Making your campus accessible Hadi Rangin Jon Gunderson

General perception DS office has the magic solution All accessibility requests are sent to DS office Classroom materials Textbooks Lab related accommodations Library needs Classroom related interactivities Audio transcripts & captioning LMS related issues Other

Major problems Decentralization of campus system Lack of or incorrect understanding of accessibility Lack of accessibility policy Increasing use and adaptation of new technology

Multiple approaches Good luck! Awareness Training & education Making accessibility part of everyone's agenda

Awareness Use any opportunity in your surroundings to educate your community about accessibility Provide face-to-face meetings & brown bags on accessibility Provide online webinars on accessibility Participate actively in local conferences to reach out to IT professionals, faculty, and administrators Participate in various campus committees Create awareness & educational materials for off- line viewing

Training & education Offer customized workshops for campus developers Work with IT and application design instructors to incorporate accessibility into their curriculum & teach for them Offer workshops on how to use accessibility tools & evaluate accessibility Make yourself available to developers & work with them on their accessibility issues Be patient and don't get frustrated if developers didn't get everything right

Purchasing Accessibility is not part of purchasing criteria Not too many out-of-box accessible products Products are purchased/introduced to campus by various entities Accessibility claims are not/can't be verified by purchasing committee

Website, application & course development Pages are developed by people with no training in web design. Lack of accessibility knowledge by application developers. Lack of universal design knowledge by instructional designers/instructors. Need to work with all groups and offer proper training. Engage developers in creating Best Practices. Keep them engaged in accessibility discussion via mailing list & monthly meetings.

Working with vendors Work with responsible department to include accessibility in RFP language. Work with responsible departments and vendors to verify accessibility claims. Whenever possible, work with responsible departments on well-defined and time-lined accessibility enhancements in the contract. Work with responsible campus entity to evaluate vendors' products. Inform campus about accessibility issues with the products Keep vendors & responsible departments engaged in collaboration during life of the product. Set tangible and measurable accessibility enhancements for the product.

Making accessibility part of everyone's agenda Participate in campus public meetings and ask administrators about their understanding of accessibility and their roadmap for it. Inform administrators through proper channels about accessibility problems and advise them about accessibility laws. Work with administrators on how they can enhance accessibility within their units, departments or colleges. When collaborating with vendors, ensure that administrators and their staff are engaged and in charge and you are just helping. Work with administrators on setting accessibility goals. Work with administrators to reach their goals, even though the steps may be small.