Creating a Culture of Accessibility Across the Organization

Institutions create a sustainable culture of accessibility by making it an important value across the organization - in policy, process, training, and implementation among staff, faculty, and students. Accessibility isn’t the domain of a few experts on campus, but rather a distributed network of knowledge and responsibility from procurement and IT to instructional designers and faculty. This discussion circle session addresses the wicked problem of affecting a cultural change through exploring how to build capacity and collaboration in each of these areas to build an ethos of accessibility into campus life. In this session attendees will discuss questions such as: What are the gaps in learning experiences that students with disabilities are facing? What policies and processes can institutions use to ensure that the digital teaching and learning tools are accessible? How can institutions leverage faculty development to enhance accessibility? How can institutions shift from thinking about accessibility as a compliance issue to a diversity, equity, and inclusion imperative?

Outcomes: Discuss the importance of including accessibility requirements as part of the procurement process for evaluating LTIs and 3rd party software * Consider how to structure support for faculty interested in accessibility * Discuss the impact of accessibility barriers on learners * Identify and discuss commonalities and distinctions of their institutional accessibility in relation to other institutions * Consider the challenges in evolving institutional ethos from compliance to culture of inclusion and care