Make it Accessible is a comprehensive resource from the Center for User Experience (CUE) designed to help people make their digital environments more accessible. Resources include a fundamentals guide to get started, a checklist for digital content creators, document and web accessibility resources, and more. These guides bring together digital accessibility tips across many content types, along with guidance regarding minimizing digital accessibility barriers.
What can you do?
- Use the guides: Not sure where to start? Learn the fundamentals of digital accessibility.
- Share the guides: Include the guides in your processes and communications beginning this semester. The guides will continue to be updated with additional guidance as it develops.
Digital accessibility as a shared responsibility
National statistics indicate up to 26% of adults in the U.S. have a disability and nearly 20% of university students have a disability. As technology continues to evolve and change, it is important to ensure it is usable by everyone, regardless of ability. Accessibility is a critical aspect of inclusion and is everyone’s responsibility.
The Center for User Experience (CUE) helps the university follow the Digital Accessibility policy by offering free evaluation and advice to everyone in the UW–Madison community. CUE consults with units throughout the university and provides resources like Make It Accessible to improve digital tools and resources. Additionally, CUE supports the digital accessibility liaison network, who serve as a point of contact for their units for digital accessibility in relation to the policy. Units and individuals who need specific guidance about their areas of responsibility can contact CUE for a personalized consultation.
Go deeper; Go Big Read
As the university adopts the new Digital Accessibility policy, the UW–Madison community is invited to participate in the annual common book program, Go Big Read, for a broader perspective on accessibility. This year’s pick is “Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body,” a poignant and lyrical memoir offering a fresh look at disability, and the need for more perspectives that represent the full diversity of humanity. Author Rebecca Taussig (@sitting_pretty) explores the power of representation and how storytelling by people with disabilities works to create a kinder, more accessible, inclusive, and just world.
“Instead of disability as the limitation, what if a lack of imagination was the actual barrier?” she asks.
Growing up with limited portrayals of disability in the media, Taussig yearns for more complex and authentic representation. She challenges our preconceptions, inviting us to consider the impacts of ableism on individuals and society as a whole. Prepare for thought-provoking discussions about identity, independence and storytelling, including a keynote event at Union South on October 16.
Build a more inclusive UW
- Use and share Make it Accessible.
- Identify the digital accessibility liaison in your unit.
- Learn the fundamentals of digital accessibility.
- Get a free copy of “Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body”
- Need more specific help in your area of responsibility? Connect with CUE.