Introduction
Accessibility is a practice – like yoga, meditation, or martial arts, or like gardening. You wouldn’t attend one yoga class and expect to be done. You wouldn’t plant seeds once and expect a garden. Like other practices, accessibility is something you return to frequently. You build on previous efforts. Where are you in your accessibility journey?
Preparing the Soil
Attend accessibility training. The Universal Design Center offers not only live training, but on-demand resources through our website, including past recordings and all handouts on our Training Videos and Resources page. Archive materials you aren’t actively using. Move them to Box, or to a “sandbox” Canvas course.
Planting the Seeds
Looks for images in your course content, then look at the alternative descriptions (alt text) for them. Alt text should be between two words and two sentences and describe important visual information from the image. If the image contains words, include them in the alt text.
Watering and Pruning
Is a more accessible version of a file available? The library can assist you to find (or make) a more accessible digital copy of course materials. If you can’t find the source, reach out to your University Library Subject Specialist. They may have ideas about where to find the original, or maybe even a more accessible version?
Enjoying the Harvest
Sooner or later, you will have a student with accommodations. Accessibility steps usually expedite the work to provide individualized accommodations.
