We have gathered resources to provide faculty, staff, students, and the community with the tools to make courses, documents, conferences, seminars, and meetings accessible.
A great place to start for UW students, faculty, staff, and visitors is the UW Accessibility website. It lists information, tools, and services for people with disabilities and all of us. Included is the UW’s plan for complying with the new ADA rule on digital accessibility.
Accessible courses, classrooms, and teaching
Teaching Data Science & STEM Accessibly
For instructors and TAs: creating accessible class materials that use or represent data and math. Focus on blind, low vision, screenreader users.
Accessible Courses for Visually Impaired Students
Student testimonials on the need for access. Includes captioning, course websites and syllabi, and making lectures accessible.
Teach Access: Accessible Courses
Free, online workshops for teaching accessibly in a variety of academic areas.
Teach Access: Developers/ Designers
For makers of mobile apps and websites: free, online tutorials.
Teaching Accessible Computing: An online book
A free, community-sourced online book to help computer science educators integrate accessibility topics into their classes. Teaching Accessible Computing provides the foundations of accessibility relevant to computer science teaching and presents teaching methods to integrate those topics into course design. Among the editors are CREATE faculty Amy Ko and CREATE Director of Education Emeritus Richard Ladner. You may recognize many CREATE faculty members’ research referenced throughout the guide.
Accessible presentations and materials
For speakers and their hosts: Accessibility guidelines
To-do lists for ensuring presentations are accessible to the audience and events are accessible for speakers. Includes tips for documents (Word, Google docs, PDFs).
Do’s and don’ts of making services accessible
Gov.uk has published best design practices for making services accessible. Six posters (and a text version) identify the do’s and don’ts for users’ needs.
Resources for disabled academics
Neurodiversity @ Work Playbook: Employee Engagement & Growth Series
CREATE faculty member Hala Annabi, in collaboration with neuroinclusion leaders representing 21 companies and organizations and including neurodivergent and neurotypical leaders, cover topics including:
- Insights and best practices for fostering the growth and advancement of Neurodivergent employees
- Strategies for creating a Neuroinclusive workplace
We maintain a growing list of resources for students, faculty, researchers with disabilities, and their prospective employers. It includes resources on UW campuses and beyond.
Have a resource to add? Contact Liz Diether-Martin, CREATE Web Specialist, at lizdm@uw.edu.
AccessADVANCE:
Support for women with disabilities in STEM faculty careers
The AccessADVANCE initiative serves to increase the successful participation and advancement of under-represented populations with disabilities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) faculty careers. It includes resources, webinars, and an online community of practice for engagement with others who are interested in working toward this goal.
- For faculty and academic departments
- Resources: Community of practice, mini-grants, consultation
- More info: Equal Access: Making STEM Departments More Accessible to and Inclusive of Faculty with Disabilities
AccessComputing:
Increasing the participation of people with disabilities in computing fields
UW AccessComputing connects students with disabilities to mentors and professionals for internships, research experiences, scholarships and other resources and opportunities in computing fields.
- For: undergraduate students, graduate students
- Resources: mentoring, IT support, scholarships, internships
AccessSTEM Project:
Increasing the participation of people with disabilities in STEM careers
AccessSTEM is a DO-IT project that works with a leadership team that represents stakeholders including postsecondary institutions, precollege STEM educators, disability services, veteran associations, projects that broaden participation in STEM, and industry and career services.
- For: precollege STEM educators, disability services, veterans associations, projects that broaden participation in STEM, and industry and career services
- Resources: Policy advocacy and implementation; fostering of systemic changes through mentoring and peer support communities, job shadows, informational interviews, internships, and leadership events; and communities of practice.
Office of the ADA Coordinator (UW):
Accessibility guidance and information across UW campuses
The Office of the ADA Coordinator offers accessibility guidance and information across the UW. Highlights include high-level strategic work initiated by the ADA & Accessibility Steering Committee and ADA Coordinator Advisory Groups.
- For: students, faculty, staff on all UW campuses
- Resources: campus access, service animals, barrier reporting, and accessibility practices
Aspirations in Computing:
National network of peers supporting success in technology
Aspirations in Computing strives to make sure technology is being developed by a population as diverse as its users. A program within the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT).
- For: students, higher ed educators, K-12 educators
- Resources: awards, scholarships, internships, communities, free and easy-to-use resources
C-STAR Collaborative:
Collaborative Mentorship Funding
The Center for Smart Use of Technologies to Assess Real World Outcomes (C-STAR) was born out of a need to equip investigators with the skills and knowledge to accurately employ technologies to measure and interpret data relevant to sensorimotor and cognitive function in the lab, clinic and real world. It is part of the Medical Rehabilitation Research Resource Network (MR3) of the National Institutes of Health.
