Between September 1997 and January 2023, Judy was Director of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
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Between September 1997 and January 2023, Judy Brewer directed the Web Accessibility Initiative
(WAI) at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). W3C's work
to improve accessibility of the web for people with disabilities and older
users includes ensuring that W3C standards support
accessibility; developing accessibility guidelines for Web
content and applications, browsers and mobile
devices, and authoring tools; developing
resources to improve Web accessibility evaluation
tools; providing education and outreach on Web
accessibility; coordinating with research and
development which may impact future accessibility of the Web; and
promoting implementation of Web accessibility standards. WAI guidelines
include the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, which has been adopted by many
governments around the world; the Authoring
Tool Accessibility Guidelines and User
Agent Accessibility Guidelines; and Accessible
Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA).
Judy coordinated accessibility policy and standardization issues for W3C
internationally, promoting awareness and implementation of Web
accessibility, and ensuring effective dialog among industry, the
disability community, accessibility researchers, and government on the
development of consensus-based accessibility solutions.
Judy is the recipient of a RESNA Certificate of Appreciation for efforts
related to assistive technology policy development during national health
care reform; an Equality of Access and Opportunity Award from the American
Foundation for the Blind for advocacy to increase the accessibility of the
Windows 95 operating system; and an Access Advancement Award from the
Association of Access Engineering Specialists for efforts related to Web
accessibility. She was named in the August, 2000 issue of Internet World
as one of the "Net's Rising Stars." She was awarded the Harry J. Murphy
Catalyst Award at the CSUN 2002 Conference; the Roland Wagner European
Award for Computers Assisting People with Special Needs in 2002; the Susan
G. Hadden Pioneer Award from the Alliance for Public Technology in 2003;
SXSW's Dewey Winburne Community Service Award in 2012; the Newell Perry
Award from the US National Federation of the Blind in 2014; the Migel
Medal from the American Foundation for the Blind in 2015; the ICT
Accessibility Testing Symposium Social Impact Award in 2016; the UN G3ict
10th Anniversary Digital Accessibility Leadership Award in 2016; the 2018
SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and
Accessibility, and the ACM 2021 Policy Award.
Prior to joining W3C, Judy worked on several US-based initiatives to
increase access to mainstream technology for people with disabilities, and
to improve dialog between industry and the disability community. These
initiatives included work on Section 508 of the Workforce Investment Act,
Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act, accessibility of the Windows 95
Operating System, and access to durable medical equipment for people with
disabilities. Judy has background in management, technical writing,
education, applied linguistics, disability advocacy, and biotechnology.
Last updated 6 July 2023.
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