Judy Brewer has been recognized by the ACM for service to the computing community through her leadership at W3C of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) work. This work includes development of multiple web accessibility standards which have been adopted globally and have improved accessibility for millions worldwide.

The ACM noted: “In the late 1990s, although web design was flourishing, accessibility was not. Millions of new users uploaded image maps, frames, and other features that proved problematic at best and prohibitive at worst for users with auditory, cognitive, motor, neurological, physical, speech and visual disabilities. Under Brewer’s direction, WAI develops the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which provide developers with a set of criteria to judge the accessibility of the sites they are building. WCAG has also inspired the development of numerous evaluation tools capable of reviewing web pages to identify potential barriers such as non-navigable menu structures and images without alternative textual descriptions. The WCAG specifications and these tools provide a baseline for accessible web design, and for accessibility of web-based technologies such as real-time communications and virtual reality.”

Judy stated: “I am deeply honored to receive this ACM Award for service to the Computing Community. This award recognizes the importance of digital accessibility to the lives of over a billion people with disabilities worldwide, and the impact of years of dedicated collaborative work by W3C’s large international community of accessibility experts in developing standards and guidelines that help make the web work for everyone, including in technologies that are newly emerging onto the web. I want to thank the ACM for recognizing the progress in digital accessibility, and its place among other areas of computer science.”

Learn about freely available resources for accessibility of web technologies from the great WAI Team and community on W3C’s WAI website; including translations of WAI resources; what WAI is working on currently;  different WAI News options; and opportunities to get involved in WAI work.

WAI’s work is made possible in part by support from the National Institute on Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research at the US Department of Health and Human Services; by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme, the Ford Foundation, IBM, HP, and W3C Members.

Read more about the ACM award.