October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. During the month, the Accessibility Working Group which focuses on digital accessibility initiatives will be sending out weekly messages to promote awareness.
Accessibility Matters
Proactively creating accessibility provides an inclusive environment, meets compliance requirements but can also reduce the need for individualized accommodations. Removing barriers through accessible design makes the focus on changes within the environment rather than reactive focusing on the disability.
Did you know…
- That the standard of accessible means people with disabilities are afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.
- That a person with a disability has the right to be able to obtain the information as fully, equally and independently as a person without a disability. Although this might not result in identical ease of use compared to that of persons without disabilities, it still must ensure equal opportunity to the educational benefits and opportunities afforded by the technology and equal treatment in the use of such technology.
What can you do?
- Integrate consciousness about people with disabilities, including physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychosocial impairments, in your daily life and profession.
“Accessibility changes my experience by allowing me to: 1) read electronic versions of the textbooks I use in my courses, 2) conduct literature searches in various online databases to further my research agenda, 3) teach synchronously and asynchronously, 4) participate in professional zoom meetings, 5) send and receive email communications, 6) keep up with current world and domestic news.”
--Laura McArthur, PhD, RD, Appalachian State University