Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) 2020
GAAD is an annual global event, designed to engage people around the world in talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion. Additional information about GAAD is available at globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org.
Each year, the UW commemorates GAAD by offering a full day of lectures, workshops, and other activities related to digital accessibility. All events are open to everyone in the UW Community. In 2020, many of the activities will be closely aligned with the IT Accessibility Challenge. So, please Take the Challenge! Then, attend the GAAD events that specifically support the IT Accessibility Challenge tasks you signed up for.
- Date: May 21, 2020
- Time: 9:00am – 4:00pm
- Location: Zoom (UW NetID required)
- All sessions will include live captioning and ASL interpreting.
Session schedule
| Time | Topic | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 – 9:50 | Opening Remarks: Why digital accessibility? Why now? | Terrill Thompson |
| 10:00 – 10:50 | How screen reader users interact with the web | Hadi Rangin |
| 11:00 – 11:50 | IT Accessibility Challenge Training #1: Tasks related to Videos | Doug Hayman Terrill Thompson |
| 1:00 – 1:50 | IT Accessibility Challenge Training #2: Tasks related to Websites | Dan Comden Anna Marie Golden Terrill Thompson |
| 2:00 – 2:50 | IT Accessibility Challenge Training #3: Tasks related to Canvas Courses | Dan Comden Terrill Thompson |
| 3:00 – 3:50 | IT Accessibility Challenge Training #4: Tasks related to Documents | Gaby de Jongh |
Session descriptions
Opening Remarks: Why digital accessibility? Why now?
In this session, we will explore the importance of digital accessibility during this present moment, defined by the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act; by our currently teaching, learning, and working online; and by the UW community having more than 4000 students who are known to have disabilities. We will describe the many strategies the UW is taking to ensure the tools and resources it uses for teaching and working online are accessible, as well as the challenges that remain and how you can help. We will also discuss the role of the IT Accessibility Challenge 2020 in addressing many of the simple tasks (the “low hanging fruit”) in IT accessibility.
How screen reader users interact with the web
In this session, IT accessibility specialist Hadi Rangin will provide a live demo of how a screen reader user typically uses their assistive technology to explore, read, and understand new web pages and web applications. Implications for web designers and developers will be discussed.
IT Accessibility Challenge Training #1: Tasks related to Videos
In this session, we will provide an overview, training, and hands-on demos related to the following tasks from the IT Accessibility Challenge 2020:
- Task #12: Review my videos and remove those that are no longer needed.
- Task #13: Edit YouTube’s auto-captions
- Task #14: Submit high impact videos to UW-IT for free captioning.
- Task #15: Review my videos and identify those that are in greatest need of audio description.
IT Accessibility Challenge Training #2: Tasks related to Websites
In this session, we will provide an overview, training, and hands-on demos related to the following tasks from the IT Accessibility Challenge 2020:
- Task #1: Check my website(s) with a keyboard.
- Task #2: Check color contrast in my website(s).
- Task #3: Use an accessibility checker to check overall accessibility of my website(s).
- Task #4: Be sure all images on my website(s) have meaningful alt text.
IT Accessibility Challenge Training #3: Tasks related to Canvas Courses
In this session, we will provide an overview, training, and hands-on demos related to the following tasks from the IT Accessibility Challenge 2020:
- Task #5: Review the Accessibility Report within my Canvas courses.
- Task #6: Check and fix headings within my Canvas pages.
- Task #7: Check and fix other accessibility issues within my Canvas pages.
IT Accessibility Challenge Training #4: Tasks related to Documents
In this session, we will provide an overview, training, and hands-on demos related to the following tasks from the IT Accessibility Challenge 2020:
- Task #8: Review online PDFs and remove those that are no longer needed.
- Task #9: Use the accessibility checker in Adobe Acrobat to check the accessibility of my PDFs.
- Task #10: Use the accessibility checker in Microsoft Office to check accessibility of my Word, PowerPoint, or Excel files.
- Task #11: Submit high impact PDFs to UW-IT for free accessibility remediation.