As a consequence of the Internet Society de-chartering its existing Special Interest Groups, on January 1 2022 the Accessibility Special Interest Group (A11ySIG) has reverted to its former status as a project of the Internet Society New York Chapter (ISOC-NY).
A11ySIG was formed in September 2017 to rejuvenate the existing Internet Society Disability and Special Needs Chapter (DSNC), which was founded way back in 2002 by web accessibility pioneer Cynthia Waddell. On April 9 2019 A11ySIG was chartered by the Internet Society as a Special Interest Group, taking the place of the former chapter.
A11ySIG activities include webinars, participation in major policy conferences, a website, a wiki, a calendar, a mailing list, a whatsapp group, providing secretariat and funding support for the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (IGF DCAD), and livestream support for other accessibility-related events and groups such as WSIS, Accessibility NYC Meetup, and Accessibility VR Meetup.
A new separate ‘Accessibility Standing Group‘ (Accessibility SG) has been constituted by the Internet Society, which has yet to establish a program. A11ySIG expects to engage and support all efforts of the new group, while independently carrying on the ongoing wider activities. A11ySIG will still be open to worldwide membership.
Interested people are invited to join both groups. A11ySIG can be joined at https://a11ysig.org/join, the Accessibility SG by joining the Internet Society.