GESB: How one person can instigate change

Jane Ots, Digital Communications Specialist at GESB was recently inducted into the Australian Access Awards Hall of Fame. The WA superannuation provider has been focused on integrating accessibility into its digital resources since 2019 and in her role, Jane was motivated to take ownership of embedding accessibility into the firm’s culture – with award-winning outcomes.

“I felt my existing skills and personal experience with accessibility qualified me to take on the challenge of becoming GESB’s accessibility champion,” said Jane. “Accessibility isn’t just about compliance. It’s about helping make a difference in people’s lives, and having a key contact or group of people within the organisation who are dedicated to improving accessibility outcomes helps drive change.”

Jane facilitated team training, created comprehensive content management system guidelines, and was involved in the development of a Disability Access and Inclusion plan which outlines GESB’s ongoing commitment. She also stressed the importance of partnering with accessibility experts in the field.

“GESB’s partners have played a key role in our accessibility journey, providing training, auditing, consulting and support. We work closely with the Centre for Accessibility Australia, the Centre for Inclusive Design, and our web developers DaNiro and Squiz to make sure our assets are easy to use for all members,” she said. “Include your accessibility experts early and often. It’s much easier to consider accessibility early on in a project, than to fix things after the website or tool has been created.”

“Training is key to ensuring all staff understand the importance of accessibility to our members and the wider community.”

- Jane Ots, Digital Communications Specialist, GESB