AHG Leader Honored by AccessComputing

DO-IT and project partners have supported the activities of the Accessing High Ground (AHG) conference since its beginning. This event is designed for college and university faculty and staff to ensure that information technology procured, developed, and used at their institutions is accessible to all. At the 2018 conference, Terrill Thompson, Sheryl Burgstahler, Gaby de Jongh, Dan Comden, and Richard Ladner spoke and provided behind-the-scenes support at the conference through the following activities:

• Terrill and Sheryl engaged with colleagues from other institutions in a two-day workshop about how campuses can take steps towards increased IT accessibility.
• Terrill, with assistance from Gaby, offered a workshop on accessible video design.
• Sheryl led a capacity-building institute focused on how computing faculty can incorporate accessibility content in their courses, and Terrill and Richard, who leads our AccessComputing project, presented.
• Sheryl presented on the design of campus IT accessibility services when the availability of resources is low, as well as on how a universal design framework might be embraced campus-wide.
• Terrill taught participants how to audio describe videos.
• Richard reported the results of a survey that sought to determine what percentage of computing faculty already teach about accessibility and shared options for doing so.
• Dan Comden assisted with presentations and provided technical support and photography throughout the conference.

AccessComputing—which is led by DO-IT and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and Information Schools at the University of Washington—honored the AHG founder and current director, Howard Kramer, with the AccessComputing Capacity Building Award.

Howard was awarded for his efforts in drawing together leaders and newcomers in accessibility by hosting the international AHG conference in Colorado for 21 years.