Across the University of Washington, Compliance Partners and Digital Accessibility Liaisons are helping advance accessibility in UW’s digital environments. Compliance Partners coordinate accessibility efforts at a strategic level, while the Digital Accessibility Liaisons Community of Practice offers faculty, staff, and students a voluntary opportunity to build their knowledge and promote accessible digital content within their units.
Compliance Partners
Assigned by unit heads, Compliance Partners serve as points of contact who work closely with the Civil Rights Compliance Office to help communicate accessibility requirements, identify emerging issues or risks, and connect faculty and staff with tools, training, and resources.
Partners also help identify barriers and challenges within their units. To support this work, the Deputy ADA Coordinator for Digital Accessibility provides onboarding, ongoing guidance, quarterly check-ins, progress-tracking dashboards, and access to UW-IT Accessible Technology training and resources.
The program is already seeing strong participation. All 22 units in the initial rollout have confirmed at least one Compliance Partner, with 33 partners confirmed and 28 kickoff meetings completed.
Digital Accessibility Liaisons
Faculty, staff, and students are welcome in the Digital Accessibility Liaisons community of practice. Liaisons connect with colleagues across UW, participate in three quarterly sessions throughout the year, and learn practical strategies for making websites, documents, course materials, videos, social media, and other digital content more accessible. They share what they learn with their colleagues and help build awareness of digital accessibility within their departments, units, and organizations.
Anyone interested in joining can learn more on the Digital Accessibility Liaisons web page. Those who join this month will have an opportunity to participate in the group’s upcoming quarterly meeting on Thursday, October 29.
By connecting people, resources, and expertise, these roles help strengthen accessibility practices across the university.