Pre-Conference Workshops

Full-Day and Half-Day Pre-Conference Workshops will be offered on Monday, March 8, 2027. These workshops are designed to give in-depth training on specific topics.

Participants can register for bundles at the full-day workshop fee (a savings of $175 or more) or register for either portion at the half-day workshop fee. The Workshop Bundles include:

Intro to Assistive Technology Bundle
- Foundations of Assistive Technology
- Exploring dynamic and Interactive Factors that Influence AT Use
AI Bundle
- Don't make your AI read WCAG. The Secret to Accessible AI
- Vibe Coding to Accessible Coding: Building A11y Guardrails
Digital Accessibility Bundle
- Introduction to ARIA
- ARIA Authoring Practices and Risk-Based Accessibility Testing
Accessible STEM in the Classroom Bundle
- Co-Designing Inclusive STEM Learning: K-12 Assistive Technology
- Accessibility Across Diverse Learners and Teaching STEM Accessibility: Assistive Technology and Inclusive Design

This workshop will introduce assistive technology at a beginner level, ranging from defining terms to specific devices to assistive technology services. Various AT products will be covered across diverse contexts of their use, including daily living, education, and employment. Attendees will learn about AT services, and how to identify the need for service as related to an AT system. This workshop will include collaborative work with other attendees in order to coordinate an AT system for case studies, as well as outline resulting AT service needs. Throughout the workshop, resources will be shared to facilitate long-term application of skills developed in the session.Expert framing: Presenters will clarify Title II requirements, highlighting not only what must be done by the deadline but also what ongoing responsibilities remain.

Case studies: CSU system and CSUN examples will illustrate sustainable models for governance, procurement, and training.
Interactive planning: Participants will work through guided exercises to identify immediate post-deadline priorities and build a “managed roadmap” for the next 12–24 months.
Group reflection: Facilitated discussion will surface shared challenges, creative solutions, and opportunities for collaboration across institutions.

This workshop will explore the relationship between factors of the person, environment, and technology, and their dynamic interactions. Effective assistive technology (AT) use depends on a good “fit,” which is facilitated by AT services which consider the range of unique characteristics of the user, the built environment and its objects, the social environment, the task requirements and goals, and the factors of the technology system. These foundational concepts will be framed using existing AT models and AT abandonment research, and participants will develop skills in determining applicable factors of the person-environment-technology “fit” towards an effective AT system and its sustained use. Interactive learning will include case studies and real-world examples of AT systems, where participants will apply their knowledge to determining factors integral to an effective AT system for that case across AT evaluation, instruction, and support services.Participants will explore the principles, scope, and implementation timeline of the EAA, its four core accessibility pillars, and the seven covered product and service areas. The session also examines the EN 301 549 standard, its alignment with WCAG, and the challenges of achieving harmonized implementation across Europe. Attendees will gain insights into monitoring, compliance, and enforcement processes, and have the opportunity to discuss the EAA’s broader impact and its relationship to U.S. and international accessibility initiatives.

Generative AI is rapidly changing how software is designed and developed. Developers can now create functional interfaces within minutes through conversational prompting and “vibe coding.” However, faster software generation does not automatically result in accessible software. When accessibility requirements are absent from prompts, skills, and engineering practices, AI-generated interfaces can reproduce familiar accessibility barriers at greater speed and scale. This interactive workshop explores how accessibility guardrails can be intentionally embedded into AI-assisted software development.

What accessibility knowledge should remain with the human when AI writes much of the code?

Identify accessibility risks in AI-generated software and explain why AI-assisted development does not remove the need for foundational accessibility knowledge and human review.
Create and apply accessibility guardrails within AI-assisted development workflows, including requirements, prompts, skills, checkpoints, testing strategies, and remediation practices.
Develop a reusable accessibility guardrail workflow that can be adapted for software engineering teams, accessibility programs, computing education, design practice, and organizational AI-development guidelines.

Dr. Partha is a software professional, educator, and researcher with over a decade of experience across software engineering, accessibility, and user research. His doctoral research focused on digital accessibility education, including serious games, educator resources, and scalable training approaches for computing students and practicing professionals. He currently works on product accessibility research and AI for Accessibility at Salesforce and also teaches computing courses through BITS Pilani, India. His broader research interests include digital accessibility, computing education, human-AI collaboration, and accessible AI-assisted software engineering. He has presented his work at esteemed conferences and events across the Globe.

