Who is ADWebKey?
WebKey IT was founded eleven years ago on the back of Dr. Vivienne Conway’s Ph.D. thesis. Her studies were based on an assessment of Australia’s national transition strategy to move government resources online, away from paper-based documents. This is where Dr. Conway noticed a space in the market for digital accessibility solutions.
Upon Dr. Conway’s retirement, AbleDocs bought WebKey IT and transitioned the company to ADWebKey. The ADWebKey team has been together for a long time, creating a close-knit group of coworkers whose main focus areas are manual audits and user testing.
What does ADWebKey do?
ADWebKey provides manual auditing and user testing services for AbleDocs. The Website Analyst team tests and audits digital products against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium. The ADWebKey team is flexible and adaptive and can find the right solution for any issue. Each team member works together to take on parts of what needs to be done, whether it’s consulting, training, or coming up with client solutions.
In addition to the Website Analyst team, ADWebKey’s Usability Analyst team is a group of users with various disabilities who are all experts in using their specific assistive technologies. ADWebKey can pair a usability audit with a manual audit to provide valuable insight to the client based on the feedback given by each Usability Analyst from their own lived experiences.
Including user testers with a wide range of disabilities incorporates a real-life user and lived user experience into the testing process, which is the most impactful way to find issues in digital content. The diversity of our user team is vital in reflecting the breadth of disabilities in the world. Our Usability Analyst team includes people with different disabilities, including users with blindness and low vision, deafness and mobility impairments, and cognitive and developmental disabilities such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, dyslexia, and dyscalculia. The inclusion of this scope of disabilities is essential. Many people don’t identify as having these disabilities, but they are still impacted by how they absorb digital content.
ADWebKey’s Usability Analysts provide fresh perspectives during audits. User experience is about providing the opportunity for great experiences and significant impacts. We encourage our user testers to share the good, the bad, and the ugly. The ADWebKey team is always looking for the perfect combination of accessibility and usability to determine how end users can engage with and use digital content and resources.
Each team member plays an integral role within the company to ensure we always find a solution. We could talk all day about our amazing team in Australia, so here is an introduction to a few team members.
Meet the team
Amanda Mace
Amanda Mace is the Vice President of AbleDocs Australasia and leads the Website Analyst and Usability Analyst teams. The Website Analyst teams perform technical audits, including testing and auditing mobile applications, websites, and documents against the standards of WCAG. The Usability Analyst team comprises individuals with various disabilities that affect how they access and interact with digital content.
“Nothing should be done without user testing,” says Amanda. “And if we’re doing user testing, we need to use testers with disabilities because we know how important that is.”
Christie Woods
Christie Woods is ADWebKey’s Senior Website Analyst. Christie is fantastic at tackling projects when they come on board as a project lead and primary consultant for clients. Christie is deaf in one ear, and her depth perception differs from somebody who has hearing in both ears. She came on with no technical knowledge or background in how people with a disability, including herself, may use technology. Over the past five years of working with ADWebKey, she has become an expert in WCAG and HTML. Christie’s excellent learning initiative makes her a sponge for information.
Stuart Shearing
Stuart is a Website Analyst for ADWebKey, who joined the team with a development background and experience using WCAG. Stuart’s technical background, understanding, and experience in website development have helped him succeed in his role within the ADWebKey team.
Simonette Carter
Simonette is a Website Analyst for ADWebKey. Her background in editing equips her with great attention to detail, which makes Simonette a great auditor. After four years of working with ADWebKey, Simonette has proven that she is the type of person that can tackle any update or challenge that she’s presented with.
Karl McCabe
Karl McCabe is a Website Analyst who joined the team from a design background. His passion for making the world a better place and wanting to contribute is only part of what makes Karl a fantastic analyst. Karl also has branched into document accessibility, training for InDesign or MadeToTag, and assisting clients with design issues.
