I have been working on digital accessibility for many years and now I also have a certificate that indicates that I have the right knowledge and skills.
What is an IAAP certificate?
IAAP stands for International Association of Accessibility Professionals and is a worldwide industry organisation for accessibility experts. Among other things, this organisation issues various certificates that allow accessibility experts to demonstrate their qualities.
You get such a certificate after passing an exam. This exam consists of about 100 multiple-choice questions, where you can only give one right answer. Even though I was pretty confident of my knowledge beforehand, some of the questions in the exam were challenging. It had also been a while since I experienced the stress of an exam that lasted a few hours.
CPACC, WAS, CPWA, ADS, CPABE
Just to name a few abbreviations, the various certificates IAAP issues are:
- Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC): this certificate shows that you understand and can apply the basics of accessibility.
- Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS): this certificate shows that you are an expert in digital accessibility for websites.
- Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA): you can get this certificate if you have passed the exams for both CPACC and WAS.
- Accessible Document Specialist (ADS): this certificate shows that accessible documents (such as PDF, EPUB and Word files) hold no secrets for you.
- Certified Professional in Accessible Built Environments (CPABE): this certificate focuses on accessibility in public spaces, such as when designing buildings and streets.
I have held the CPACC certificate since March 2024 and this certificate is valid for 3 years. I thought it was good to start with the basics and look ahead from there. Perhaps in the near future I will continue to study for one or more other certifications. I have been working on website accessibility and PDF documents since 2008, so the experience is already there.
What does this mean for you?
The IAAP certificate means for you that you are doing business with someone who knows what he is talking about. This gives you a great deal of assurance if you want quality support in your journey to an accessible website or PDF document.
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