IAAP Nordic hybrid event in Helsinki, Finland
3-4 February 2025
The event is organized by the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and hosted by Tietoevry at the headquarters.
Welcome to the long-awaited return of a IAAP Nordic hybrid event!
Finally we get the chance to meet and share knowledge face to face and online again.
You can register for onsite or online participation, both are handled via Zoom. After you have entered your email address, you can select onsite or online.
Register for the 4 February external event, opens in a new window
Day 1
3 February
Member only onsite only workshop 13.00-17.00 EET
followed by social and networking.
Background and content
The half-day workshop is part of a series of events initiated at the IAAP EU Paris event in 2024.
European accessibility legislation points to the EN301549 for technical specifications of compliance. Already in the current version, 60 of these requirements are not found in WCAG, which means there is no “how to meet”/understanding/examples of techniques or similar documentation attached to the EN. With the European Accessibility Act, the requirements are expected to increase – making the gap even wider.
Lack of prescriptive testing procedures leaves room for flexibility and innovation, but also requires organisations in scope as well as monitoring agencies and surveillance authorities to have both knowledge and experience of testing requirements that may be “new” to them. Automatic testing tools are far from covering these requirements and accessibility experts are still discussing the details. Developers, designers and content producers – as well as monitoring/surveillance authorities – need a common understanding of the requirements and how to test them.
During this workshop, led by subject matter experts from across the EU, IAAP members, surveillance/monitoring agencies and end users with disabilities will work together on handling, interpretation, testing and alignment of the EN requirements beyond WCAG. The results of the workshop feed directly into the ongoing work of updating the EN-standard and will be publicly available at no cost – open to all.
The workshop is onsite only, open to IAAP members or by invitation only. The number of seats is limited. If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please register your interest:
Registration of interest to participate in the 3 February workshop, opens in a new window
Day 2
4 February
Hybrid external event 09.30-17.00 EET
Open to all
09.30-10.00 EET Registration and coffee
10.00-10.15 EET Welcome and introduction
Mika Huovinen, Head of Delivery Operations Finland, Tietoevry Create
10.15-10.30 EET Keynote: Digital inclusion in the Nordic region
Lars Lindberg, Senior Advisor, Nordic Welfare Center
10.30-11.15 EET European Accessibility Act – the legal perspective
Surveillance authorities from different countries share their views on enforcement, penalties, documentation and other relevant topics.
Panelists:
Aleksas Žalpys, Senior adviser, Market surveillance coordination division, State Consumer Rights Protection Authority, Lithuania
Eetu Komsi, Specialist, Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom
Lisa Larsson Falk, Coordinator External Relations at the Unit for Accessibility Regulation, Swedish Post- and Telecom Authority
Rebecka Marie Nilsen, Technologist, Norwegian Digitalisation Agency
11.15-11.45 EET User perspective: Don’t make me think!
Hanna Adolfsson tells a personal story about cognitive accessibility barriers.
11.45-13.00 EET Lunch and networking
13.00-13.45 EET Is this app accessible? Live testing demo!
Eeva-Jonna Panula, Senior Android developer and accessibility expert.
Hands on learning and sharing of knowledge when Eeva-Jonna demonstrates how to manually test Android apps for accessibility – live on stage! You will learn how to perform manual accessibility tests, what tools to use and where to start. You will also get to know some possible causes of common accessibility issues.
Session moderator: Daniel Koskinen, Accessibility Specialist (CPWA), Gofore
13.45-14.30 EET Best practice: learn from H&M
Inspirational presentation of a global organisation in scope of the European Accessibility Act, EAA.
Didem Uguz, Experience Design Director, H&M
14.30-15.00 EET Coffee break
15.00-15.30 EET User perspective: I dream of being a transformer
Understanding disability through collective poetry writing
Olivia Dahl, Sociology Researcher, University of Copenhagen
15.30-16.15 EET Tech giants panel: The future of accessibility
Hypes and cool stuff happening in the accessibility world is presented by some of the leading companies behind the technological development. Future opportunities are discussed.
Panelists:
Aapo Latvala, Cloud Solution Architect, Application innovation & Accessibility, Microsoft
Christopher Patnoe, Head of EMEA Accessibility and Inclusion, Google
Neil Milliken, Global Head of Accessibility, Atos
16.15-17.00 EET IAAP Nordic update and panel discussion
Presentation of upcoming activities in the Nordic chapter.
Malin Hammarberg, IAAP Nordic Advisory Council
Panel discussion with IAAP organisational members:
Annika Valtari, UX & Accessibility Lead (CPWA), Eficode Oy
Nadezhda Törnroos, Accessibility Specialist (CPWA), Tietoevry
Timo Övermark, Lead UX and Accessibility specialist (CPWA), Q-factory
