Meet the team: Steve Faulkner
Posted on in Meet the team
Meet Steve, a seasoned accessibility specialist but new to the TetraLogical team after slotting into place as the fourth Director last year.
Steve carries a wealth of over 20 years of expertise specializing in accessibility in all its glory, including screen readers and other assistive technology, Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA), and HTML5.
In his previous role as the Chief Accessibility Officer at TPGi and as a Senior Web Accessibility Consultant at Vision Australia, Steve has left an indelible mark.
Originally hailing from Australia, he's managed to retain that distinctive Aussie twang, even after spending decades in the UK with his family.
You can hear his dulcet tones regularly piping up at conferences, talks and working groups, including the W3C Accessibility Guidelines Working Group and ARIA Working Group. Steve has worn the editor's hat for several W3C specifications, such as HTML5, ARIA in HTML, and HTML Accessibility API Mappings 1.0.
But Steve's passions extend beyond the digital landscape. When he's not busy championing web accessibility, you'll find him indulging in his love for photography. The team are greeted by a daily Zoom background featuring ourselves, friends in the industry, throwbacks to wilder days, Steve's family, or... well, just about anything.
And that's not all – Steve runs HTMLZ, an online Etsy shop that describes itself as "a new standard in MarkUp leisure wear". Steve has explained his motivations behind this in a blog post called Manifest Accessibility where he also regularly writes articles on HTML accessibility.
If you are fortunate enough to bump into us at the next TetraLogical all-hands meeting there's a very high chance you will see the full cohort bedecked in "punny" Tshirts, mugs, hats, and stickers.
Whether he's pioneering web accessibility ideas, passionately sharing his thoughts on Mastodon, or curating his vinyl treasure trove, Steve brings a light-hearted energy and a wickedly dry sense of humour to everything he does.
What’s the one thing you wish you’d known when you started learning about accessibility?
The learning journey never ends, there is always new technology and new ways to interact with technology that invariably does not take into account people with diverse access needs.
What’s your top accessibility tip?
Know your (Web) Standards.
What’s your top accessibility resource?
Up-to-date primary resources are the key: Know your Standards.
Next steps
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