Discussion Summaries

Notes related to specific questions discussed by small groups are presented below.

What can be done campus-wide at the UW to promote the development, procurement, and use of accessible IT?

• Invite deans and higher administration with more power to strategy and development meetings.
• Create mandatory accessibility trainings for all educators, including both a basic training and more advanced trainings on specific IT topics.
• Starting an IT accessibility campaign that catches people’s attention; create a new flyer or video each month.
• Create competition between departments to see who can get to zero accessibility errors on their websites, all photos having alt text, etc—include awards and recognition for those who win.
• Work on effective networking and continue the conversation about accessibility online and in campus meetings.
• Have an “accessibility day,” which involves both students and faculty learning about accessibility in a grass roots campaign. Faculty are more willing to comply if they hear it coming from the students.
• Create an accessibility checklist that all departments must use for their websites and documents. Complete a department report card based on this checklist.
• Send faculty to ARIA bootcamp and other training opportunities.
• Incorporate accessibility into the First Year Program’s Guiding Philosophy of Diversity and Inclusion.
• Reach out to vendors to ensure accessibility is included in the technology being bought by the UW.
• Have representatives from all departments participate in a universal design leadership meeting.
• Integrate accessibility into the UW “Be Boundless” theme.
• Create an accessibility toolkit that is free for all departments to use.
• Continue to promote #NoMouse and other accessibility campaigns.
• Showcase and recognize those who are making great strides in accessibility.
• Make accessibility consumable in small pieces—create short trainings that can be learned in five to ten minutes and shared with others.

What can be done within your unit to promote the development, procurement, and use of accessible IT? What support do you need to undertake this effort?

• Communicate requirements with vendors and make accessibility a requirement for all procurement purchases. Have vendors show us the accessibility features before purchasing. Create a checklist for procurement staff to use when communicating accessibility with vendors.
• Raise awareness with the technology directors group on campus to make sure they are aware of accessibility issues.
• Check in with national organizations and make sure they know about accessibility awareness.
• Convey the message that accessibility and universal design make everyone’s life better, not just people with disabilities. Include testimonials and usability reports.
• Share what instructors can do to help all students, including those students with disabilities not going to DRS.
• Make collaboration a priority and promote training resources already available.
• Include diversity and inclusion in our department’s mission. Use this to change the culture of our department and how we approach accessibility issues.
• Start a campaign that shows department heads, deans, and faculty how inaccessibility affects individuals. Have all-staff meetings that promote the importance of accessibility.
• Host regular events and in-house guest speakers that focus on accessibility.
• Create checklists specific to our department that addresses accessibility issues for classes, labs, website, and department needs.
• Promote ATC and DO-IT resources that are already available.
• Invite DO-IT to present at UW-IT Town Hall and interdepartmental meetings on accessibility, including web accessibility, screen reading, universal design, etc.