Creating Inclusive and Accessible Outreach Utilizing Universal Design Students arrive to campus from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, learning styles, and abilities. Creating outreach using a UD perspective provides the opportunity to think holistically about how students can enjoy, participate in, learn from, and engage with outreach. Consider how to meet the needs of students who learn one way or another, those for whom English is not the first language, those with learning, cognitive, mental health or physical ability differences, those who are able bodied, native English speakers, etc. Christy Ashley Brickley MU Disability Center Christy Hutton MU Counseling Center

UNIVERSAL DESIGN "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design“ (www.ncsu.edu/ncsu/design/cud/pubs_p/docs/poster.pdf) Designing any product or environment involves the consideration of many factors, including aesthetics, engineering options, environmental issues, industry standards, safety concerns, and cost. Often, products and environments are designed for the average user. Making a product or environment accessible to people with disabilities often benefits others. For example, sidewalk curb cuts, designed to make sidewalks and streets accessible to those using wheelchairs, are today often used by kids on skateboards, parents with baby strollers, and delivery staff with rolling carts. When television displays in noisy areas of airports and restaurants are captioned, they are more accessible to people who are deaf and everyone else. UDI Goal The goal of UDI is to maximize the learning of students with a wide range of characteristics by applying UD principles to all aspects of instruction (e.g., delivery methods, physical spaces, information resources, technology, personal interactions, assessments). Ashley

Universal design broadly defines the user Universal design broadly defines the user. It’s a consumer market driven issue. Its focus is not specifically on people with disabilities, but all people. Ron Mace Ashley, finish what is UD discussion Brain storming activity: Small group Christy Imagine all the different people who might attend an event on your campus. Identifying barriers through brainstorming (including barriers such as ESL, introverts/extroverts, awareness of key religious calendars-food to accommodate many needs (vegan, kosher). Examples we want to include: different learning styles, sight differences (color, distance, near, depth), hearing differences, language differences, mobility differences, dexterity differences, cultural differences No matter how much we work to eliminate barriers, all events will have some barriers for some people and an ADA accessibility statement is still a must for outreach materials.

Universal Design of Instruction An approach to teaching that consists of the proactive design and use of inclusive instructional strategies that benefit a broad range of learners. Maximizing student learning by applying UD principals to all aspects of instruction (e.g., delivery methods, physical spaces, information resources, technology, personal interactions, assessments). Take principles from UD from arch. And recently applying to educational frameworks. We are going to talk about how to apply those ideas to the outreach we do. UDI increases accessibility for all students. Different backgrounds, strengths, abilities, need, etc. Christy

UDI Principles Class Climate Interaction Physical Environments Delivery Methods Information Resources and Technology Feedback Assessment Accommodation ASHLEY Class climate. Adopt practices that reflect high values with respect to both diversity and inclusiveness. Example: Put a statement on your syllabus inviting students to meet with you to discuss disability-related accommodations and other special learning needs. Interaction. Encourage regular and effective interactions between students and the instructor and ensure that communication methods are accessible to all participants. Example: Assign group work for which learners must support each other and that places a high value on different skills and roles. Physical environments and products. Ensure that facilities, activities, materials, and equipment are physically accessible to and usable by all students, and that all potential student characteristics are addressed in safety considerations. Example: Develop safety procedures for all students, including those who are blind, deaf, or wheelchair users. Delivery methods. Use multiple, accessible instructional methods that are accessible to all learners. Example: Use multiple modes to deliver content; when possible allow students to choose from multiple options for learning; and motivate and engage students-consider lectures, collaborative learning options, hands-on activities, Internet-based communications, educational software, field work, and so forth. Information resources and technology. Ensure that course materials, notes, and other information resources are engaging, flexible, and accessible for all students. Example: Choose printed materials and prepare a syllabus early to allow students the option of beginning to read materials and work on assignments before the course begins. Allow adequate time to arrange for alternate formats, such as books in audio format. Feedback. Provide specific feedback on a regular basis. Example: Allow students to turn in parts of large projects for feedback before the final project is due. Assessment. Regularly assess student progress using multiple accessible methods and tools, and adjust instruction accordingly. Example: Assess group and cooperative performance, as well as individual achievement. Accommodation. Plan for accommodations for students whose needs are not met by the instructional design. Example: Know campus protocols for getting materials in alternate formats, rescheduling classroom locations, and arranging for other accommodations for students with disabilities.

Overcoming Barriers Brainstorming some ways we can overcome the barriers we identified earlier-same group Some solutions are really simple (describe photo) Share some information about strategies for minimizing barriers IT (website, ppt, social media, videos) Maps Space Clear information (print and electronic, braille if requested - budget) Advertising accessibility (captioning, appropriate readable electronic stuff) Guides to orient Interpreters (is there a line in your budget to provide if requested) Christy

Advertising Your Event Use multiple modes of advertising Use accessible web and digital content Accommodation statement Accessible on-line registration Preferred Names If you advertise in print, digital, web, social media you can reach more people-meet the needs of more people, make your event more accessible. Make sure Pdf’s are accessible, captioning, audio descriptions-we will talk more about this in a minute Accommodation statement, who to call, any accommodations already present (interpreter, listening devices, captioning, audio description…) Christy

Videos, social media, web & digital content… Audio descriptions: making a video more accessible. What’s important what is just distracting. Can be built into the video or can be another person offering descriptions of what’s important in the physical interaction. Discussion about this video striving toward accessibility, but could be better with audio description. Good and problematic aspects of Audio description. Ashley

Maps Get new picture with the gender neutral bathrooms noted. Ashley

What gets in your way? Pairs then large group-Christy What barriers will you face in incorporating universal design into your outreach work? Solutions you’ve found to some of the barriers Sometimes we don’t have the means to overcome a barrier, but using UD means we are thinking about maybe doing it a different way or in a different form to eliminate the barrier without adding cost.

Resources http://www.washington.edu/doit/universal-design-instruction-udi- definition-principles-guidelines-and-examples http://cast.org https://actcenter.missouri.edu/getting-started-with- accessibility/creating-accessible-documents/ Inclusive Events Seminars Guide AUCCCO Guidelines for Inclusive Presentations

Resources Web Accessibility Resources Introduction to Web Accessibility WebAIM’s Introduction to Web Accessibility Free Online Web Accessibility Checkers & Tools WebAIM’s WAVE Online (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) Color Checkers   WebAIM Color Contrast Checker Testing with Assistive Technology Using NVDA to Evaluate Web Accessibility Evaluating Cognitive Web Accessibility Creating Accessible PDFs and Documents Adobe’s Create and verify PDF accessibility WebAIM’s PDF Accessibility Microsoft Office Accessibility Checker   Do-It-Yourself Caption Tools Amara YouTube Self-Captioning Service