UC A11Y Newsletter

September 2024

Author

Katie Healey
August 27, 2024

Welcome!

Welcome to the first edition of the UC A11Y Newsletter. Each month, we’ll review accessibility, Universal Design for Learning, and disability history in digestible bites. We’ll also share campus news around disability and celebrate access heroes across the University of California system.

What does our name mean? A11Y is shorthand used in tech circles for the word accessibility, as there are 11 letters between the A and Y. But A11Y also resembles the word ALLY, which we strive to be through our commitment to inclusion and accessibility.

The stick figure with arms outstretched at the top of this newsletter is the universal symbol for accessibility.

This newsletter is one of several deliverables of a 2024 UC Online grant for designing and implementing a Canvas-based professional development course on accessibility, Universal Design for Learning, and disability justice.

(Note: links will open in a new tab)

First Meeting: Tuesday, October 8 @ 3 PM

To kick off our monthly meetings, please join us for a Zoom conversation with William Carter, who chairs the UC Berkeley Neurodiversity Initiative and identifies as neurodiverse.

International Day of Sign Languages: September 23

September 23 kicks off International Week of the Deaf (September 23-29) with a day honoring the over 300 different sign languages across the globe. In the United States, American Sign Language (ASL) was banned in Deaf classrooms for a century following the infamous Milan Congress of 1880. At this international conference, hearing educators declared the use of sign language inferior and detrimental to speech training for Deaf students. In fact, it wasn’t until linguist William Stokoe’s research in the 1960s and ’70s that ASL was recognized as a full-fledged language in its own right.

Although ASL is among the top five languages used in the United States, not all of the UC campuses offer ASL courses regularly.

Historic Hero: Ed Roberts

Ed Roberts smiling with bushy mustache and graying beard. Only his head is visible; he is inside an iron lung machine from the neck down.

Ed Roberts smiling with bushy mustache and graying beard. Only his head is visible, poking out from an iron lung machine. Image from Corbis and the Smithsonian.

Ed Roberts was a polio survivor and pioneering disability rights leader known as the father of the Independent Living movement. He fought to attend and complete his BA and MA in Political Science at UC Berkeley, living in the Cowell Hospital that accommodated his 800-pound iron lung. He led other disabled students, who called themselves the Rolling Quads, in fighting for accessibility around campus and the Berkeley community. 

Each January 23rd, the state of California observes Ed Roberts Day and honors his leadership in the Independent Living movement, which promotes self-determination, self-autonomy, and community integration of people with disabilities.

Learn More:

Universal Design for Learning: What is it?

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach “to optimize teaching and learning for all by setting clear, rigorous goals, anticipating barriers and proactively designing to minimize those barriers” (Perez & Johnston, 2020). It is rooted in Universal Design, an architectural and industrial design concept from the 1970s and ’80s aimed to increase accessibility without compromising aesthetics or function.

UDL honors learner variability by recognizing that the ways people learn through the strategic, affective, and recognition neural networks of the brain are as unique as their fingerprints. There is no “average” brain and no single way a brain will perceive, engage with, or execute a task. By extension, there is no “average” student; when we design for a presupposed average, we design for no one.

UDL is based on decades of neuroscience research and founded on three principles, which advocate for providing:

  • Multiple Means of Representation by presenting information and content in a variety of ways to support understanding by different learners

  • Multiple Means of Action & Expression by offering options for students to demonstrate their learning in various ways

  • Multiple Means of Engagement through stimulating motivation and sustained enthusiasm for learning by promoting various ways of engaging with material

We’ll dive deeper into UDL strategies in future newsletters, but check out the following introductory resources.

A11Y tip: Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader, located along the top right of most Canvas content pages, assists a variety of learners by:

  • reading text aloud at adjustable speeds

  • removing visual clutter to minimize distraction 

  • allowing users to adjust fonts and sizes (especially helpful for dyslexic and low-vision users)

  • providing adjustable spacing to help support reading comprehension and retention

Immersive Reader also facilitates language translation and includes a picture dictionary, which can assist students with communication difficulties.

The Immersive Reader tool aligns with UDL principles by fostering multiple means of representing information. You might consider demonstrating it for students and adding it to your syllabus accessibility statement or resource list.

To enable Immersive Reader, log into Canvas, select Account, and then choose Settings. Next, navigate to Feature Options. Microsoft Immersive Reader appears towards the bottom of the Feature list. Turn on Immersive Reader by toggling the button to Enabled. 

If you find Immersive Reader helpful, you can also download the free Chrome extension to support your web reading. You can also view research behind Immersive Reader here.

Access Hero:

Nominate an Access Hero who works to make your campus more accessible!

Nominees can be anyone on campus -- staff members, students, or instructors.

We’ll give them a shout-out in a future newsletter.

Stick figure in a wheelchair wearing a red cape

UC Campus Spotlight:

The UC Berkeley Library just wrapped up an exhibit on Berkeley’s connection to the disability rights movement called “A Camp, a Campus, and a Disability Revolution.” It was on display September 2023 through August 2024. Look for an online version of the exhibit soon.

‘This camp changed the world’: New exhibit tracks the rise of the disability rights movement and its ties to UC Berkeley

Left to right: A Camp Jened brochure from the 1950s is one of many documents in the exhibit; students pose in front of the UC Berkeley Disabled Students’ Program building with Program Director Susan O’Hara, far right.

UC Davis hosts its third Universal Design for Learning Institute this month for instructors interested in accessible course design.

News:

The US Department of Justice issued a final rule in April 2024 on Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). As public institutions, University of California campuses must ensure that their websites are “readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.” Enforcement of the new rule begins in 2026 or 2027, depending on the size of the institution.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 help us determine how to ensure compliance, and the content in the UC A11Y Canvas course and future newsletters will help explain accessibility concepts to make our websites, classrooms, and campuses more inclusive.

Learn more: