IT Accessibility Team
IT Accessibility Team
1,994 PDF Documents Remediated
ITAT staff provided free remediation of UW PDF documents that are highly visible, high-impact, multiple use, and/or strategic. In 2021, ITAT staff remediated 1,994 documents totaling 21,976 pages, positively affecting thousands of students, faculty, staff, and visitors as they access public-facing documents. Examples of high-impact documents remediated include the nine Canvas model courses featured on IT Connect, UW Medicine COVID-19 informational flyers in multiple languages, and the Year in Review from the office of the Ombud. For additional information about document accessibility, see uw.edu/accessibility/documents.
515 Videos Captioned
ITAT staff provides free captioning of UW videos that are highly visible, high-impact, multiple use, and/or strategic. In 2021, ITAT staff captioned 515 videos with over 109 hours of run time, estimated to impact over 119,000 viewers. Examples of high impact videos captioned include videos for UW Medicine and EH&S related to the COVID-19 and videos for several courses. ITAT staff also helped UW video owners add audio description to their videos, a standard technique that makes highly visual video content accessible to individuals who are unable to see the video. Of the 515 videos, 46 videos were audio described. For additional information about video accessibility, including ITAT’s free captioning service, see uw.edu/accessibility/videos.
30 Vendor Partnerships
ITAT staff work collaboratively with many of the technology vendors with whom the UW does business, in order to help them design and develop more accessible products and services. Key partnerships in 2021 included DocuSign, DocFinity, Google, H5P, Microsoft, Mural, Pearson, Kaye-Smith (UW Physician Billing), Workday, and Zoom.
100+ Presentations and Events
ITAT staff host standing monthly activities such as the UW Web Accessibility/Usability Meetup and Accessible Technology Webinar Series. They also provide three half-day trainings per year to their network of IT Accessibility Liaisons and deliver customized trainings on request to campus units and departments. In May 2021, ITAT coordinated the “Zero Errors” Campaign, a university-wide effort to train and encourage the UW community to use available accessibility checker tools to reduce or eliminate their machine-detectable accessibility errors. ITAT staff are globally recognized for their expertise on IT accessibility, and, in 2021, they gave presentations at several national conferences, including the CSUN Assistive Technology, Association of Higher Education and Disability, EDUCAUSE, HighEdWeb, and Accessing Higher Ground conferences.
Collaborator Spotlights
School of Public Health (SPH)
SPH has integrated accessibility into their communications workflow, including in graphics, videos, social media, and web development. They think of universal design and accessible technology as part of their role in promoting equity and inclusion for their students. As evidence of their commitment, theirs is the only website to successfully attain a perfect accessibility score in Siteimprove (the UW’s enterprise web accessibility checker) during the Zero Errors Campaign in May 2021. They have also captioned 100% of the videos on their YouTube channel, which includes over 170 videos. In 2021, SPH published the 50th Anniversary edition of the UW Public Health Magazine, a visually rich print publication that was sent to alumni and donors, and supplemented that with an equally well-designed accessible HTML version.
Continuum College
In 2021, Continuum College demonstrated a wide-ranging and steady commitment to accessibility. Their staff actively worked to build their accessibility knowledge through EDUCAUSE trainings and national accessibility conferences, and regularly had representatives at ATS-hosted meetups, webinars, and other events. They had representatives on the IT Accessibility Task Force and in the IT Accessibility Liaisons Network; and they helped to facilitate ATS collaboration with key vendors. They also added accessibility standards to their course quality review process, and regularly used accessibility checkers such as Ally and Siteimprove. Their efforts are documented in more detail in their 2021 Year in Review publication, which includes an entire section on “Improving Accessibility to Enhance the Online Classroom Experience for All Students.”
ITAT 2021 Highlights
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Organized a “Zero Errors” |
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Hosted a full day |
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Coordinated three half-day |
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Worked extensively |