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UC Accessibility (A11Y) Newsletter
October 2025
Katie Healey
October 08, 2025
This project, intended for all instructors and staff at any UC campus interested in accessibility, is generously sponsored by the UC Online Digital Inclusion Grant.
October Disability and Accessibility Dates:
October is:
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Learning Disabilities Awareness Month
Invisible Disabilities Week, October 19 – 25, 2025 🌻
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National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)
Official recognition of folks with disabilities in the workplace began during the Truman administration with National Employ The Physically Handicapped Week, which ran one month after the end of World War Two from October 7-13, 1945. This initiative has since expanded to run the entire month of October, recognizes all types of disabilities, and revolves around an annual theme. This year’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month theme is “Celebrating Value and Talent.”
The poster is rectangular in shape with a dark blue background and an array of red, white and blue graphical fireworks of different sizes. Five of these fireworks frame photos of people with different disabilities working in various environments. Below the images, the words “Celebrating Value and Talent, National Disability Employment Awareness Month” appear. Across the bottom are a logo that says, “America 250,” the DOL seal followed by the words “Office of Disability Employment Policy, United States Department of Labor,” and the hashtag #NDEAM on top of the words “80th Anniversary” and the website address dol.gov/odep.
Zoom Workshop - Supporting Neurodivergent Students: Evidence and Strategies for STEM Faculty
October 16, 3:00-4:00 pm on Zoom
Anywhere between 10-30% of college students identify as neurodivergent. Come join us at this Interactive Lecture to learn from Dr. Yasamin Bolourian, Director of Outreach and Dissemination at UCLA Tarjan Center and co-developer of NeuroPREP, a faculty training program on neurodiversity. Dr. Bolourian will share some strategies on how to better support neurodivergent students in our STEM courses.
Hosted by UCLA’s Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences and open to all!
Beyond the Frame: Amplifying Disability Stories Film Festival
Join us at UC Berkeley on October 29, 2025, for “Beyond the Frame,” an accessible film event showcasing six powerful short films amplifying disability-focused stories. This event hopes to foster community and spark meaningful dialogue. Following the 90-minute screening, a panel featuring faculty and disability advocates will discuss the films and broader disability issues. We hope to see you there!
Doors open at 2:00 PM, and films will begin at 2:30 PM.
October 31: Lunchtime WCAG 2.1 Scavenger Hunt
Curious about digital accessibility but not sure where to start? Join us for an interactive, beginner-friendly workshop where you'll explore a real website through the lens of WCAG 2.1—the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. No prior experience needed! We’ll complete a guided scavenger hunt to identify accessible design features and common barriers. Along the way, you'll gain insight into what makes digital content usable for everyone, including people with disabilities.
Friday, October 31, 12-1 PM
*If you request ASL interpretation or other access needs, please let Katie know at [email protected] as soon as possible.
November Guest Speaker: Wed., 11/12, 3PM on Zoom
We are thrilled to have Dr. Geerat Vermeij from UC Davis discuss his experiences as a blind paleoecologist and recommendations for making STEM and higher education more accessible!
Learn more about Dr. Vermeij below in our UC Disability Hero section.
Recommended brief reading: To sea with a blind scientist
ASL interpretation provided. For additional accessibility support, please email Katie at [email protected].
Gary Vermeij smiling and holding a large seashell, standing in front of shelves filled with rows of file folders. Photo: UC Davis
Call for submissions - Disparate Kind: Neurodivergent Poets
We are seeking poems by writers who identify as neurodivergent. Whether you are newly discovering your voice or long at home in it, we invite work that does not explain, perform, or translate—but simply lives. We welcome all poetic forms, from spare to experimental, lyrical to layered. Through this chapbook, we aim to:
Amplify neurodivergent voices without spectacle or simplification
Create space for artistic presence rooted in divergent cognition
Honor language as it forms from within—without requiring justification
Let poems speak in the rhythm they need
Submission Deadline: Oct. 31, 2025 (Extended)
Please submit 1–5 poems, along with a separate cover sheet and a short bio to Yvette Doss at [email protected].
Simultaneous submissions are welcome; please notify us promptly if your work is accepted elsewhere.
Accepted poems will appear in the premiere volume of Disparate Kind: Neurodivergent Poets Chapbook, to be published in 2025. We are published by The Neurodivergent Student Project at the University of California Santa Barbara.
Rainbow-colored infinity symbol, a symbol of neurodiversity
A11Y Tip: Bring Forward, Send Back
When talking Daylight Savings, we “spring forward” and “fall back” (coming soon… November 2!)
For slides, we “bring forward” and “send back.”
In both Google Slides and PowerPoint, assistive technology reads slide content based on the reading order, not just how it looks visually. The order comes from how we layer objects on the slide: an item you “send to back” will actually be read first, while one you “bring to front” will be read last. You can change the reading order by selecting an object and choosing Order → Send to back / Bring forward in Google Slides, or Arrange → Order in PowerPoint. The Send Backward and Bring Forward options move an object just one step at a time in the stack, letting you fine-tune its position in the reading order without jumping all the way to the back or front.
To check the reading order (a step you must do!), press the Tab key to move through objects in the sequence a screen reader or other assistive technology will use. A rectangle outlines each element in the order they are layered. Adjust until titles, text, and images are announced in a logical order. This quick check makes your slides much more accessible!
Google Slides with a right-click menu open on an image. The “Order” option is highlighted, showing sub-menu choices: Bring to front, Bring forward, Send backward, and Send to back.
Check out the UC A11Y Canvas course for other accessibility best practices.
UC Disability Hero: Dr. Geerat Vermeij (UC Davis)
Dr. Geerat “Gary” Vermeij is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Davis. Blind since early childhood, Vermeij has forged a prolific scientific career studying marine mollusks — both living and fossilized — by using his sense of touch to discern shell morphology and infer ecological and evolutionary interactions.
Awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship in 1992 for his groundbreaking contributions, Vermeij has published widely on subjects including predation, evolutionary escalation, extinction, biogeography, and the analogies between economics and evolution.
His books include Evolution and Escalation: An Ecological History of Life, A Natural History of Shells, and Privileged Hands: A Scientific Life. Throughout his career, Vermeij has shown how disability need not limit scientific inquiry — his tactile insights have reshaped how we understand form, function, and adaptation in the natural world.
Dr. Vermeij holds a large seashell in both hands. A white cane rests against his shoulder.
Nominate an 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. 🎉
Kudos to these Access Heroes featured in previous newsletters:
Dr. Miriam Markum (UC Davis)
Yvette Doss (UCSB)
Dr. Olga Faccani (UCSB)
Destiny Hoerberg (UCSB)
Dr. Stacy Branham (UCI)
Asynchronous Modules
*Note: Remember that, once added, you’ll need to navigate to and bookmark the UCO Canvas link here, as it’s not available through your campus Canvas.
We are currently exploring options for making this an open-access resource!
*Note: as an accessibility best practice, links will open in the same tab; right-click and select Open Link in New Tab if you prefer.
UC Campus News:
UC Davis has started a weekly blog series with short, digestible accessibility tips. Check out The Wheel for more!
UC Berkeley celebrates Disability Awareness Month this October.
UCLA is celebrating its Disability Pride Week October 14-17. See the Disabilities and Computing Program’s events here.
Check out UC San Francisco’s fantastic Disability Allies October Newsletter!
