Introduction

The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) provides an internationalforum for collaboration between industry, disability organizations,accessibility researchers, government, and others interested in webaccessibility.

We encourage individuals and organizations around the world toparticipate in activities that help improve accessibility of the web.

After you read this page, if you have any questions about getting involved with WAI or would like more information, please send specific questions toShawn@w3.org with CC to wai@w3.org.

Getting News of Drafts for Review

Draft documents for review are listed on the WAI home page andNews page.

You can subscribe to get announcements via e-mail, Atom/RSS feed, or Twitter fromGet WAI News.

Participating in Guidelines and Groups

SeeHow WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3CProcess: Milestones and Opportunities toContribute to learn howWAI works through a process designed to:

• ensure broad community input, and
• encourage consensus development.

Reviewing Guidelines and Documents

WAI welcomes comments on documents at any time. Comments are handleddifferently depending on the stage of document development. See the“Feedback on Specific Documents” section of ContactingWAI for where to sendcomments.

One of the best times to comment on developing documents is during aformal period for public review. To get notified of open calls for review, see via e-mail, Atom/RSS feed, or Twitter fromGet WAI News.

Participating in Community Groups

W3C Community Groups cover a variety of topics.Anyone can join Community Groups, after getting a free W3C account and signing the W3C Community Contributor License Agreement. Of the longlist of Community Groups, here are some that are actively seeking contributors:

• ACT Rules CG
• ARIA and Assistive Technologies CG
• Cognitive Accessibility CG
• Immersive Captions CG
• Low Vision CG

Participating in Interest Groups

TheWAI Interest Group (WAI IG) is for general discussion andfeedback on all areas of WAI’s work. Most of the interaction within WAIIG is through the public mailing list.

Participating in Working Groups

Anyone can join a WAI Working Group public mailing list, or read thepublic list archives.

There are specific criteria for formally joining Working Groups,including requirements for participation and contribution. See theWorking Group pages below to find what group best fits your interestsand to get information on participation.

• AG WG — The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group develops guidelines for web pages, web applications, and other web content.SeeParticipating in AG WG.
• APA — The Accessible Platform Architectures (APA) Working Group reviews W3C’s specifications for accessibility support and develops technical support materials.SeeParticipating in APA WG.
• ARIA — The Accessible Rich Internet Applications Working Group develops a suite of accessible rich internet applications (ARIA) resources, and accessible APIs and mappings.SeeParticipating in ARIA WG.

Sponsoring WAI

WAI’s work is supported in part by sponsorship from industry,disability, and government organizations interested in contributing toWAI’s efforts to make the web more accessible. Please see the list ofcurrent sponsors and information on WAI sponsorship atSponsoringWAI.

Promoting and Implementing Web Accessibility

Promoting Awareness

• Share links to the “Perspectives Videos” that show the impact of accessibility and the benefits for everyone in a variety of situations.
• Encourage people to take theDigital Accessibility Foundations - Free Online Course
• Cover web accessibility inpresentations andtraining to web developers, designers,managers, and others. Use thecurricula to develop courses.
• Look around the W3C WAI website to find otheraccessibility resources for specificroles that you want to share on social media, within your organization, and with others.

Implementing Guidelines

• Use theWeb Content Accessibility Guidelines(WCAG) documents to help make your websiteaccessible.
• If you develop authoring tools—any software or service that peopleuse to create or modify web content, including content managementsystems—implement theAuthoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines(ATAG).
• If you develop web browsers, media players, assistive technologies,or other user agents—implement theUser Agent AccessibilityGuidelines (UAAG).

Encouraging Accessibility

• Encourage authoring tools to meetATAG by directly contactingvendors and requesting increased accessibility support in futureversions, and by purchasing tools that provide the best support foraccessibility.
• Encourage web browsers, media players, assistive technologies, andother user agents to meetUAAG.
• Encourage organizations toadopt an accessibilitypolicy for their organization that defines theircommitment to web accessibility.
• Encourage websites to be accessible, for example, providefeedbackon inaccessible websites and inaccessible web productscarefully; it isusually more productive to start with a positive encouraging tone,rather than a negative critical tone.