UW Accessible IT Capacity Building Institute

Last Friday I attended the University of Washington’s Accessible IT CBI. The goal of this conference was to “To increase our collective capacity to develop, procure, & use IT that is accessible to all students, faculty, staff & visitors of all campuses of the University of Washington.”

While working at UW, I have been fortunate to have meet accessibility experts who have helped me become a better web designer/developer. This began by increasing my awareness about the challenges that disabled users face. UW’s Accessibility groups offer presentations, workshops, one-on-one consultations to test, teach best practices and methods used to create accessible websites, videos, apps and documents.

Part of my job’s responsibilities include creating accessible websites — something that I am becoming passionate about. This goes beyond any legal requirements (i.e. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 & its 2008 Amendments), it’s just the “right” thing to do.

It’s been proven that making things “accessible” benefits almost everyone. For example, consider how many people benefit from having curbs ramped at corners — people in wheelchairs, families with baby strollers, people with wheeled luggage, etc.

This conference was hosted by UW Access Technology Center (ATC) and DO-IT Program.

Tags:Accessible Web, User Experience, UX Design, Web Design, Web Development