Accessible By Design: Our 2026-2027 Theme
Accessibility isn't a checklist we complete after the fact — it's a standard we build toward from the start. This year, the Office of Digital Accessibility is organizing our work, our partnerships, and our professional development around a simple idea: access should be designed in, not added on after the fact.
We're not alone in this framing. In 2026, the Coalition on Accessibility in Higher Education and the National Center for Learning Disabilities released an open-access playbook under this same name, addressing accommodations, faculty training, procurement, and campus belonging. It reflects a shift happening across higher education, and one we're proud to be part of.
What This Means for Our Work This Year
We've organized our 2026–2027 initiatives around four connected pillars:
Embedded Professional Development
Accessibility training woven directly into the professional development our campus community already relies on — a built-in part of how we design courses, content, and programs.
Practical Skill-Building
Hands-on sessions in document remediation, accessible content authoring, and procurement literacy, with a focus on the everyday skills that make accessibility sustainable, not just aspirational.
Structure & Support
Strengthening the policies, processes, and institutional structures that make accessibility a reliable default, from how we evaluate vendors to how accessibility is considered in course design and approval.
Visibility & Culture
Making accessibility visible and shared across campus through office hours and a growing network of accessibility champions in departments across the university.
Why It Matters
Accessibility touches every part of the student and employee experience — course materials, digital tools, campus communications, and the systems we use every day. When we design with access in mind from the beginning, we build a more usable, more equitable experience for everyone, not just those who request accommodations.
This year, we're inviting our campus community to think about accessibility not as a requirement to satisfy, but as a design principle to practice.
Get Involved
There are several ways to plug in this year, whether you're looking for a light touch or a deeper commitment:
- Digital Accessibility Collaborators: a department-level point of contact (one per department/program)
- Disability & Accessibility Professional Learning Community: for those who want to learn and grow alongside colleagues across campus
- Digital Accessibility Advisory Council: helping guide direction and priorities
- Working Groups: focused, project-based teams on Policy & Strategy, Systems & Experience, or Capacity & Culture
Roles are fixed-term for the 2026–2027 academic year, with the option to continue. Fill out our interest form to tell us more about what fits, or contact the Office of Digital Accessibility to request training for your department.