My Blind Spot, a founding member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals is proud to share this announcement. Thanks to Paul Bowman for chairing this committee and delivering on one of the IAAP’s benchmarks and milestones.

The first opportunity to become IAAP-certified with the credential “Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies” will be in San Diego on Tuesday, March 22 at 1:00. Here are the details:

  • Date: March 22
  • Time: 1:00-3:00 (you may finish early)
  • Location: Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina (next to the Hyatt hotel where the CSUN conference is being held)
  • Discount Price! The IAAP is offering a $100 discount rate of $225 for members and $325 for nonmembers, only for this first exam session. Future exam sessions will be at the regular price.
  • Sign up: The IAAP will publish an online signup form. In the meantime, you can pre-register by sending an email to info@accessibilityassociation.org

The date and location coincide with the CSUN conference, but IAAP certification is not affiliated with the conference. For those who cannot make it to this exam session, there will be other opportunities, and the test can be administered locally around the world through a testing center or test proctor at a site convenient to you. If you are interested in a local test session (available starting May 2, 2016), contact info@accessibilityassociation.org to arrange the details.

About the CPACC credential:

The certification exam covers broad concepts about disabilities and accessibility relevant to anyone working in an accessibility-related field, whether technical or not. The CPACC is a foundational credential, designed to ensure that accessibility professionals have a common vocabulary and understanding of essential challenges and principles of accessible design. The exam draws on wisdom from both the digital and non-digital realms of accessibility, to encourage cross-disciplinary thinking to common accessibility problems. For general information about IAAP certification, see www.accessibilityassociation.org/

The three broad topics in the exam are:

  1. Disabilities, Challenges, and Assistive Technologies
  2. Accessibility and Universal Design
  3. Declarations, Standards, Laws, Standards, and Management Strategies

For more details on the topics, see http://www.accessibilityassociation.org/content.asp?admin=Y&contentid=340

Note: The IAAP also intends to release a future credential in the digital/web accessibility realm with a more technical focus. Details about that credential will be published as they become available. Even people who are interested in the more technical credential should start with the CPACC credential, because the intent is for future credentials to build on the CPACC credential, not substitute for it.

Preparing for the CPACC Certification Exam

You will want to review the exam topics and study before the exam. The IAAP will soon publish a “Body of Knowledge” document with more details about the topics on the exam, and the IAAP will publish a list of providers of certification preparation courses and materials.

Questions?

As Chair of the IAAP Certification Committee, I am happy to answer any questions that you may have. This is an exciting development in the accessibility field that will help raise the profession to the next level, and will help to raise the profile of the profession in the eyes employers who seek accessibility talent.