AccessComputing can lead online presentations and discussions for your department, institution, organization, or another group of colleagues. Time could be set aside during the session to discuss specific strategies that your department or organization could utilize to move towards becoming more welcoming and accessible to students with disabilities or how you could include accessibility topics in your instruction or research. 

Presentation Topics 

Below is a short list of some of the presentations that we can offer.  

  • Integrating Disability-Related Topics in a Computing Course: Companies report that they have a difficult time finding applicants for open positions who are knowledgeable about accessibility.  What can faculty members do to ensure that your students develop these valuable skills?

  • Accessibility is Becoming Mainstream: The view of disability has changed over the past 100 years and continues to evolve. Accessibility has become a professional field both in research and practice. Technology originally intended for people with disabilities has become useful technologies for everyone. More and more technologies originally developed for people with disabilities are now being integrated into mainstream products. 

  • Introduction to Ability-Based Design: Computers and smart devices today can sense, model, and adapt to their users and environments, opening the door to systems that can match their users’ abilities, rather than making users match themselves to the ability demands of systems. This approach is called ability-based design, and it comes with new perspectives, principles, tools, and methods for creating accessible technologies. Learn what ability-based design is and how it can influence the way you approach your next user-centered design, engineering, or research project.

  • Panel of Students with Disabilities in Computing: The experiences of students with disabilities in computing education and careers varies dramatically. In this panel, students with a variety of disabilities will report difficulties they've encountered and what has helped them succeed.

  • Perspectives of People with Disabilities Regarding Accessibility: Many products and technology are designed without thinking about accessibility and yet people with disabilities are a large market for new devices. A diverse group of people with disabilities will talk about technology and tools they use, challenges that they encounter in daily life, and their perspectives about engaging with people with disabilities in the design process.

  • Teaching an Accessible Online Course: Learn what is reasonable for instructors and online course designers to know in order to begin designing courses that are welcoming to, accessible to, and inclusive of all students and instructors, including those with disabilities.

  • Accessible Online Meetings and Presentations: As meetings and conferences are being moved online, what can you do to ensure that these events are accessible to all of your participants, particularly people with disabilities.

  • Designing Accessible Documents, Videos, and/or Websites: What is it like for someone who uses assistive technology to interact with information that is not accessible? What does “accessible content” mean and how do you create it? This webinar covers best practices, tools, and resources for creating accessible materials and presentations for your inclusive project.

  • Accessibility and Third-Party Products and Services: We all use a variety of third-party products and services.  How can you investigate accessibility during the procurement process?  What can you do if a product you've already purchased isn't accessible?

  • Universal Design of Teaching and Learning: Learn how universal design principles, guidelines, and performance indicators can be applied to instruction, information technology, physical spaces, and student services for the purpose of making educational products and environments accessible to all students, including those with disabilities.

  • Why is Data on Disability so Hard to Collect and Understand?: In the computing community, data about disability is rarely collected.  What best practices exist for collecting and analyzing data about disability when you survey your students or participants?

  • U.S. Laws about Accessibility: What does your university need to know about the laws surrounding accessibility in our country. This presentation will share guidelines that can help colleges and universities create an environment of accessibility for all campus constituents while complying with laws and regulations regarding accessibility of IT resources.

  • Tailor-Made Talk, Panel, or Discussion: Suggest something that would work for you.

To request a presentation for your group, email accesscomp@uw.edu with the following information:

  • The name of your organization
  • The audience for the presentation
  • The topic you’d like to discuss