About the CBI

A panelist shakes hands with AccessComputing Co-PI Jacob Wobbrock.

Its focus was on making classes, departments, and organizations more welcoming and accessible to students with disabilities and encouraging educators to include accessibility in the computing curriculum. This CBI was a hands-on, project-oriented workshop, where participants created resources to share with colleagues and students.

Attendees included computing faculty members and graduate students, computing students and professionals with disabilities, disability services professionals, and industry professionals from across the country. Sessions shared information on broader subjects such as accommodations and universal design, IT accessibility, and the experiences of individuals with disabilities, as well as presentations on specific outreach activities, strategies for making courses welcoming, and methods for teaching accessibility.

The CBI also facilitated discussions between participants. The CBI provided a forum for discussing access challenges, sharing expertise and successful practices, developing collaborations, creating resources, and identifying systemic change initiatives relevant to the meeting’s goals.

Topics discussed included

  • the experiences of computing students with disabilities,
  • challenges in increasing the participation of students with disabilities in computing, 
  • strategies to increase accessibility content in computing curriculum, and
  • best practices for making departments welcoming and accessible to students with disabilities.
  • The agenda for the CBI and summaries of the presentations, panels, and working group discussions are provided on the following pages.