The Center for User Experience (UX) provides guidance, resources, and consultations to help liaisons support digital accessibility in their units.
Use the following resources to learn more about digital accessibility best practices, and reach out to the Center for UX if you have any questions.
Office hours and Community of Practice
The Center for UX holds weekly office hours for liaisons and others doing digital accessibility work at the university. We also encourage liaisons to engage with the Digital Accessibility Community of Practice to discuss and learn from subject matter experts across the university.
Office hours with the Center for User Experience
These 25-minute sessions are intended to answer quick questions about digital accessibility, with the option to set up follow-up services with the Center for UX as needed. Office hours are open to liaisons and anyone at the university who has questions about digital accessibility. Using the Calendly link, please select a time slot that works for you and someone from the Center for UX will send you a Teams meeting invite.
Sessions are available Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Digital Accessibility Community of Practice
The Digital Accessibility Community of Practice (CoP) was created to promote inclusive digital experiences and content by cultivating community and providing opportunities to learn more about digital accessibility at UW–Madison.
As a liaison, you are automatically added to the Community of Practice to build community, find resources, and share experiences. The CoP also holds regular meetings that focus on topics of digital accessibility in the UW–Madison community.
Digital accessibility liaison toolkit
What is the toolkit?
The toolkit includes an agenda to guide conversations about the liaison role with your manager, an optional spreadsheet to help your unit inventory its digital resources, and other resources to support you in this role.
Guides and learning opportunities
Curated resources for self-paced learning about digital accessibility fundamentals and tips for checking and improving accessibility in different digital mediums.
Digital Accessibility Liaison Training
This Canvas course provides further information on the liaison role and some recommendations on how to do the work of a liaison. To access this onboarding course, you must be a registered liaison.
Make It Accessible – All guides
These guides from the Center for UX provide an overview of digital accessibility best practices in documents, course content, websites and web applications, procurement, and more.
LinkedIn Learning – Foundations of Accessible Elearning
How do you prevent accessibility barriers in an online learning environment? This beginner-level course explores best practices for creating accessible elearning.
W3.org – Accessibility Fundamentals Overview
This resource hub provides links to various digital accessibility topics, including why accessibility is important and fundamental principles of web accessibility.
LinkedIn Learning – Accessibility for Web Design
Are your websites accessible and easy to use? In this beginner-level course, learn practical accessibility techniques to ensure your web content can be used by everyone.
LinkedIn Learning – Digital Accessibility for the Modern Workplace
This beginner-level course shares basic tips for creating more inclusive and accessible digital experiences, such as in emails, presentations, and social media posts.
LinkedIn Learning – Creating Accessible PDFs
This training demonstrates how to check PDFs for accessibility and how to remediate inaccessible PDFs. It covers three workflows for creating accessible PDFs (Word, PowerPoint, and InDesign).
Accessibility checkers
Microsoft 365 built-in accessibility checker
Use Microsoft 365’s built-in accessibility checker when creating content in Outlook email messages, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations.
Grackle extensions for Google content
Grackle add-ons are a suite of extensions to Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Sheets. Use these extensions to check and correct accessibility issues in your Google Workspace content.
WebAIM color contrast checker
People perceive color in different ways, so it is essential that all digital content has sufficient color contrast. Use WebAIM’s color contrast checker to ensure your content uses colors appropriately.
Campus partners
- ADA Coordinators in Office of Compliance
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) coordinators in the Office of Compliance are responsible for university-wide compliance with the ADA and other disability nondiscrimination laws. Contact the ADA coordinators at ada_coordinator@wisc.edu if you have questions about digital accessibility policy or the ADA’s requirements. - Employee Disability Resources (EDR) Office
The EDR office provides information on the disability accommodation process for employees and applicants. If you are experiencing difficulty in the application and hiring process, in performing your job duties, or in accessing an employment benefit, you can request an accommodation. - McBurney Disability Resource Center
The McBurney Disability Resource Center is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive educational experience for students. The McBurney Center partners with students, faculty, and staff to provide academic accommodations so that students can fully participate in their educational courses and other activities at the university.
The Center for User Experience
At the Center for User Experience, we are committed to working with you to make digital spaces more accessible, usable and inclusive for all students, faculty and staff at UW–Madison. We help the university follow its Digital Accessibility Policy by offering free evaluation and consultation services to all UW–Madison community members. For guidance on complying with digital accessibility requirements, visit Digital accessibility and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Get in touch
- Meet with us: Book an office hours chat with one of our team members to ask any questions you have.
- Start a project with us: We support accessible design and development. Fill out our Let’s Connect form to begin working with us on your project or to request an accessibility evaluation.
- Email us: Not sure if you’re ready to meet? Email us to start talking and figure out what to do next.