I've been a strong proponent of web standards since first being introduced to them "back in 2000 by Jefrey Zeldman":http://www.zeldman.com/com0100b.html. I started discussing standards on my "local mailing list":http://www.brightonnewmedia.org/, then on my blog, and finally at conferences and events. I even "wrote a book":http://www.cssmastery.com/ on the subject.
A few months ago I had the pleasure of being invited to talk to a group of civil servants on the subject of "blogging in government":http://www.andybudd.com/archives/2005/09/blogging_in_government/. The talk was part of a larger event that also covered web accessibility, so myself and "Tom":http://www.plasticbag.org/ were only really able to scratch the surface. The day was really fun, and I was surprised how interested people were in the subject. So much so, I was invited back to give an expanded talk, which I gave yesterday.
I was listening to "Derek Featherstone's":http://www.boxofchocolates.ca/ "WE05 podcast":http://we05.com/podcast/ the other day and he mentioned how the "5 stages of grief":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_stages_of_grief mirrored many peoples experience of web accessibility. You would start off with *denial*, claiming that accessibility wasn't an issue that you needed to be aware of. You would then move into *anger*, being annoyed that you were forced to do something you didn't want to do. You would then start *bargaining*; "how about if I only reach single-A conformance?". You would next hit *depression*, being frustrated about how difficult things were. And lastly, you would come to *acceptance* making accessibility part of your every day life.
Today I had the pleasure of giving a talk to members of the governments e-communications network, part of the larger Government Communication Network. In the first of a series of events, the group invited a number of people from the web design community to discuss the subjects of accessibility and blogging. Along with Joe Clark, Alastair Campbell, Patrick Lauke and Tom Coates, I was given the honour of being asked to speak.