Digital accessibility liaison network

To become a liaison, first connect with your supervisor to make sure you have their support. Next, submit the “Become a digital accessibility liaison” form. Upon completion of the form, three things will happen:

1. You will be invited to complete a training in Canvas about the liaison role
2. You will be added to the digital accessibility liaison directory
3. You will be added to the Digital Accessibility Community of Practice

Please note: the form must be completed by the liaison to avoid issues with training enrollment and being added to the liaison directory.

As a digital accessibility liaison, you will be part of a network of individuals from all university units. The liaison network is a structure to support and implement the digital accessibility policy.

Liaisons will:

• Collaborate with the Center for User Experience on a proactive approach to their unit’s digital accessibility
  • Receive information about digital accessibility to share broadly with their unit
• Communicate with the Center for User Experience about reported digital accessibility barriers to access support
• Facilitate connection between the Center for User Experience and product or service owners to support barrier remediation and/or develop alternative solutions
  • A product or service owner is the person who is responsible for procuring or developing a digital resource or information technology
• Have opportunities to share feedback on the support and structure of the liaison network

Resources have been created to assist liaisons in identifying the digital resources of their units, prioritizing accessibility using a conformance table, and requesting accessibility evaluations for their units. Liaisons within a single unit should coordinate their work to avoid duplicative efforts and may work with liaisons in other units as time and interest permits.

Liaisons will not:

• Determine what tools and platforms their units use and/or procure, unless their job responsibilities require this
• Act as a compliance officer or be responsible for any legal oversight of their unit
• Test digital tools to find barriers to access
• Create university documentation of found barriers

Liaisons have access to multiple channels of support.

• Canvas training: After you sign up as a liaison, you will be enrolled in a Canvas course that provides an overview of the policy, the policy goals and the liaison responsibilities.
• Microsoft Teams: You will also be added to a Microsoft Teams channel for ease of communication with the Center for User Experience and other liaisons.
• Support from CUE: We will offer ongoing support over time, including consultations, office hours, written guides and KB documentation, and more.

Have a question about the liaison network? Contact the Center for User Experience.

Consider who would make a good liaison, or team of liaisons, for your unit.

Some qualities of an effective liaison may include:

• Highly organized and task oriented
• Comfortable communicating with others
• Passion for creating an inclusive and accessible university
• Knowledge about systems and tools currently being used by your team

Discuss the responsibilities with the individual(s) you have identified and ask them to complete the registration form if they agree to volunteer. They will then be added to a directory and obtain access to a training in Canvas. To avoid issues with them being added to the directory and enrolled in the training, please do not complete the form on their behalf.

Before nominating someone to serve in this role from your department, first connect with that staff member to make sure they are supportive of the nomination. Next, ask the liaison to submit the “Become a digital accessibility liaison” form. When the form is completed, the liaison will be added to a directory and obtain access to a Canvas training. To avoid issues with them being added to the directory and enrolled in the training, please do not complete the form on their behalf.

It depends! Per the implementation plan, you may structure the designation of the digital accessibility liaison as your unit sees fit. The responsibilities of the liaison can be flexed depending on your unit’s resources. A single unit may even designate multiple liaisons as appropriate to its own operations.

The time commitment required for your liaison(s) will be determined by the number of tools, media and assets in your scope of work, and will further depend on the time and resources your unit can commit to spending on creating, remediating and testing new digital content.

No, the role of digital accessibility liaison does not assume legal oversight for their unit or for the university. The digital accessibility liaison will not be responsible for anything that is not already included in the liaison role and/or their current position description.