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Session 1: 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
A1: Accessibility design principles in the age of AI-driven interfaces
Abhishek Gupta (he/him) from Montreal AI Ethics Institute
In the presentation, we delve into the transformative role of AI in enhancing digital accessibility, highlighting how machine learning algorithms can be leveraged to create more inclusive and adaptable user experiences. The talk examines interdisciplinary approaches, integrating insights from human-computer interaction, organizational behavior, and universal design principles, to demonstrate how AI interfaces can be engineered to address diverse user needs, including those of individuals with disabilities. By exploring case studies and innovative practices, this presentation offers a forward-thinking perspective on embedding ethical and inclusive design strategies in AI development, underlining the critical need for accessibility in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
B1: Ableism in the workplace: navigating organizational success through inclusivity
Piper Hutson (she/her)
Drawing on expertise in neurodiversity and inclusivity within professional settings, this session would address the challenges and opportunities in combating ableism in the workplace. It would offer insights into recognizing ableist practices and policies and provide a roadmap for fostering an inclusive culture that supports organizational success.
C1: An integrative approach to digital accessibility initiatives
Keith Hays (he/him) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Digital accessibility initiatives in higher education are complex, requiring buy-in and action on multiple levels across an institution. Join me for a discussion of how multiple theories of change can work together to support high levels of buy-in and success in building an inclusive and accessible higher education environment.
D1: Accessible from the start: building accessibility into online courses
Christine Scherer (she/her) from Northwestern University
Accessibility works best when it's built in from the start. This presentation will share key considerations for building an accessible online course, from the details of headings and alt text to examples of workflow, training, and communication.
Session 2: 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
A2: Inclusion through accessible communication
Sena Pottackal (she/her) and Ethan Chiu (he/him) from Current Global
Statista estimated $270 billion was spent on social media in 2023. Unfortunately, every day social media content is published that excludes the disabled community, who consists of 1.85 billion people, constitutes 15% of the global population, and collectively controls $13 trillion in buying power. This presentation equips content creators with relevant research and the fundamental knowledge to create social media content to impactfully engage with this large and valuable audience.
B2: The ableist precarity of graduate school
Erin Anderson (she/her) from the University of Toronto
Institutional policies positioned as removing barriers to access and inclusion among disabled students rarely, if ever, go beyond scratching the surface. In fact, Brown (2021) argues that the benefits of disclosure decrease in relation to the increased potential risks as disabled individuals move through the pipeline, as evidenced by statistics on the rate of graduate student and faculty accommodation requests. This presentation will argue that systemic ableism and neoliberalism underlie the culture of the academy and create further harm for disabled grad students and faculty members.
C2: Creating sustainable global cross-disability communities
Panelists:
- Ron Padrón (he/him)
- Paul T. Jaeger (he/him)
- Sara Olsen (she/her)
- Alex Peterson (she/her)
- Stephanie J. Cork (she/they)
- Nedelina Tchangalova (she/her)
The presenters will share insights from founding and running a large international cross-disciplinary, cross-disability virtual conference and accompanying online journal that have built a global network of disabled people, advocates, educators, scholars, government officials, family members, and other allies and accomplices. This talk will share challenges, lessons learned, best practices, and technological solutions that could help to work virtually across different types of disabilities, languages, and locations, as well as detailing issues such as advertising, registration, real-time participation, and software selection for events with many disabled participants.
D2: Building better templates for accessibility
Elizabeth Pyatt (she/her) from Penn State University
Although instructors and staff understand the need to create accessible content, many report feeling intimidated or concerned about mastering new “advanced” skills needed create accessible documents that provide formatting options instructors or academic units would like to use. To provide a starting point to build accessible documents, such as a syllabus, Penn State created a repository of customizable Word templates that faculty and staff can use for syllabi and other files including homework assignments and reports. As training sessions note, templates not only increase document accessibility, but also allow editors and writer to more efficiently format content for different needs.
Keynote: noon to 12:55 p.m.
Fortified against technoableism
Ashley Shew
The ways disabled people talk and write about technologies often stands in contrast to the ways disability technologies are imagined or presented by most societal narratives. These societal narratives about technology often reflect ableist assumptions about what disabled people want or need. Disabled people often center different problems and raise different concerns than expected by many technologists. Professionals in disability services are situated at an important point of contact between worldviews, whether or not they are disabled themselves. Being an a11y to disabled people sometimes means working through a system premised on one worldview while trying to serve the interests of another, finding workarounds and serving as translator and informant. That's a tough position to be in, and this talk is aimed at fortifying ourselves against technoableism to work toward a future built without barriers.
