WebAIM Director Recognized for Social Impact of Work

WebAIM Director Jared Smith recently received the Social Impact Award at the Information and Communication Technologies Accessibility Testing Symposium in Washington, DC.

WebAIM has provided web accessibility solutions since 1999 through tools, education and technical assistance. It is part of the Institute for Disability Research, Policy & Practice within the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University.

“I'm just thrilled to have been recipient of that award,” he said. “Anytime there are accolades like that, I always think back to our entire team here. It really is a team effort.”

Sam Kanta, accessibility and UX consultant for The Sustainable Change, said Smith and the WebAIM team have helped user experience professionals make the case for social impact. They can argue the need for better accessibility to their business, nonprofit and government leaders, thanks to WebAIM’s research. The annual WebAIM Million report provides them real data. (In its most recent report, WebAIM detected an average of 50 errors per homepage after surveying the world’s top 1 million websites.)

Kanta was a key coordinator for the conference and the sponsor of the Social Change award.

“We actually have a very large set of quantitative data that has so many possibilities for more ongoing analysis,” Kanta said. “It gives us a strong foundation to be able to refer to when we're making the case, or demonstrating the challenges.

“The fact that they have repeated the WebAIM million is fantastic, too, because we can then see incrementally what has changed and shifted,” she said. “And then that enables people in this space to take opportunities to improve upon part of their web experience … to make it more inclusive.”

In addition to a trophy, the award provided $500 for a charity of the recipient’s choice. The prize was donated to NVDA, an Australian nonprofit that provides free screen reader technology to those with print disabilities.

Smith, in addition to receiving the recognition, delivered a keynote address at the ICT symposium.

To find out more about WebAIM and its mission, visit the organization’s website.