Open Accessibility (A11y) Workgroup

Open A11y Workgroup's Mission Statement

First chartered in 2004 as the Linux Foundation Accessibility Workgroup (LFA), the Open Accessibility (A11y) Group functions today within the Linux Foundation to establish free and open standards that enable comprehensive universal access to various computing platforms, applications, and services. Open A11y makes it easier for developers, ISVs, and distributions to support assistive technologies (AT). Assistive technologies enable individuals to make full use of computer-based technology despite variability in physical or sensory abilities due to illness, aging or disability.

AT enables individuals who are blind or visually impaired to read online text, for example, and provides the means for individuals who do not have the use of their arms and hands to write and correspond. AT also enable individuals who cannot speak or hear to participate on the telephony interfaces of today -- and will support their participation on the multimodal computer interfaces of tomorrow.

• AT-SPI2 2.0.1 Available for Download (2011-04-27)
• IAccessible2 1.2.0 released under BSD License
• Linux Foundation Announces New Licensing Terms, Testing Tools for Accessibility Interfaces
  • AccProbe: The Accessibility Probe
• news from Open A11y

Open A11y Workgroup Resources

• Email Lists: Archives & List Services
• Meetings: Agendas & Minutes
• Specifications: Drafts & Recommendations
• irc.a11y.org (on the #a11y or #ia2 channel)
• Open A11y Workgroup Participants
• Open A11y's Executive Officers
• Open Accessibility BZR Repository
• Open Accessibility GForge Projects
• Bugzilla

For Developers

Interested in writing cross-platform accessible applications?

• AT-SPI Interfaces and Subinterfaces
  • Prototyped ATK/AT-SPI Conformance Tests (BZR repository)
  • ATK/AT-SPI Best Practices
  • ATK/AT-SPI on D-Bus

• Keyboard Access Functional Specification, 1.0 (KAFS)
  • Generic Assertions for Manual Testing (KAFS GTA)

• Learn more about the IAccessible2 interfaces for Windows.
  • IAccessible2, version 1.2.0
  • AccProbe: The Accessibility Probe is a standaloneapplication that provides a view of the Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) or IAccessible2 hierarchy of a currently running application or rendered document and of the properties of the accessible objects of that application or document

• Get support or ask a question either on the Accessibility mailing list or via irc.a11y.org, in channels #a11y and #ia2 -- or, create your own channel and get others involved!

A11y Special Interest Groups

• ATK/AT-SPI SIG
  • ATK/AT-SPI Emailing List
• Expert Handlers SIG
  • Handlers Meetings/Minutes
  • Handlers Emailing List
• IAccessible2 SIG
  • IA2 Meetings & Minutes
  • IAccessible2 Emailing List
• Input/Output (I/O) SIG
  • Input/Output Accessibility Emailing List
• Keyboard Accessibility SIG
  • Keyboard Accessibility Emailing List

Archival References & Resources

• Statement On Desktop Accessibility Development
• Open A11y Charter (2003)
• Open A11y Roadmap (2003)
• Open A11y Workgroup Description (2003)
• Accessibility Standards for Linux (press release, 2004)