An age of digitalism necessitates dynamic accessibility for all things technical. It’s more important than ever before for online accessibility design to be meeting, if not exceeding, requirements for those who need it most. A good coordinator will be able to develop a strategy that will enhance the experience for every user of web-related features and services.
An accessibility coordinator is responsible for directing and controlling online features, making them user-friendly for everyone — especially for the visually, auditory, and physically impaired, as well as people with all types of disabilities.
On the other hand, a web accessibility coordinator’s role goes beyond solely providing assistance. They can be tasked with assisting and resolving a range of programming issues and industry compliance aspects as well.
Let’s take a look at what they do specifically.
A web accessibility coordinator organizes and maintains web components and matters that relate to:
- The building and maintenance of websites.
- Online and technological instructional aspects.
- Coordinating online resources.
- Desktop to mobile platform transfers.
- Any issues with poorly designed existing accessibility options.
- Organizational policy and practices.
- Development and educational practices for assisting technologies.
Coordinators can work across a variety of industries that require improvement or maintenance for web accessibility. In most countries, there are national accessibility standards and guidelines as well as industry-specific requirements that a coordinator must be aware of and work within.
Among universities and educational facilities, a web accessibility coordinator will offer guidance and support to students and other departments in reviewing and maintaining web access. As IT and education industries around the world are highly diverse, it’s important for web accessibility coordinators to be able to work effectively within a multi-cultural environment, in conjunction with people who might have learning difficulties.
Generally, regularly scheduled accessibility audits analyze and evaluate the current performance of a department’s accessibility design. This is to construct a strategic plan for improvement which, depending on the role or circumstances, can range from minor to desperate need for enhancement.
It’s imperative for organizations to meet web accessibility compliance guidelines within their industry, which is much more effective when maintained by someone with professional experience — services like web portals, educational websites, and online learning platforms require the most demand for support.
Working in close collaboration with developers, a web accessibility coordinator constructs regular quality assurance reports and presentations. They are also responsible for consistently reviewing and monitoring web accessibility tools.