RE: Seeking feedback on IAAP certification roadmap

Paul, in general I agree with the need for accessibility certification, and like the proposed road map and suggested skill levels. However, I fear that this process and IAAP benefits, is a platform for large corporations to control the accessibility ecosystem. Accessibility laws, being passed by governments around the world, has created a new ecosystem in which disability has become a market opportunity.

 

There are a lot of companies who genuinely care about improving accessibility to their products, and services, but the focus tends to be on research and development rather than sustainable job skills for disabled people. It is good to see large mainstream technology companies engaged in the accessibility chalenge, but there appears to be little effort in creating sustainable job opportunities for disabled employees of today. I can understand the need to charge a fee for professional certifications, but within the current IAAP business model, only those individuals who work for a large corporation will be able to afford IAAP education and benefits. With the so called technology skills gap and trend toward entrepreneur employment in North America, the IAAP business model should be more inclusive by sponsoring partnerships and collaboration opportunities. The disabled population has a very high unemployment rate, and unfortunately the recent accessibility ecosystem has continued to marginalize them.

 

Accessibility must become part of the corriculum of relevant academic institutions, and IAAP should focus on collaboration in course development with recognized educational organizations rather than a private certification programme. Supporting education and employment opportunities will allow IAAP to become more involved with real life challenges confronted by disabled people today.

 

Regards,

David

 

From: Paul Bohman [mailto:paul.bohman@deque.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2014 1:16 PM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Seeking feedback on IAAP certification roadmap

 

Cross posted request for feedback:


The International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) needs your feedback on our roadmap for accessibility certification. Here is the roadmap as it stands now:

http://www.accessibilityassociation.org/content.asp?contentid=163

We are still in the early stages of designing the certification, so your feedback is most valuable now, before we commit to a certain path.

Here are some questions to consider as you read the roadmap:

1. What do you think of the roadmap overall?
2. What would you do to improve our roadmap?
3. What do you think of the levels of certification outlined in the roadmap? 
4. Are there any broad Knowledge Domains and Roles that we have left off that should be included?
5. Do you like our list of Digital Accessibility areas of certification? Should we add to or subtract from this list? (For example, one person commented that we should add gaming to the list.)
6. Do you like the idea of certifying for these areas separately, in a modular approach as we have done? (See the section on Referencing IAAP Credentials for an explanation of how this might work)
7. Do you like the 3 year period for certification? Would you make it shorter (2 years) or longer (5 years)?
8. What kind of certification assessment would you create? Keep in mind that it has to be a valid and meaningful test of the right kind of competencies, it must be challenging enough that novices could not pass it without first studying or gaining experience,  it must be scalable (not too burdensome to administer or grade/score the assessment), and translatable into other languages.
9. Once certification becomes available, do you think you would go through the process to become certified? Why or why not?
10. What else should we consider as we move forward?

To give feedback, you can reply directly to this email, or you can send an email to the certification committee: CC@accessibilityassociation.org


Paul Bohman, PhD
Chair, IAAP Certification Committee
Director of Training
Deque Systems, Inc
www.deque.com
703-225-0380, ext.121 <tel:703-225-0380%2C%20ext.121>