Adopting a UDL Attitude within Academia by Mary Quirke et al., Routledge, 2023.
Evaluating and Monitoring Digital Accessibility: Practitioners' Perspectives on Challenges and Opportunities by Letícia Seixas Pereira and Carlos Duarte, in Universal Access in the Information Society, 2025.
Digital accessibility is a civil right. It ensures that all students, faculty, and staff—regardless of ability—can fully participate in learning, teaching, research, and campus life. Accessible digital content and tools remove barriers to education, promote equity and inclusion, and are essential for compliance with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
When working with vendors, UIS faculty and staff should try to keep a couple of things in mind in terms of digital accessibility.
Accessibility testing is a crucial aspect of creating an inclusive digital environment. It ensures that all users, including those with disabilities, can access and interact with web content effectively. This testing is not only important for inclusivity but also for compliance with legal standards such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508.
Designing with accessibility in mind means creating content and products that are usable by people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities. This includes considering visual, auditory, cognitive, and motor impairments. The POUR principle guides accessibility design: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.
During the academic year, the Office of Digital Accessibility holds office hours in person on Mondays from 10:00-11:00 AM in BRK 437 and online on Tuesdays from 10:00-11:00 AM. During this time, the Digital Accessibility Specialist will answer questions on remediation and accessibility. Individuals can also use the Outlook booking tool to set up an appointment outside of these hours with ODA staff.
As your department or program begins your work with digital accessibility, we would recommend the following:
At the University of Illinois Springfield, we are committed to ensuring that all digital content is accessible to everyone. This page provides essential information about digital file remediation and captioning, two critical components of our efforts to broaden access to information and tools across campus.
In October, the Office of Digital Accessibility (ODA) and COLRS will share an accessibility tip on writing and including alternative text for images in Microsoft Word and Canvas content.
Join us to learn about creating useful alt text for images.