- For: early-career rehabilitation researchers
- Resources: mentoring from senior scientists and clinicians, financial and educational support
Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT:
Academic Careers Workshop
The national Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in Information Technology, or CMD-IT, promotes innovation that enriches, enhances, and enables the African Americans/Blacks, Native Americans/Indigenous People, Hispanics/Latinx, and People with Disabilities communities, such that more equitable and sustainable contributions are possible by all communities.
- For: minorities and people with disabilities in information technology
- Resources: Academic Careers Workshop, Tapia Conference
The D Center:
Meeting space in the HUB and an inclusive community
The D Center (Disability and d/Deaf Cultural Center) is a space and community where students can celebrate disability and D/deaf pride and foster community at the UW and beyond. Located in the HUB, the center fosters community, shares resources, and hosts events.
- For: UW students, faculty and staff
- Resources: inclusive meeting space, networking, and social, cultural, and educational programming
The DO-IT Center:
Scholarships for students with disabilities
The DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) Center is dedicated to empowering people with disabilities through technology and education. It promotes awareness and accessibility—in both the classroom and the workplace—to maximize the potential of individuals with disabilities and make our communities more vibrant, diverse, and inclusive.
- For: high school students, college students, educators, employers
- Resources: scholarships, assistance with adaptive technology and resources, college and career readiness, networking, accessible instruction tools, communities of practice, …
CRA-WP IDEALS Workshop:
Grad cohort workshop for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Leadership Skills (IDEALS)
Sponsored by CRA-WP, the workshop is two days of interacting with senior computing researchers and professionals who share pertinent information on graduate school survival skills, as well as more personal information and insights about their experiences.
- For: graduate students with disabilities
- Resources: workshop, networking, connecting
Last Mile Education Fund:
Grants to support low-income grad students in need
The Last Mile Education Fund offers a disruptive approach to increasing diversity in tech and engineering fields by addressing critical gaps in financial support for students within four semesters of graduation.
- For: low-income and underrepresented undergraduate students enrolled in computing-related degree program who face challenges beyond their control
- Resources: funding to complete undergraduate program
Lime Connect:
Fellowship and scholarship programs
Lime Connect is a non-profit organization concerned with rebranding disability through achievement by connecting professionals and students with disabilities to careers, internships, fellowships and mentoring with top fortune 500 companies across the United States and Canada.
- Lime Connect Fellowship Program For Students with Disabilities – for highly accomplished rising juniors with disabilities in the U.S. Provides fellowship, guidance through the summer internship recruitment process, networking with corporate partners.
- Google Lime Scholarship program – for students with disabilities who are studying computing. Provides networking opportunities with Google.
- The Tom Wilson Leadership in Disability Award – for young professionals with disabilities who have exhibited success and leadership in the disability space. Provides scholarships of up to $10, a mentorship year with a Lime Connect board member, service as a role model with Lime’s communities, etc.
- Johnson & Johnson Access-Ability Lime Scholarship – for undergraduate, graduate, MBA, and Ph.D. students with disabilities pursuing careers in STEM and health care.
Switzer Research Fellowship Program
The purpose of the Switzer Research Fellow Program is to build research capacity by providing support to researchers, including those with disabilities, to perform research on rehabilitation, independent living, and other experiences and outcomes of individuals with disabilities.
- For: Individuals with the training and experience that indicates potential for engaging in scientific research related to rehabilitation and independent living for individuals with disabilities is eligible for assistance under this program
- Resources: merit fellowships and distinguished fellowships
Tapia Celebration for Diversity in Computing
The annual Tapia Conference is presented by The Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in Information Technology to bring together people from all backgrounds and ethnicities.
- For: students, faculty, researchers and professionals in computing with disabilities
- Resources: conference for celebration, connection inspiration
Career resources
Blind Institute of Technology
The Blind Institute of Technology (BIT) provides employment services to individuals with any type of disability. They presented a webinar for jobseekers with disabilities and their allies (both are captioned and one version has audio description):
- Employment Services for People in the Disability Community
- Employment Services for People in the Disability Community (Audio-Described Version)
Related resources
- UW Accessibility website
- UW IT’s Accessible Technology
- Open Source Tools for Accessibility Coders
- UW Chemical Engineering’s accessible teaching resources, including a Classroom Recording Guide