Biography
A native of Ottawa, David MacDonald has been in the accessibility field for over 15 years. He knows the pulse of the disability community.
David is an Invited Expert on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (WCAG WG) of the W3C, the internet authority responsible for governing the rules of the World Wide Web. These guidelines on accessibility have been adopted by most governments including the Canadian Federal Government. He is the only Canadian consultant listed on the 18 member WCAG team. He's on the 15 member WCAG ICT task force which will report on the application of WCAG in software developments beyond the web. He is a W3C Invited Expert for the HTML5 working group and its Accessibility Task Force. He has consulted for:
- Treasury Board Secretariat (Lead WCAG 2 consultant)
- PC Financial (accessibility auditor)
- Intel Corporation (Lead accessibility strategic advisor for their web presence)
- Bank of America
- Royal Bank of Canada
- Citizen Bank of Rhode Island
- Canada Mortgage and Housing
- ScotiaBank
- TD Bank
- Ontario Disability Support Program ODSP
- Health Canada
- The Canadian Space Agency
- The National Research Council
- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Assistive Devices Industry Office of Industry Canada
- and others
David helped build the Accessibility Procurement Toolkit (APT). www.apt.gc.ca . He participated in the Provincial Government's round table discussions on the proposed Ontarians with Disabilities Act. He lectured on computer access for persons with disabilities for the First Nations Education Conference in Quebec City, University of Ottawa, National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR)in Vancouver and Corrections Canada in Montreal. He was director of the day program of the International Day of Disabled Persons at the Ottawa Congress Centre. In December 2006 he was featured in Voice of America's radio and print article about accessible web design.
His articles have been featured in disability publications including Abilities magazine. In 2006, he was granted a patent by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for a zero force keyboard for persons with disabilities. The US National Job Accommodation Network (JANCANA) has recommended this keyboard. He was on beta test teams for disability software companies such as Madentec Corporation, Peak Technology Inc., and was responsible for bug fixes to Windows Accessibility features in Microsoft Windows XP.
He is expert in Common Look and Feel Policy, W3C/WAI guidelines, Electronic Service Delivery, Connecting Canadians/ Government On Line, and the Accommodation for persons with disabilities Policy. His four years at the ADIO (Industry Canada) fully exposed him to all these initiatives. His first language is English and he is able to communicate well in French. He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa, B. Com (Magna cum Laude).
David's previous career included performing on Broadway, and in the US National Tour of "Cats." He also co-starred in films for Paramount and Columbia Pictures.
By invitation, David attended a conference in Los Angeles on "Disability and the Media" which explored the portrayal and employment of people with disabilities in Hollywood. The session was attended by directors, actors, technicians and marketing people including Michael Shultz, the director of "Touched by an Angel."