The Accessibility Ambassadors team consists of faculty and staff from around campus dedicated to supporting digital accessibility at the university. Organized by UNL’s Digital Accessibility Collaborative, the group is led by Amy Ort and Krista Croghan from the Center for Transformative Teaching and Remy Sydik from Institutional Equity and Compliance.
“With next spring’s deadline for new federal ADA Title II guidelines rapidly approaching, it seemed critical to bring together people on campus that are doing great work in this space,” said Ort. “This way, we can share resources and information to address issues collaboratively rather than each unit feeling like they have to figure everything out on their own.”
The group has been meeting regularly since August to help each ambassador come up with a specific plan for what they might implement within their own units. For example, McKinzie Sutter is planning to create short show-and-tell videos demonstrating specific accessibility techniques that can be shared with faculty in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Mel Sedlacek is supporting Child, Youth and Family Studies faculty by creating a quick start guide outlining the key starting points for digital accessibility, which will be paired with short accessibility spotlight presentations at faculty meetings. On a similar note, Nick Husbye is emailing his fellow Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education faculty weekly accessibility tips to keep them all on track with meeting the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II deadline.
While the ambassadors are an important group supporting digital accessibility on campus, there are many resources that everyone can make use of for their own digital content. The Center for Transformative Teaching's Quick Guide is a great starting point for understanding how to implement digital accessibility standards in a range of university supported technologies. Additionally, the university's Accessibility and ADA Title II website has more information about the specific expectations of the updated standards.
Questions about the Accessibility Ambassadors team can be directed to Amy Ort. For support in addressing accessibility issues in your courses, contact an instructional designer assigned to your college.
More details at: https://go.unl.edu/accessibility-udl