About
What is accessibility?
Accessibility means that people with and without disabilities can perceive, understand, interact with, and go through different environments and spaces. The law requires accessibility in many contexts. However, accessibility goes beyond the law: it can make things, places, and processes more usable, more efficient, and more enjoyable for everyone.
What is Opossum House Accessibility?
Opossum House Accessibility is an accessibility consultancy. Jonathan Katz-Ouziel is Opossum House's principal consultant. Opossum House provides bespoke accessibility services for small public entities and businesses. These services support legal compliance, access for people with disabilities, and better processes. Opossum House can help you comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act or Rehabilitation Act - or simply make something better for you and the people you work with.
You can learn more about Opossum House's services here. You can read testimonials about Jonathan's work here.
Why choose Opossum House?
Nothing about Opossum House is “out of the box.” Opossum House will provide you with customized services that meet your specific needs. Training, audit, action plans, and materials will be designed for your organization, using the words and systems you know. You will benefit from Jonathan’s years of experience and deep expertise in accessibility, and his meticulous attention to detail. Opossum House will equip you to be accessible, and take advantage of accessibility to make the work you do better.
Why “Opossum House”?
Opossums teach us a lot about accessibility. They are resourceful - and they use existing spaces for their nests, eat all sorts of different things, and make use of spaces that other animals do not find. The result? They are powerhouses at reducing pest populations and keeping ecosystems running.
Accessibility is often about being resourceful, too. Sometimes, the most accessible thing is not the most obvious - even to disabled people! When we make things accessible, we often have to leverage the things around us in unexpected ways. We need to find the metaphorical materials for our nests, foods for our systems, and spaces that work.
In short, to be accessible, we need to be a bit more like opossums.
About Jonathan
Jonathan is an accessibility expert. He has over a decade of experience in usability, access, communications, and research. He specializes in making access happen in resource-limited environments. This means that he focuses on ensuring that everyone can use a service that a public entity or business provides.
His accessibility experience is wide-ranging. It includes:
working on accessibility regulations that govern every recipient of funding from certain federal agencies
resources that helped thousands of small businesses in hiring workers with disabilities
making support services and programs for entrepreneurs with disabilities more accessible and ADA-compliant
programs, policies, and trainings to make government meetings accessible for all citizens
guidance for urban planners to make communities accessible for people with dementia
training for over 2,000 people on different types of accessible documents
how-to guides on cognitive accessibility (including a recorded presentation) and ADA accessibility
targeted support to make documents, processes, and products accessible and compliant
improving accessibility for public restrooms, transit signs, and parks
helping people with disabilities make their everyday lives more accessible
Jonathan is excited to apply this expertise to help you!
On the more “boring” side:
Jonathan has worked for New York City, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, the University of Maryland, and the Department of Labor. He has also been a freelance writer and accessibility consultant.
He holds two accessibility certifications:
Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP)
Trusted Tester, from the Department of Homeland Security.
He holds degrees from:
University of Chicago (BA with Honors, History and Geography)
University of Oxford (MSc in Migration Studies)
University of Maryland-College Park (Master of Community Planning)
He speaks French, Spanish, and Hebrew fluently.
He is based in Prince George's County, Maryland.
He has a food blog, Flavors of Diaspora.
