IA Labs Recap of 2022
On 27th April, Inclusion & Accessibility Labs was officially launched. Since then, we have had some amazing moments. Here is a quick recap of our growth in 2022!
In April, we launched the Digital Accessibility Index (DAI) with Minister Anne Rabbitte as our guest of honour. The DAI raised awareness about the importance of digital inclusion, and its findings showed that many public sector websites in Ireland are not accessible.
One of 2022’s highlights has been the awards our team has been nominated for. We were so grateful to have been recognised as finalists for Disability Inclusion and our QA Lead Adela Buliman for Rising Star at the Diversity in Tech Awards. IA Labs Director and Co-Founder Kyran O’Mahoney was also nominated for Diversity Role Model on behalf of NCBI at the same event.
Conferences have also made up a huge part of the year for us. 2022 has brought us around the world from the RDS and Croke Park in Dublin, to Washington and Miami, to Morocco. We were excited to get the opportunity to share our expertise on digital accessibility and show how far we have come as a start-up. In our first year of establishment, we have had the chance to bring our knowledge and advice to so many different places and we can’t wait to see where 2023 takes us next.
16th November marked Ireland’s inaugural Digital First Day, which is when we launched A Digital Day in the Life of a Person with a Disability in Ireland. Thanks to Senator Martin Conway, IA Labs presented this report to members of the Oireachtas and even got the chance to meet An Taoiseach Micheál Martin and many others. We wanted to bring to the attention of the government that we need change for people with disabilities.
We have also been part of a lot of media coverage in 2022. Our Director Kyran O’Mahoney has been interviewed on various radio stations such as NewsTalk and KFM. This not only benefits IA Labs in catching the attention of larger masses, but it also gives Kyran the chance to highlight the fact that, in today’s digital age, people with disabilities are blocked from using vital online services. Technology is a great enabler for people with disabilities, but in many cases, the web content being uploaded is not accessible.
Looking back at this year, we have had the opportunity to work with numerous amazing organisations such as Davy, PRM Assist, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, SEAI, Dublin Airport, and the Department of Justice.
From the entire team at IA Labs, we would like to wish our blog readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Let’s make 2023 the year of accessible web content.
