Accessibility specialist
Accessibility specialists help the organisation make its digital health services usable by as many people as possible, including disabled people and people with long-term conditions. They test services against accessibility standards and with assistive technologies, advise and train teams, and help embed accessibility into how services, clinical systems, and health information are designed, bought, and built.
- Family
- User-centred design
- UK GDaD PCF role
- Accessibility specialist (User-centred design)
- ESCO occupations
- ICT accessibility tester (ISCO-08 2519)
- On GitHub
- Role document · Role data
Levels
| Band | Role level | UK GDaD PCF level | Civil Service grades | Job evaluation points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Junior accessibility specialist | Junior accessibility specialist | EO/HEO | 335 |
| 6 | Accessibility specialist | Accessibility specialist | HEO/SEO | 421 |
| 7 | Senior accessibility specialist | Senior accessibility specialist | SEO/G7 | 475 |
| 8b | Head of accessibility | Head of accessibility | G7/G6 | 596 |
In a digital health care organisation
- Many people who need health and care services most are disabled, older, or living with long-term conditions, so inaccessible services can stop people getting care.
- Clinicians and care staff also have access needs, so internal clinical systems, including those bought from suppliers, must be accessible too.
- Health information is often complex and published in many formats, such as documents, letters, and video, so specialists help teams make all of it accessible, including easy read and alternative formats.
- Accessibility problems in clinical workflows can become safety problems, for example when a warning is not announced by a screen reader, so specialists work with clinical safety officers on these risks.
UK GDaD PCF role description
An accessibility specialist provides support, advice and guidance to other roles in the Government Digital and Data profession about how to create accessible digital services.
You will use knowledge of accessibility guidelines, provide technical expertise and bring the voice of disabled users to ensure that product teams make digital services that can be used by everyone.
ESCO occupations and skills
ESCO lists the skills and knowledge that employers usually need (essential) or may need (optional) for each occupation. Use them as a checklist for development conversations.
ICT accessibility tester
ICT accessibility testers evaluate websites, software applications, systems or user interface components with regards to friendliness, operability of the navigation and visibility to all types of users, especially including those with special needs or disabilities.
Essential skills and knowledge (21)
Skills and competences
- address problems critically
- assess users' interaction with ICT applications
- conduct research interview
- execute ICT user research activities
- execute software tests
- measure software usability
- provide software testing documentation
- replicate customer software issues
- report test findings
- test for behavioural patterns
- test for emotional patterns
- test system accessibility for users with special needs
- use an application-specific interface
- use experience map
Knowledge
Optional skills and knowledge (28)
Skills and competences
- conduct ICT code review
- debug software
- design user interface
- develop ICT test suite
- develop automated software tests
- give live presentation
- manage schedule of tasks
- use markup languages
- use scripting programming
Knowledge
Contains ESCO v1.2.1 data (https://esco.ec.europa.eu/). © European Union. Reuse authorised under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.