Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC)

I recently wrote about my experience going through the DHS Trusted Tester Course and Exam, so I figured I should also write about my other certification – the CPACC.

What is the CPACC?

The CPACC is a certification created by the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). The IAAP has a few other accessibility certifications, namely the Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS), the Accessible Document Specialist (ADS), and the Certified Professional in Accessible Built Environments (CPABE). Each of those are great in their own right, but I’m going to focus on the CPACC in this post.  Part of what makes it distinctly different from the DHS Trusted Tester certification is that it is not US-centric. The CPACC and other IAAP certifications are international. The tests are created in American English, but they have recently added some other language support- you can now take the CPACC in German. Another distinction is that the CPACC is only an exam, there is not a dedicated course or process to use – you simply register to take the exam, and then take the exam. The CPACC is also not focused on accessibility testing, it’s more focused on disability core concepts, experiences and laws. I also had no issues using my macbook to take the exam, so yet another big distinction from the Trusted Tester. 

Each of the IAAP certifications has what is called a “Book of Knowledge” or BOK. These documents have a lot of the material that you are tested over, so it’s an incredibly important document. Reading through it gives you a good base for the test material – and only material in the BOK is on the exam.

The CPACC exam is broken into three parts:

40% of the exam is about disabilities, challenges and assistive technologies. So you are being tested on core aspects of disability concepts like the theoretical models of disability, and the different categories and characteristics of different disabilities and the barriers they experience. You’ll also need to understand the differences between different assistive technologies, some basic disability demographics, statistics – and even some basic etiquette. (Example: Interact directly with the person with the disability, not the person accompanying them or their interpreter. It seems super obvious once you get it, but talking to the friend or interpreter about the person with the disability is failing to recognize that person with the disability as their own person – able to speak for and make decisions for themselves!)

Another 40% of the exam is about accessibility and universal design. This includes one of my favorite things to talk about with noobs – the difference between accommodation and universal design. That is: making something that everyone can use vs changing parts of something so more people can use it because it was built in a way that excluded folks. (Sorry in advance if you ever offer to talk to me about this) This section goes pretty deep into accessibility concepts – from more physical accessibility needs to digital and goes into some of the main concepts of universal design and the crossover between usability and user experience. Also another important concept in this part of the exam that is near and dear to my heart – is Universal Design for Learning – an absolutely explosive concept that is breaking into schools everywhere and drastically improving the outcomes for all students.

The last 20% goes into laws, standards and management strategies. Again this is an international test so you’re not just looking at the ADA here! It’s actually great to learn about how disability rights have moved through various countries and continents. Example: Did you know that the city of Ontario, Canada actually has its own Disabilities Act? So rad!

Because I already had a pretty solid understanding of a lot of these concepts, I chose the CPACC as my first certification back in February of 2020. I felt confident reviewing the Book of Knowledge that I already knew a lot of the content so I would be most likely to pass. At the time, I hadn’t taken a test prior to that since college… and I went to art school, so I was pretty interested in an easy transition to test taking, lol. 

The test process of the CPACC was also quite a bit different than the Trusted Tester. 

If you’ve done any other digital certifications you may have already used Kriterion Online Remote Proctoring, they proctor a number of certifications and have a pretty interesting setup. This test is not open book at all, and you are required to have a webcam pointed at you for the duration of the test. I recall having a bit of stress at the beginning getting things set up correctly, but it all worked out and I was able to take the test and get certified. You can also go to Kriterion testing centers to take the exam. I don’t know anything about that experience but I am curious if you’ve used one! 

The test duration is two hours and has 100 multiple-choice questions. Some of the more relieving parts of the test are found in the FAQ’s: 

• All questions have four choices for responses.
• There are no double negatives.
• There are no true false questions.
• Three are incorrect responses known as distractors.
• One is the correct response.

As someone who super hates double negatives, that one was a relief 🙂

And the fun doesn’t stop after you take the exam! 

Every three years your certification comes up for renewal and in order to be renewed you must submit 45 Continuing Accessibility Education Credits (CAECs) to the IAAP for review.  

CAECs can be any number of things, the CPACC lists the following examples:

• Attending classes, workshops, webinars, and other educational events.
• Presenting educational materials outside your job function.
• Publishing articles, books, blogs, or other publications.
• Participating in formal Mentoring programs.
• Speaking engagements at IAAP or other approved educational events.
• Volunteer service with IAAP.

I was able to meet my first 45 credits by attending a few virtual conferences and webinars, but the bulk of my CAECs were spent working with the dyslexia advocacy group that my daughter had been a part of. Unfortunately, it didn’t make it through the many transitions of the pandemic so I won’t be able to use that for my credits next time. And now you know why I started this blog!

Would I recommend my fellow email geeks get a CPACC? 

Absolutely! And yes, mostly so I have more folks to geek out with about this stuff, but also because I hear over and over again about how hard it is to talk to clients and stakeholders about accessibility. The CPACC gives you all of the information and perspective you need to be able to have really solid conversations with different folks about these disability concepts. I think that for a lot of people that maybe don’t have direct interactions with the larger disabled community, you can feel very much like an imposter talking about these things that don’t feel like they directly impact you. (They absolutely do, but that’s a whole other post) So taking the CPACC and becoming familiar with its BOK can really help you feel more comfortable speaking up for accessibility in different places.

Ready to learn more? The CPACC page on the IAAP website is a great place to dig in! If you want to dig around to see what all is in the exam you can check out the CPACC BOK.