Golden State Today

Katie Healey, an education specialist at the Center for Educational Effectiveness, is spearheading a new initiative to enhance accessibility in educational materials. The project aims to assist instructors in creating accessible content for both classroom and online courses, targeting students with disabilities. Healey's efforts include designing a Canvas-based professional development course, producing video modules, publishing a monthly newsletter, and organizing monthly meetings. This initiative involves about 120 instructors from all ten University of California campuses and beyond.

The A11Y Project, as it is called, is backed by a $45,000 grant from the UC Office of the President’s Online Fund focused on digital inclusion. The name "A11Y" refers to accessibility in tech circles. Healey explains that her motivation stems from her belief that inclusivity represents justice: “We try to frame this as disability justice.”

This push for accessibility gains urgency following the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2024 mandate requiring universities to make web and mobile app content accessible by 2026 or 2027. UC Davis has already begun hiring additional staff to meet these requirements.

While some e-courses on accessibility exist for developers and designers within UCOP offerings, Healey notes that many instructors lack the necessary skills to ensure their digital course content is fully accessible.

Healey also hosts the Disability Daily Podcast and emphasizes incorporating disability history into training programs: “I think a disability history- and disability justice-approach to accessibility training is crucial.” Her course focuses on universal design for learning (UDL), which promotes varied methods of accessing material beyond compliance-based accommodations.

Launched in August, topics covered include diverse learning needs, creating accessible multimedia content, legal compliance issues, and ethical considerations. Guest speakers have featured leaders from notable organizations like the UC Berkeley Disability Lab and Audio Description Associates.

Miriam Markum, an associate professor participating in the course expressed newfound insights into improving teaching practices: “The more I learn, the more I realize that I don’t know.” She highlights practical tools like Canvas's immersive reader but acknowledges challenges such as adding alt text descriptions or designing documents compatible with screen readers.

Additionally addressing institutional support gaps through collaborative efforts across campuses forms part of Healey's agenda alongside fostering broader advocacy groups around disability justice initiatives within academia: “When we want to make recommendations,” says Healey confidently looking forward towards collective impact potential via unified voices advocating change system-wide eventually hoping establish task force challenging ableism entrenched structures still present today overall throughout higher education environments everywhere alike ultimately achieving equitable outcomes ensuring everyone benefits equally regardless background ability level always striving achieve true equality opportunity success among peers society general finally realizing shared goals together hand-in-hand working side-by-side continuously moving forward together united purpose-driven common cause indeed truly inspiring vision worth pursuing wholeheartedly without reservation hesitation whatsoever simply put straightforwardly candidly honestly sincerely no doubt question mind period full stop end story here now forevermore amen!