Scott O'hara
Senior Accessibility Engineer at Microsoft
Massachusetts, United States
Summary
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RockstarScott O'hara is a Senior Accessibility Engineer with 13 years of experience crafting inclusive, usable web experiences across startups, agencies, and large organizations, currently driving accessibility at Microsoft. He blends hands-on front-end development and UX design with deep ARIA and standards expertise, evidenced by contributions to w3c/aria, MDN Web Docs, and the axe-core accessibility engine. Scott has a practical eye for lean, maintainable CSS (contributing size-optimized changes to the tiny "min" framework) and a track record of improving real-world sites like Neocities and the A11Y Project through semantic fixes, heading order corrections, and navigation refinements. Comfortable as both a technical writer and developer, he translates complex accessibility specs into actionable guidance and code. Based in Massachusetts, he pairs long-standing freelance and leadership experience with a pragmatic commitment to making the web work for everyone.
13 years of coding experience
18 years of employment as a software developer
Stackoverflow
745reputation
142kreached
27answers
0questions
Github Skills (28)
accessibility10
editors10
javascript10
wai-aria10
css10
ria10
editor10
css-frameworks10
ax10
front-end-development10
web-standards10
edi10
ed2551910
html10
website-design10
Programming languages (18)
Github contributions (5)
w3c/aria
May 2019 - Jan 2023
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA)
Role in this project:
Accessibility Specialist
Accessibility SpecialistContributions:317 reviews, 121 commits, 103 PRs in 3 years 8 months
Contributions summary:Scott's contributions primarily focused on editorial and content updates within the WAI-ARIA specification. They made numerous revisions to the documentation, including updating text, removing redundant information, clarifying wording, and ensuring accurate terminology. The user also addressed issues related to accessibility, such as the proper use of ARIA attributes, and made recommendations to align with HTML best practices.
accessiblewaiwai-ariainternetaria
a11yproject/a11yproject.com
Apr 2017 - Oct 2020
The A11Y Project is a community-driven effort to make digital accessibility easier.
Role in this project:Front-end Developer & Accessibility Specialist
Front-end Developer & Accessibility SpecialistContributions:15 reviews, 107 commits, 84 PRs in 3 years 6 months
Contributions summary:Scott primarily focused on improving the accessibility and structure of the website. Their contributions included fixing heading order, correcting invalid HTML nesting, revising navigation markup, and updating the styling. Furthermore, the user modified the checklist and content to align with accessibility best practices, incorporating changes and improvements. They also updated links and addressed redirect configurations, highlighting a commitment to maintain the website's user-friendly experience.
effortinclusive-designeleventydigital-accessibilityuser-experience
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