Growing an IT Accessibility Program on your Campus

Presented at 10:30am in Westminster II on Monday, November 12, 2018.

Speaker(s)

• Dawn Hunziker, Associate Director, University of Arizona
• Rob Eveleigh, Five College Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Coordinator, Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges
• Nate Evans, Manager of Digital Content and Accessibility, Michigan State University

Session Details

• Length of Session: 2-day
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: Intermediate
• Type of session: Pre-conference

Summary

This dynamic, interactive workshop is presented by ATHEN members. It includes foundational legal information, an analysis of federal agreements, and best practice approaches towards the goal of working through institutional challenges to create a strategic, and comprehensive approach for creating an accessible EIT environment.

Abstract

Higher education institutions are under increased scrutiny as to their approach for ensuring accessible web and information technology. While the Department of Justice and the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights have issued guidance regarding institutional obligations for ensuring access for students with disabilities, institutions still struggle with how to address such obligations within the context of policy, procedure, and implementation. The workshop includes: * Models for self-evaluation, decision-making and communication, guidance on policy and procedure development, and strategies for growing campus-wide involvement * Review of relevant legal decisions and their application to institutional access to EIT * Review of current EIT accessibility standards and the scope of such standards to EIT products and services * Procurement and Development of Accessible EIT Products & Services * Goals and strategies for accessible websites, documents, communications and media

Keypoints

1. Understand current EIT accessibility standards and the compliance landscape
2. Learn strategies for building campus accessibility teams to create and implement an EIT Accessibility Roadmap
3. Learn strategies for campus-wide solutions of accessible procurement, web assessment, documents and media

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Administrative/Campus Policy, Assistive Technology, Legal, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

Dawn Hunziker

Dawn is the Associate Director for the University of Arizona’s (U of A) Disability Resource Center (DRC) and oversees Digital and Physical Accessibility. As an employee of DRC for over 25 years, Dawn has successfully launched several initiatives across the U of A campus, and the Digital and Physical Access Team consults with campus regarding accessibility and universal design in the physical, digital, work, and academic environments. Dawn is a past President with the ATHEN (Access Technology in Higher Education Network) Executive Committee. Dawn often speaks at local, state, and national conferences regarding U of A’s Digital Accessibility Program, pdf/web accessibility, captioning processes, and inclusive curriculum design.

Rob Eveleigh

Rob Eveleigh has worked as an access technologist at the Five College Consortium, UMass Amherst, and Harvard University. He has provided expertise, technical direction, assessment, and implementation support to ensure technical compliance and functional accessibility of electronic and information technologies at a variety of private and public campuses. Rob has served as chair/lead of multiple accessibility committees and teams at the Five College Consortium and UMass Amherst and as project manager of the UMass System IT Accessibility Program. In these roles, he provides leadership to ensure that campuses build capacity to implement sustainable IT accessibility goals and strategies that address the accessibility of existing and emerging technologies to persons with disabilities while minimizing the compliance risk associated with the accelerated and dynamic IT accessibility case law landscape. A graduate of Lehigh University, Rob received a master’s degree in educational technologies with a focus on accessible technologies from Harvard University.

Nate Evans

Nate Evans is the Manager of Digital Content and Accessibility with MSU Academic Information Technology at Michigan State University. He works with students, faculty, staff, and administrators across the institution to help create more inclusive environments and shape better digital experiences. Nate leads the campus-wide digital accessibility program and the Digital Content & Accessibility team to provide central support and resources and to measure digital accessibility improvement.