Shyanne Fullerton is a Senior Digital Accessibility Engineer at Salesforce, partnering with designers, developers, and product managers to build accessibility into products from the start. With over eight years of accessibility experience — including roles at McGraw Hill, Alight Solutions, HCL Technologies, and Level Access — she specializes in WCAG/508 audits, remediation strategy, and assistive technology testing (JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, TalkBack). With a strong UX and front-end background, Shyanne is dedicated to making digital products more inclusive and usable for people with disabilities.

This workshop introduces the Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) specification and how it communicates web content, structure, and interactions to assistive technologies. The workshop is designed for accessibility newcomers and experienced practitioners, the session equips participants to evaluate web resources and give developers effective guidance. Participants will develop a practical understanding of how assistive technologies interpret webpage code and how ARIA roles, states, and properties shape the user experience. Small groups will explore the ARIA Authoring Practices Guide and its features to identify the components of accessible design. Through hands-on activities, participants will learn when ARIA is appropriate, when native HTML is preferable, and how accessible names, descriptions, roles, states, and properties communicate behavior and status. They will consider how keyboard interaction and landmark regions support efficient navigation, and how implementation choices can either reduce confusion or create barriers. Participants will test the steps of creating a custom checkbox and comparing it to the experience of a native checkbox using a screen reader. Disclosure buttons and a menu button will be used to demonstrate that widgets may look alike, but they must communicate different roles, interactions, and expectations. The session concludes with navigation-menu discussion and open-source ARIA validation tools.

Dr. Gunderson has over 40 years of experience in technology and disability. He most recently served as the Coordinator of Accessible IT Group in the Division of Disability Resources and Education Services (DRES) at the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana for over 25 years. At Illinois he was responsible for helping the campus understand the accessibility issues of its online administrative and instructional resources and worked with campus IT professionals and instructors to improve accessibility.

He has participated in the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) since its inception in 1997. He is the past chair of the W3C WAI User Agent Accessibility Working Group and currently a participant in the W3C WAI ARA working group. He is a major contributor to the ARIA Authoring Practices

He is a Certified Web Accessibility Professional (CWAP) from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering (Human Factors) all from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Testing is always a series of choices. What do we test first, where do we go deeper, and which failures create the greatest risk for users?

This hands-on workshop introduces risk-based testing techniques for accessibility work. Instead of treating every page, component, or defect as equally important, we will learn how to identify critical user journeys, assess impact and likelihood, prioritize test effort, and decide where deeper testing will deliver the greatest value.

You will leave with practical techniques, reusable models, and a clearer way to decide what to test first, how deeply to test it, and how to explain why it matters.

You cannot test everything. Risk-based testing helps you test what matters most.

This half-day session introduces participants to key accessibility principles and instructional strategies for K-12 educators working with students across multiple disability areas. Participants will learn foundational approaches for supporting students with visual impairments, deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, neurodiverse learners, and other disabilities in inclusive and specialized educational settings.

While the workshop's core expertise is rooted in visual impairment, this session is designed to give participants a working understanding of how accessibility needs and strategies differ across disability types. Topics will include assistive technologies, instructional accommodations, and communication access. Drawing on contributions from faculty with expertise across these disability areas, participants will leave this session with a broader framework for thinking about inclusive K-12 instruction.

Nasrin Bayat is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Chapman University, where she works on accessible assistive technologies designed to support STEM education for blind and visually impaired children. Her research focuses on developing inclusive and accessible learning tools that help make STEM education more engaging and accessible to students with visual impairments.

She received her Ph.D. from the University of Central Florida in 2024. Her dissertation, titled “Deep Learning Informed Assistive Technologies for Biomedical and Human Activity Applications,” explored the use of deep learning to develop innovative assistive technologies for biomedical and human activity applications.

Lauren Min is a Research Assistant at Chapman University, where she focuses on human-computer interaction, accessibility, and the design of inclusive technologies that address the needs of individuals with disabilities.

Her research has spanned venues including the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Human-Computer Interaction International (HCII), and the International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence (UCAmI). Her work spans accessible educational technologies, wearable sensing for ADHD, and conversational voice interfaces for individuals with Down syndrome.

The second session builds on the morning's accessibility foundation and turns to the workshop's primary focus: teaching accessible STEM for K-12 students, with a core emphasis on students with visual impairments and connections to how these approaches can support deaf and hard-of-hearing learners, neurodiverse students, and others.