Session 3: 1 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
A3: ADA Title II and you
Keith Hays (he/him) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Khaled Musa (he/him) from the University of Minnesota
Public universities are facing increasing legal scrutiny, and the recent updates to ADA Title II are no exception. In this session we will share an overview of the new ADA Title II requirements and invite discussion on how these new requirements may necessitate a transformation of digital accessibility compliance initiatives.
B3: Sharp corners and big dreams: meeting academic ableism with systems thinking and imagination
Matthew Croft (he/they) from the University of Minnesota
Through my perspective as the Director of the Disabled Student Cultural Center here at the University of Minnesota and as an Industrial Engineering student, I'll lead us through an exploration of how systemic gaps in disability inclusion arise from the assumptions we make about success in academia. However, after a brief exploration of the history of grades and grading, we may find that some of these assumptions aren't as durable as they may seem. We'll then reflect on the burdens placed on disabled students to navigate the academic bureaucracy and how we can be effective advocates for change.
C3: Partnering with a vendor to improve accessibility
Cindy McKendall (she/her) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Higher ed institutions rely on third-party software for all sorts of necessary functions, but vendors often don't prioritize accessibility. In my role as Senior Cybersecurity Training Specialist, I've successfully worked with the University of Illinois' cybersecurity training vendor, Proofpoint, to make their training modules and platform more accessible. In this session, I'll share strategies and tips for partnering with a vendor to improve accessibility in third-party software.
D3: Bringing music to life: accessible music remediation with SharpEye2 and Lime
Christy Blew (she/her) and Alex Cordain (he/him) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Creating accessible sheet music for individuals using assistive technologies can be a real stumbling block for Disability Specialists more used to providing text files to their students who are blind/low vision. Bring your own laptop and work alongside the presenters in this hands-on workshop. Participants will learn a functional workflow for music remediation using Adobe Acrobat, SharpEye2 Optical Music Recognition program, and the Lime music notation editor to take you from a scanned image of a sheet of music all the way to an accessible .lim file usable by a blind/low vision musician.
Session 4: 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
A4: If no one knows your accessible services, what's the point? Communicating access and improving content accuracy for Northwestern Libraries' accessibility services webpage
Chris Davidson (he/him), Cory Slowik (she/her), and Frank Sweis (he/him) from Northwestern University
Last year Northwestern University Libraries staff worked together to redesign the library webpage for accessibility services. What started as a design review of its copy, readability, and information architecture turned into a comprehensive project to determine accuracy of its information and identify missing services. In some cases, new services were added, and existing services were updated to address the needs of our patrons. The project required collaboration with library, university, and accessibility stakeholders to correct information and raise awareness of our services.
This presentation will go over our process for redesigning the page, stakeholders involved in the process and how we achieved buy in, and the challenges we faced during the project.
B4: The nexus of disability, social work, and the university
Cameron McKenzie (he/him) and Maryam Khan (she/her) from Wilfrid Laurier University
In this presentation, two disabled social work faculty from a Canadian university conclude that their social exclusion is inevitable under systemic neoliberalist priorities of individualism, efficiency, and productivity. We engage in a systems analysis of how educational institutions, namely universities, engage in practices and processes of social exclusion of disabled faculty through neoliberalist ideologies, institutional policies, and practices. We use an auto-ethnographic case study method, guided by an intersectional and disability justice theoretical framing, to challenge the ahistorical and non-relational tendencies of neoliberalism in its many forms.
C4: Bringing a11y design and development partners together to improve accessibility
Allison Grinberg-Funes (she/her) from Liberty Mutual
Learn how to improve communications and processes between design and development teams to ensure you build accessible products.
D4: Accessible math: let's find the missing variable
Brian Richwine (he/him) and Mary Stores (she/her) from Indiana University
Historically, we presented on how screen readers fail in the promise of providing access to digital mathematics. This presentation explores the evolution of accessible math for screen reader users. We begin by defining what constitutes truly accessible math content and technologies. Then, we examine the current landscape, including math preferences, braille options, and math exploration tools. A scorecard matrix will be presented, evaluating the accessibility capabilities of various screen readers for mathematical content. Finally, we will discuss whether this list is comprehensive and invite the audience to share additional areas requiring further exploration to achieve full accessibility for mathematical materials. The goal is to provide a realistic assessment of where we stand and spark ideas for continued progress in this critical domain.