Accessibility Officers Panel A discussion of Accessibility Officer approaches at three SUNY Schools Mark Greenfield, University of Buffalo Amy Berg, SUNY Cortland Sean Moriarty, SUNY Oswego

Background 2017 - OCR complaints Campus solutions & system solutions (Nazely Kurkjian) May 2019 - SUNY EIT Accessibility Report SUNY EIT Policy imminent Background >24,000 SUNY students self-identify Many do not self identify

#1 recommendation - we need to create a culture of inclusion - Everyone’s responsibility Each campus needs an action plan An Accessibility Officer for the campus is responsible for the establishment of the plan SUNY EIT Report EIT accessibility is the responsibility of all administrators, faculty, staff Each campus should develop a Campus Accessibility Action Plan to promote ongoing, inclusive access for individuals with disabilities. a.    The EIT Accessibility Officer is responsible for the establishment of a campus Plan. b.    Core elements of this Plan must include addressing: Authority and Responsibility, Awareness, Design, Procurement, Monitoring Compliance, and Training.

Accessibility Offices Responsibilities Development and oversight of the plan Establish policies & procedures Create communication plans to promote and support Strategy to incorporate accessibility into electronic documents Procure accessible EIT Appropriate training programs Accessibility Offices Responsibilities The Chancellor and each campus president must designate and authorize an EIT Accessibility Officer to set the direction for ongoing digital accessibility efforts, including the development and oversight of the Campus Accessibility Action Plan. EIT Accessibility Officers must address a broad range of functional areas including academic, administrative, and research electronic concerns and needs. Example duties include, but are not limited to: ·         Establish policies and procedures that support shared institutional obligations to provide accessible online environments for visitors and campus community members. ·         Assign roles and responsibilities for achieving policy compliance. ·         Create communication plans to promote and support a campus-wide EIT accessibility program. ·         Develop a strategy to incorporate accessibility into the creation of electronic information resources. ·         Collaborate and extensively work with Purchasing and other campus departments to ensure acquisition of accessible EIT products and services. ·         Continuously monitor and assess existing and pending EIT. ·         Coordinate or devise training programs for campus personnel who create, purchase, and maintain EIT.

Where Accessibility Lives Accessibility is Everyone's Job– but someone has to own it. The largest percent of organizations have accessiblity under IT with only 3.1 putting it under it’s own organization and 11.4 under legal/compliance.

Web Accessibility Program at the University at Buffalo Mark Greenfield Web Accessibility Officer

Overview Reports through the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Distributed responsibilities (accessibility liaisons) Accessible IT Working Group Web Accessibility Policy (adopted in May, 2019) Communications Accessibility website Accessibility blog Accessibility listserv Training

Investments Web Accessibility Office (EDI) Full-time staff, student assistants, internships Blackboard Ally Siteimprove 184 sites, 238,851 pages, 187 users JAWS Inspect Deque University In conversations with AudioEye, Deque, CommonLook, TPG

3rd Party Software Specifically included in UB accessibility policy Scope Procurement process Pcard purchases Open-Source Based on impact RFP process for high impact purchases

Intake Evaluation Exception Request Step One Step Two Step Three Determine Impact Determine Accessibility Low Medium High Full Approval Conditional Approval Denial Equally Effective Alternative Access

SUNY Cortland’s Journey

2011 - Technology Accessibility Advisory Council (TAAC) - Members from HR, Disability Services, Marketing (web), faculty, Instructional Design, Library, student from SGA, IT - Charge – Technology accessibility at SUNY Cortland is an ongoing commitment, and it is through the cooperative effort of the entire campus community that we will improve technology access. The Technology Accessibility Advisory Council is an advisory group that will identify and produce guidelines that assist the College in making informed decisions about technology accessibility issues. - Worked with the “willing” - Created web, email and PDF accessibility guidelines 2013 – hit a brick wall

Summer 2017 – DOE Complaint -Now had the attention and support of President and Cabinet -Resurrected TAAC concentrating on web accessibility -purchased SiteImprove -remediated web template and top 100 pages -took down non-compliant 3rd party web applications (YouVisit, Live Stats) -November 2017 – passed DOE remediation “Never waste a good crisis” – kept going with Presidential support (monthly meetings with action items) TAAC created web and social media accessibility guidelines and training for all content creators January 2018 – President sent campus-wide email stating that technology accessibility is the responsibility of everyone got the attention of the faculty

Spring 2018 - More guidelines, training and support Began reviewing all technology purchases for compliance (worked with Purchasing) Spring 2018 - More guidelines, training and support - MS Office – added Accessibility Checker to top ribbon - PDFs - video captioning (purchased 200 captioning hours from Ensemble) - Blackboard Ally - All training and support done by existing staff May 2018 - TAAC’s Technology Accessibility Policy passed by Cabinet - Hired live captioning for Graduation, and IT developed a QR code on graduate name cards that when scanned inserted the student’s name on the live stream as they crossed the stage.

Fall 2018 Spring 2019 Summary - Overwhelming – must prioritize - Teach them to fish! - Instructional Designers and Technology Trainer began training faculty to remediate and create accessible content for their courses. (started with the willing) Spring 2019 - Launched faculty subcommittee to research and recommend tools to create accessible math equations (Recommendations report received May 2019 - most of the tool recommendations are free) - Purchased new OCR scanners for library (often easier to re-scan a document and make it a new PDF than to remediate it) Summary - Overwhelming – must prioritize - Share the load - everyone is responsible - Need Cabinet support

2019 Accessibility Update An overview of accessibility initiatives at SUNY Oswego Rebecca Mushtare, Associate Professor, Graphic Design Sean Moriarty, Chief Technology Officer

A Campus Coordinated Effort Steering Committee Website Team Remediation Team Workgroup on Accessible Teaching Faculty Fellows Digital Accessibility Analyst A Campus Coordinated Effort Steering Committee (Diversity Officer, President’s Office, Marketing & Communication (Web team), Accessibility Services, CTS, Student Services, Extended Learning, Faculty (Rebecca) Website team is largely the web team, but it actually extends to everyone who works on the website. Everyone has responsibility in this effort and we will roll out an education program as we move to Drupal 8. Remediation team includes Kate, Rick, Starr, IDers (Carrie & Theresda). Also CTS who has developed reports to help identify work that will be required. And the faculty who receive remediated materials. ….. Rebecca ------ We have created a position to assist with this work. So lucky to have Kate Percival.

Drupal 8 Siteimprove Training Ownership of content Website

Just in Time Remediation Banner Report Prioritization of courses Proactively remediate rather than reactively accommodate Actively improving/ refining process Just in Time Remediation

Faculty & Campus Development Accessibility Website oswego.edu/accessibility Training Breakout Sessions Departmental Training Write Ways Series Templates Faculty Fellows May 16, 2019 - Global Accessibility Day Event Faculty & Campus Development

Accessibility Officers Takeaways Needs leadership and advocates Needs resources Lots to do - prioritize Accessibility Officers Takeaways Someone has to lead it, and everyone has to be a part of it. Needs advocates - from many parts of the campus. Need people to break the misconceptions…. (20% of the world has a disability that makes it difficult to use the internet) You have to put resources towards it The quantity of work can be overwhelming. You have to set priorities that mitigate risk and looks to the future. Where is the low hanging fruit???