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Partnering Design and Accessibility

October 26, 2010

RGD is pleased to welcom Accessibil-IT Inc.
as its official Accessibility Partner. Committed to ensuring messages reach the intended target audience regardless of their ability, Accessibil-IT complements RGD’s initiative to ensure all graphic design is made more accessible.

The partnership will not only help RGD to learn and promote accessible design practices, but will help the membership and industry as a whole to do the same.

“Accessibil-IT advocates that creative design does not need to be impeded to achieve accessibility,” says Wendy Lockyer, Owner and Principal, Accessibil-IT. 

“We commend RGD on their leadership in implementing accessible communications, and look forward to working with them and their members to achieve accessibility goals.”

Founded on the increasing need for electronic document accessibility, Accessibil-IT ensures all communications, particularly PDFs, are fully accessible
and navigable by users of adaptive technologies. Through consulting and assessments, Accessibil-IT ensures documents are compliant with Ontario AODA legislation and reach the widest possible audience, while doing so cost effectively and without sacrificing message integrity or security.

As part of the newfound partnership, Accessibil-IT will make a special presentation at RGD’s annual DesignThinkers conference in November. Design & Accessibility:

Ebony and Ivory will provide information and tips on designing the perfect creative to reach the broadest possible audience, and on enabling persons with disabilities to access and navigate messages the way they were intended. For more information on DesignThinkers and this presentation, visit http://www.designthinkers.com.

“Across Ontario there is a growing urgency to achieve accessibility in every graphic design project, “ says Lionel Gadoury R.G.D., president of RGD. “To
help us reach our widest possible audience, RGD is pleased to welcome Accessibil-IT Inc. as our new Accessibility Partner. We’re confident that this relationship will not only help to ensure our PDF documents and presentations are accessible, but that our members will be encouraged to do the same.”

Since September 2009, RGD Ontario has been working in partnership with The EnAbling Change Partnership Program to educate graphic design professionals on accessible design and to provide them with information, tools and training required to help them design accessibly. Deliverables of this project include professional development events, a dedicated and interactive website (http://www.rgd-accessibledesign.com),
as well as a best practices handbook also to be launched at DesignThinkers 2010.

To find out how to make your communications accessible, contact Accessibil-IT at 905-491-6875 or
info@accessibilit.com

To find out more about becoming an RGD sponsor, contact Hilary Ashworth, Executive Director of RGD Ontario, at 416.367.8819 ext 23 or
hilary@rgdontario.com

Reproduced from http://www.accessibilit.com/public/news/newsarticle-10-27-2010.html