1. Office Document Accessibility for the Australian Government Andrew Arch A/g Director, Web Advice and Policy Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) 24 May 2012 University of Canberra

2. Inclusive and Accessible Communities Our policy goal: People with a disability have equal access to the information they need to make informed choices about all aspects of their lives and equal opportunities to access all means of communication.

3. Disability Statistics in Australia 1 in 5 Australians have a disability (4 million) 54% of people over 65 years 15% of people under 65 years

4. Online Accessibility: Why must we? Legislation and government policy Disability Discrimination Act 1992 Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Mandate for Australian Government (FMA Act) agencies to comply with WCAG 2.0 CAC Act agencies encouraged to opt-in States and Territories also require WCAG 2.0

5. WCAG 2.0 Endorsement OCC endorsed WCAG 2.0 for federal, state and local government in November 2009, SIGB extended mandate for FMA Act agencies Conformance required at: Level A by 31 December 2012 Level AA by 31 December 2014 (FMA Act agencies only, others by opt-in)

6. AGIMO’s Role Develop a National Transition Strategy for the implementation of WCAG 2.0 Establish Communities of Expertise to collaborate and educate web managers Develop supporting projects to resolve common issues = Mitigation Projects Aim: unified, consistent and cost effective implementation of updated web standard

7. Process to upgrade to WCAG 2.0 Enabling Project: Accessibility Education

8. Why focus on Office document creation? Third most popular format on government websites (following HTML & PDF) DOC is: most commonly requested alternative format most common format on many intranets Assists the creation of accessible HTML pages and PDF files Early incorporation of accessibility is the easiest Office docs are the lingua franca of agencies

9. Disability and public sector employment State of the Service Report (APSC) Ongoing Staff with disabilities –5.5% in 1996 –4.3% in 2001 –3.6% in 2006 –3.0% in 2011

10. What now? Create more accessible Office documents Provide multiple accessible formats whenever WCAG 2.0 conformance is not claimed Be responsive to requests for alternative formats Consider why you use ANY format – how will users consume and share this information? Will the formats used enable or hinder access?

11. Resources Web Guide: Accessibility Mandate and Advice http://webguide.gov.au/ WCAG 2.0 Community of Expertise (CoE) http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/category/accessibility/ National Transition Strategy (NTS) http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/ wcag-2-implementation/http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/ wcag-2-implementation/ State of the Service reports http://www.apsc.gov.au/stateoftheservice/

12. Contacts AGIMO Accessibility Team: Phone: 02 6215 1653 Email: wcag2@finance.gov.auwcag2@finance.gov.au