From Conference to Industry Association: Bri Norton, Ricky Onsman, and Amanda Mace

Brigitta (Bri) Norton
Digital Accessibility Consultant at Ability Works
Bri is a Digital Strategist and User Experience and Accessibility specialist based in Canberra, Australia and has been an Accessibility Lead for both State and Federal Government and is currently a Digital Accessibility Consultant at Ability Works. Bri has more recently co-developed inclusive research workshops to share how to include accessibility earlier in the project lifecycle which includes engaging with people with disability as part of inclusive research activities.

Amongst her professional experience with government agencies and local businesses, Bri is the co-chair for Australia’s Web Accessibility Initiative OZeWAI.org, a Standards Australia Accessible ICT Procurement Committee Member and a member of the ResearchOps.Community Cheese Board.

Ricky Onsman
Principal Technical Writer for the Knowledge Center at TPGi
Ricky Onsman is Principal Technical Writer for the Knowledge Center at TPGi, a global digital accessibility company. He writes guidance articles for TPGi staff and clients conducting manual accessibility audits, as well helping to craft the rules engine for TPGi’s automated testing tools, developing training courses, and writing blog posts.

Ricky built his first website in 1994, when it was still assumed that accessibility was a given, and since then has worked in IT for a range of companies and organizations, then as a freelance web designer and front end developer, then as an accessibility specialist with organisations like AccessIQ, Simply Accessible, AccessibilityOz, Intopia, Tenon, and now TPGi.

Ricky has been a member of the Australian Web Accessibility Initiative (OZeWAI) since 2014 and, as a Committee Member, has played a key role in developing the organization’s web presence and newsletters, and its transition from conference organizer to national industry association.

Amanda Mace
Vice President at GrackleDocs
Amanda is a Subject Matter Expert in Digital Accessibility with more than 10 years of experience in the industry. She manages the Australasia office for GrackleDocs while growing and promoting the brand across the region. She also manages the audit team which is responsible for manual WCAG audits for our clients. Amanda is one of only two Australian-based W3C evangelists and the W3C Australian Western Region Chapter manager.

When it comes to accessibility, she believes that innovation with accessibility built into it provides security, independence, and privacy for people with disabilities and ultimately better, more usable digital products for all. She has spent her career advocating that it is everyone’s job to do their bit to remove barriers so all people can have equal access and equal opportunity in the digital world. Using her expertise in WCAG and PDF/UA to educate and help others understand digital access as well as how to go above and beyond standards, to ensuring great user experiences.

She is certified by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) as a Certified Professional. Having begun her accessibility career as a WCAG auditor/tester, she worked her way up in that small business through to management. Throughout her career, She has had many opportunities to contribute to educating others about digital accessibility including, co-authoring a book chapter for the textbook, “Web Accessibility A Foundation for Research,” as well as a white paper entitled, “Digital Accessibility: Perceptions, Expectations and Reality.”