the a Senior Web Developer for Wachovia Bank with over nine years experience developing transactional systems interfaces. Lee is responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of the presentation layer for more than a dozen retail financial services applications impacting millions of customers daily.
About Jeremiah Rogers
Blind since birth, Jeremiah Rogers leverages twenty-plus years of computer use for many tasks of work and play, a thorough understanding of screen reader use and function, and an ability to communicate user experiences to design personnel to analyze and help correct problems and best practices for web accessibility. Jeremiah lives in Charlotte, NC, with his wife, Kim, and spends his free time attending sporting events and concerts, producing recorded audio, and reading.