Web Accessibility & Standards Harmonization
Accessibility Forum
June 5, 2002 Washington, DC 

Judy Brewer, Director
Web Accessibility Initiative World Wide Web Consortium

Overview
W3C & WAI 
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 
Additional WAI Guidelines
Benefits of Standards Harmonization 
Resources & Action Steps

W3C & WAI
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
International, vendor-neutral consortium 
~500 Member organizations
Develops technical standards for the Web 
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) 
Brings industry, disability, research, government stakeholders together 
Develops cross-disability accessibility solutions for the Web 
Multi-layered solution: core technologies, guidelines, tools, education 

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 [May 1999] 
Describes how to make accessible Web sites 
General guidelines; normative checkpoints 
Three priorities, levels of conformance, logos 
Non-normative techniques documents 
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 [under development]
Recent: Requirements document for WCAG 2.0 
Several working drafts available for public comment 
Issues: standards harmonization; implementation testing

Additional WAI Guidelines
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (Recommendation)
Accessibility of authoring tools 
Support for production of accessible Web content 
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (Candidate Recommendation)
Accessibility of browsers and multimedia players 
Interoperability with assistive technologies 
XML Accessibility Guidelines (Working Draft)
Accessibility of XML applications

Benefits of Standards Harmonization
Broader market for authoring tools that produce conformant content 
Broader market for evaluation tools to evaluate conformant content 
Increased re-usability of training resources for Web designers 
Increased re-usability of training resources for procurement officers
Increased ability of consumer organizations to monitor

Resources & Action Steps
WAI Home Page: http://www.w3.org/WAI/
WAI Resources: http://www.w3.org/WAI/Resources/
Education & Outreach Working Group: http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/
Action Steps: 
Develop organizational policy with milestones & resources
Assess accessibility of current Web site 
Assess accessibility support in authoring software 
Train Web developers 
Establish on-going monitoring and controls 
Web Accessibility is a participatory activity: provide feedback into WCAG 2.0