Happy 2025!

January Module and News

Our third Canvas module launches in mid-January and examines disability laws and web accessibility guidelines as well as audio description.

Dr. Karen Nakamura’s talk on UC Berkeley’s Disability Lab is now professionally captioned and available on our Canvas site under Recordings (link on home page).

Sign up to be added to the UC A11Y Canvas course!

Suggest content or nominate an Access Hero at your campus here!

(Note: as an accessibility best practice, links will open in the same tab)

New Resource!

Would you like to commit to learning more about disability history in 2025? Check out the Disability Daily Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Podbean for brief episodes recognizing different folks and key moments in disability history each day of the year.

The podcast is based on a 365-day disability history calendar I’ve worked on for several years. See the calendar here.

Transcripts and additional sources are available in each episode’s show notes.

Zoom Meeting: Tuesday, February 4 @ 3 PM

We know we're supposed to make our materials accessible, but what exactly does this entail? Join us on Zoom for a training by Document Accessibility Specialists Dax Castro & Chad Chelius on Tuesday, February 4 from 3-4:30PM to find out "What Makes a Document Accessible?"

➡️ Register on Zoom ⬅️

ASL interpretation provided (tips for working with ASL interpreters on Zoom)

New! UC A11Y Project Body Doubling Sessions

What is Body Doubling?

Body doubling is a strategy where a person works alongside someone else, either in person or virtually, to stay focused and motivated. For many folks—particularly those with ADHD or autism—body doubling provides accountability, reduces feelings of isolation, and creates a structured environment that makes tasks feel more manageable. The presence of another person can help redirect attention back to the task at hand and foster a sense of shared purpose.

If you’d benefit from body doubling to help motivate you through the UC A11Y Project Canvas modules, please join us this month on Zoom; we’ll offer more sessions each month. Folks can choose to work individually in quiet breakout rooms or discuss with others in collaborative breakout rooms.

Please register below:

Wednesday, January 29, 12-1:15PM

Thursday, January 30, 12-1:15PM

*If you request ASL interpretation or other access needs, please let me know as soon as possible and at least 72 hours before the meeting.

January Disability and Accessibility Dates:

World Braille Day – January 4

January 4th, World Braille Day, commemorates the birthday of Louis Braille, a French blind instructor, musician, and inventor of a tactile system for reading and writing. Learn more about Louis Braille.

Ed Roberts Day — January 23

January 23 is Ed Roberts Day! You’ll recall from our September newsletter that Berkeley alumnus Ed Roberts was a polio survivor and pioneering disability rights leader known as the father of the Independent Living movement.

Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day – January 24

Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day is recognized internationally each year on January 24. This is the birthday of Dr. Paul Julius Moebius, who first diagnosed the condition in 1888. Moebius Syndrome is a rare neurological condition affecting the muscles that control facial expression and eye movement.

Disability Hero: Abraham Nemeth

Abraham Nemeth was a blind American mathematician, computer scientist, and Hebrew scholar who devised a STEM-specific notation system for braille in 1946. His work empowered countless blind students and professionals to pursue careers in STEM fields, breaking down barriers to education and inclusion.

Check out braille mathematics here!

Intro to Dr. Abraham Nemeth (Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired)

Should braille be capitalized?

There’s actually no consensus around this convention; the Braille Authority of North America and the Braille Institute recommend avoiding capitalizing the word unless in title case or referring to the proper name Louis Braille. However, the National Federation of the Blind disagrees and suggests capitalizing all instances of the word.  

A11Y Tip: Pomodoro Technique

Consider using a Pomodoro time/task management tool to keep your work time manageable and to schedule in stretch breaks. This is a tool you can show students and others to support executive functioning. 

A "classic" Pomodoro is 25 minutes of focused work followed by a 5-minute break. After several Pomodoros, a longer break is scheduled. However, you can choose whatever intervals you want.

(🍅Pomodoro is Italian for "tomato"; the Pomodoro Method is named for the tomato-shaped kitchen timers that folks used to use…. it helps you “ketchup” on your tasks!)

GoblinTools AI has designed a similar To-Do List tool to help neurodivergent people with tasks they find overwhelming or difficult.

Check out the UC A11Y Canvas course for other accessibility best practices.

Access Hero: Destiny Hoerberg 

January’s Access Hero is Destiny Hoerberg!

Destiny has been doing incredible work with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as part of the TA Development Program at UC Santa Barbara. Each quarter, she organizes a workshop titled Make Your Course More Accessible with UDL, which introduces TAs to the principles of UDL and empowers them to recognize, critique, and minimize barriers to learning for their students. This workshop is a cornerstone of accessibility efforts on campus! It helps educators understand the diverse ways students learn and how teaching practices can be adjusted to maximize access and success for all students. Her workshop this past October is an example of this, since Destiny shared actionable strategies to create inclusive learning environments, to foster a culture of accessibility among TAs.

Beyond these workshops, Destiny’s commitment extends to her interactions with individual students, where she consistently goes above and beyond, particularly in supporting those with access needs. She is such a vital advocate for accessibility and inclusion on our campus at UCSB!

 Thank you, Destiny!

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.

News:

President Biden recently announced the 2025 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (see the entire list here). Several honorees are notable figures in the disability community:

Michael J. Fox: Emmy, Golden Globe, and Grammy Award-winning Canadian-American actor with Parkinson's disease famous for his performances in Family Ties, Back to the Future, and Spin City. He founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 to raise funds for Parkinson's research, which has raised over one billion dollars.

Jane Goodall: English primatologist famous for her study of chimpanzees. She has prosopagnosia (sometimes called face blindness), which makes it difficult to recognize faces.

Fannie Lou Hamer: American Civil Rights activist, vice-chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and polio survivor who was instrumental in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting. She had a permanent limp from polio and was further disabled by police brutality while attempting to register to vote as a Black woman in Mississippi.

Congratulations to the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients!