David MacDonald @davidmacd

David MacDonald, Veteran WCAG team member (since 2002), Co-editor of Using ARIA. #a11y consultant & trainer. President of CanAdapt. davidmacd.com Ottawa Joined February 2009

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

7 months ago

After a couple of years helping my wife who just passed due to ALS. Downloaded latest #NVDA and it still doesn't seem to support aria-errormessage on form fields. So I'm still recommending aria-describedby. davidmacd.com/blog/test-aria…

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

9 months ago

This is how I'll always remember my wife Kirsten.

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

9 months ago

My wife has lost her battle with ALS. Dec. 19/24, heroic fight impacted thousands of people following her. I love you Kirsten & miss you, and so does our 8 year old daughter. You taught me more about disability than my 25 years as an accommodation specialist and WCAG team member

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

2 years ago

Hey WCAG evaluators. A link to a PDF forces download, doesn't open in browser... is it WEB content or is it something that would fall under WCAG2ICT

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

2 years ago

Accessible Wordpress #menu: I’ve been caring for my wife who is in final stage ALS for a couple of years…anyone know what is currently the best #WCAG conforming menu for #wordpress including the mobile break point hamburger.

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

2 years ago

Some have asked about my wife's ALS. Her story: She had cancer while pregnant at 48 yrs old w/ our only child, refused chemo, beat the cancer, baby born healthy, 6 years of perfect health and then ALS. Daughter is singing song to her. youtube.com/watch?v=CDeini…

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

2 years ago

If it GOES someWHERE use a link If it DOES someTHING use a button #a11y #WCAG

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

2 years ago

Hey devs: multiple role="alert" messages on a page that appear at the same time don't concatenate in JAWS, so only the last one will announce. JAWS says aler-aler-alert "text of last alert" . So don't add more than one at a time.#a11y #WCAG #aria

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

2 years ago

The human psyche can adapt to very difficult things. Our #ALS journey has brought us closer to one another, and there are things we've learned that we would otherwise never know. After 25 years in #a11y I'm grateful to be on a steep learning curve necessitated by my wife's ALS.

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

3 years ago

2023 WebAIM Million report now available.lowest score for country code was CN (China) 79% > errors than average, and zh Language (Chinese) 77% > errors (3rd lowest for languages). Is WAVE ok w/ character languages or is #a11y low priority in China? Just wondering @jared_w_smith

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

3 years ago

Never give up ... persistence is the heart of overcoming adversity. Our ALS journey is teaching us that One Day at a Time is more than a cheap slogan. It's a way of life. And also the way of love. #A11Y

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

3 years ago

After 25 years as an #a11y professional in technical accommodations and #WCAG; 2 years with my wife's ALS has taught me that the real heroes of accommodation in the case of serious disability are those who help with the low tech basics of eating, sleeping, toileting and seating.

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

3 years ago

I've been suggesting a heading inside a table caption i.e., <caption><h3>table title</h3></caption>. Then the screen reader can find table title with heading navigation AND table navigation. HTML allows it. html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/tabl…

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

3 years ago

My wife's #ALS is advancing. ALS is a crazy disease, super high tech solutions for communication, mobility, breathing, transfers, and yet no way to stop motor neurons from dying. I'll be kind of sparse w/ tweets. Taking a year off to be with her and our 6 yr. daughter

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

3 years ago

Happy to be involved today in the #GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay event for the Government of Canada PSPC today. Will start presentation in a few minutes. @Jennison is speaking now about proactive accessibility. Great message. We have over 400 attendees.

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David MacDonald @davidmacd

3 years ago

Hey companies, if you have a deadline to meet #WCAG, start now. I've seen instances lately of organizations scrambling to get their sites conforming at the last minute to meet a compliance deadline, when they've know about it for months, but now senior management is in a panic.