Thursday, May 21, 7-9pm
University of Waterloo, E7 1331
To mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Fran Wyllie, Dev Manager and Accessibility Specialist at Northern will be joining us to give a talk on Building a Sustainable Accessibility System.
Accessibility initiatives often fail because they're treated as compliance checkboxes rather than integrated into how teams actually work. In this session, you'll learn how we transformed accessibility from a burden into a shared practice across developers, QA, content teams, and leadership.
We'll walk through our journey from fragmented efforts and skepticism to a sustainable system where accessibility is built into tools, processes, and culture.
You'll discover:
- Developer Integration in Action: See how we embedded accessibility directly into the developer workflow with built in rules in the IDE, accessibility-first component libraries, and automated testing
- QA's Role Reimagined: How we equipped QA teams with consistent testing criteria, dedicated accessibility testing environments, and a demo of manual testing workflows that catch real issues
- The Human Element: Why championing accessibility from within teams—not top-down mandates—was the real turning point, plus how we balanced automation with human insight
- AI's Place in Accessibility: Real examples of where AI helped scale our efforts (and where it fell short)
Whether you're starting from scratch or struggling to maintain momentum, you'll leave with practical strategies for embedding accessibility into your existing tools and workflows, plus the cultural shifts that made it stick.
About Fran Wyllie
Fran combines a background in web development and interactive media design with a passion for accessibility to lead Northern’s technical efforts on web accessibility.
Fran brings seven years of experience in designing solutions and advocating for accessible development, with an eye towards not just meeting the requirements established by WCAG, but going beyond that to ensure that people who benefit from accessible solutions will have an equitable experience that meets the highest standards of usability and efficacy.
Certified as a Web Accessibility Specialist with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, Fran is a trusted authority on accessible web development who has been a frequent speaker and advocate on the subject. Fran has presented at various Drupal Camps and other conferences, she has been the lead in online webinars, and frequently contributes to Northern’s thought leadership activities around accessibility.
Fran’s experience in accessibility extends from institutional clients, like higher education, health care, and government/NGO development to e-commerce solutions. She also establishes and enforces Northern’s internal standards of accessible web development to ensure that accessibility is at the foundation of everything we build.
Online Meeting Details
Zoom link will be posted here before the meeting