Participants will engage in an interactive, collaborative, flashcard-based activity to construct a K-12 STEM lesson plan. Through this process, participants will identify learning objectives, instructional modalities, existing technologies, student needs, and teacher actions. Discussion will highlight when and how assistive technologies are incorporated into STEM instruction, as well as gaps and challenges educators commonly face.

Nasrin Bayat is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Chapman University, where she works on accessible assistive technologies designed to support STEM education for blind and visually impaired children. Her research focuses on developing inclusive and accessible learning tools that help make STEM education more engaging and accessible to students with visual impairments.

She received her Ph.D. from the University of Central Florida in 2024. Her dissertation, titled “Deep Learning Informed Assistive Technologies for Biomedical and Human Activity Applications,” explored the use of deep learning to develop innovative assistive technologies for biomedical and human activity applications.

Lauren Min is a Research Assistant at Chapman University, where she focuses on human-computer interaction, accessibility, and the design of inclusive technologies that address the needs of individuals with disabilities.

Her research has spanned venues including the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Human-Computer Interaction International (HCII), and the International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence (UCAmI). Her work spans accessible educational technologies, wearable sensing for ADHD, and conversational voice interfaces for individuals with Down syndrome.

Learn about the first Digital Accessibility Ethics Framework, its 10 core values, and the actions and questions it uses to help guide ethical decisions and approaches to all aspects of technology.
Discover and practice different ways [LF2.1]to apply the Framework, or any ethics lens, to a product or project with any kind of human-facing digital aspect.
Consider and practice ways to use an ethics lens as an advocacy tool to advance digital accessibility and help organizations and disabled people avoid legal, health and safety, reputational, security, and other risks that flow from disability exclusion.

Lainey Feingold is a globally recognized disability rights lawyer, author, and international speaker who has worked in the digital accessibility space since 1995. She helped negotiate the first web accessibility agreement in the United States in 2000 and has worked with the blind community and dozens of companies on accessibility initiatives since then. Her first book is Structured Negotiation: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits (2d Edition 2021).

Lainey is a global thought leader in the fields of digital accessibility and collaborative problem solving. She has delivered keynotes, trainings, and other talks across and outside the US and has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and NBC News, among other news outlets. In 2025 she was included in the Forbes inaugural Accessibility 100 list.

Lainey was named a Legal Rebel and Problem Solver of the Year by the American Bar Association and twice received a California Lawyer Magazine “Attorney of the Year Award.” More information on Lainey’s website at lflegal.com/

Adrian Roselli has been developing for the Web since 1993. He has contributed to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), written articles for trade journals and web sites, participated as an author and editor on five web-related books, and was a founder of evolt.org, one of the first and largest communities for web developers in the 1990s. Adrian is an internationally recognized and respected digital accessibility expert who is regularly asked to review books, open source projects, and standards efforts. He has spoken around the world — from Singapore to Hong Kong, London to France, Lithuania to Serbia, Australia to Canada, and across the USA.

Intro to AT Bundle

Foundations of Assistive Technology

Summary

Learning Objectives

Biography

Brendan Stapley

Exploring dynamic and Interactive Factors that Influence AT Use

Summary

Learning Objectives

Biography

Erin Brunelle

AI Bundle

Don’t make your AI read WCAG. The secret to Accessible AI

Summary

Learning Objectives

Biography

Joe Devon

Charlie Triplett

Vibe Coding to Accessible Coding: Building A11y Guardrails

Summary

Learning Objectives

Biography

Parthasarathy PD

Shyanne Fullerton

Digital Accessibility Bundle

Introduction to ARIA

Summary

Learning Objectives

Biography

Jon Gunderson

Crista Earl

Risk-Based Accessibility Testing

Summary

Learning Objectives

Biography

Radostina Tsvetkova

Accessible STEM in the Classroom Bundle

Co-Designing Inclusive STEM Learning: K-12 Assistive Technology and Accessibility Across Diverse Learners

Summary

Learning Objectives

Biography

Nasrin Bayat

Lauren Min

Teaching STEM Accessibility: Assistive Technology and Inclusive Design

Summary

Learning Objectives

Biography

Nasrin Bayat

Lauren Min

Standalone Workshops: Digital Accessibility Ethics

Applying the Digital Accessibility Ethics Framework

Summary

Learning Objectives

Biography

Lainey Feingold

Adrian Roselli