Thursday, May 16, marks the eighth Global Accessibility Awareness Day—an international event aimed at promoting the inclusion of people of all abilities when creating and sharing online content or technologies.
Digital accessibility is an area of critical importance at Case Western Reserve, as we strive to ensure the technology we use and the content we share is accessible and usable by people of varying abilities.
Below are events (online and in-person) for the day, as well as a list of year-round campus resources to promote accessibility awareness at CWRU.
Events
University Marketing and Communications will host a presentation on digital accessibility on websites, social media and more on May 16. If interested, email emily.mayock@case.edu for further information.
Other events for the day include:
- Accessibility Meetup in Twinsburg
- Siteimprove’s #OhMyGAAD 7-Day Email Challenge
- The #A11YJAM game jam May 9-15
- BlackBoard’s “follow-the-sun” webinars
- Level Access ADA Webinar
On-Campus Resources
Even if you can’t take advantage of the events on May 16, there are numerous resources available throughout the year to help ensure your digital content is accessible.
Blackboard Ally in Canvas
- Ally’s Help Site for Instructors: Provides how-to guides and details about the features of Blackboard Ally, which works with Canvas to gauge the accessibility of your content
- Ally for Canvas Resource Site: Offers curated Ally training guides and videos specific to CWRU faculty and staff
- Ally at CWRU: Gives an overview and additional information about the pilot program of Ally at Case Western Reserve
Digital Accessibility Training
- Digital Accessibility @ CWRU Canvas course: Open to all at Case Western Reserve; self-enroll in Canvas
- Digital Accessibility website: Get tips and advice on ensuring your content—including websites and social media—is accessible, at case.edu/accessibility
Technology Tools
- Automatic Speech Recognition feature for Echo360 recordings, which provides a transcript of the lecture content
- Mathtype7: Available in the Software Center for download and addition to Microsoft Office tools to create accessible equations and formulas
- Read and Write Gold Edition 12: Also available for download in the Software Center, this assistive technology tool helps with specific access needs including note-taking, having text read-aloud, a dictionary and more.
Learn more about Global Accessibility Awareness Day at globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org.