I appreciate Regis giving me the opportunity to attend the
2016 Accessing Higher Ground conference held at the Westin in Westminster
Colorado . As with any conference there are highlights and areas for
improvement. I came away from this conference with a much greater
appreciation for the need to ensure all of our electronic information and
technology is accessible. The topics and sessions were overall great, and
areas for improvement were for me mainly around the administrative side of the
conference. I shared my input around the areas of improvement, on the
overall conference evaluation survey. You can see the schedule of all the
events by going to: accessinghigherground.org
I want to capture some of the highlights or
major takeaways for me from the conference:
- With accessibility we need to ensure we are being both proactive and reactive (accommodating) as necessary.
- Standardization of all course navigation organization is critical.
- One size does not fit all. Designing to the average really doesn’t fit anyone!
- Know thy users, for they are not you.
- If the user can’t find it, it doesn’t exist.
- The keynote speaker was Tommy Edison. He was so inspirational. He is a person who is blind and told his life story. Notice the phrasing. A person who is blind, not a blind person. He mentioned that it makes a difference how you say it. He wants to be seen first as a person. He is very big on YouTube and worth checking out.
- Things for us to consider:
o Investigate
a better or establish a method for students, faculty and staff to report access
barriers.
o Bringing
accessible design and development learning to higher ed – Teach Access.
This was actually a session given by Larry Goldberg, director of Accessible
Media, Yahoo. He shared that at Yahoo 1 in 9 new hires had heard of
accessible technology.
o Having
a “fair” day for everyone to experience different aspects like using a screen
reader.
o Having
a badge program for ADA compliance.
Hopefully the above helps spark some new ideas and thoughts
for you, and we can all continue the journey to creating better learning for
all. I have a lot more in my notes, and would be happy to discuss more if
anyone is interested.
