10 Ways We Can Make The University of Alabama More Accessible

10 Ways We Can Make The University of Alabama More Accessible

• May 15th, 2018
• in UA11y News

1. Convey content in multiple ways; don’t just use images, color, video, or audio.
2. Foster awareness of accessibility and accommodations. If a student needs accommodations, refer them to the Office of Disability Services. Faculty and staff can contact the Department of Human Resources. If you notice an opportunity to address accessibility, please bring it up!
3. Keep lines of communication with your users open and available.
4. Tell vendors/publishers/third parties that accessibility is important and ask how they are planning for accessibility. You can find suggested questions to ask vendors on the Technology Accessibility website.
5. Ask for or create a captioned or transcribed version of any media you use. Captioning grants are available to caption and/or transcribe UA-owned video and audio that will be shared on public or campus-wide web sites.
6. Avoid “click here”, “read more”, or other generic link/menu text.
7. Communicate clearly and concisely.
8. Build accessibility into your work practices for any content you create or share. Acrobat, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook on the web have built-in accessibility checkers, as do many other authoring tools.
9. Check out the assistive technology on your computer or mobile device and think about why someone would use it. Mac users can access accessibility options via Apple menu > System Preferences > Accessibility. Windows users can access accessibility options via Start > Settings > Ease of Access or Control Panel > Ease of Access Center.
10. Learn more on the Technology Accessibility website.

Questions? Comments? Need access help? Contact accessibility@ua.edu.