HighEdWeb ’24 Accessibility Summit Takeaways

We were thrilled to attend this year’s HighEdWeb Accessibility Summit last week, where we had the honor of presenting Beyond Compliance: Bridging digital and physical accessibility for inclusive campus experiences. The day was jam-packed with twenty-two options to learn about digital accessibility and the chance to connect with others in the field. After a few days to review the materials (thankfully, they’re available for two weeks if you’re like me and need some time to revisit and process it all), a few things stood out:

The event was actually accessible.

Have you heard about wellness companies that preach balance and the importance of self-care, but make their employees work insane hours and offer poor medical insurance behind the scenes? Yeah, this wasn’t that. The HighEdWeb team made a conference focused on accessibility…accessible. Shoutout to Kate Bundy, who served as my liaison throughout the process of being a presenter, and the entire HighEdWeb organizing committee.

They helped us with closed captioning for our pre-recorded presentations, requested and uploaded our slides as an accessible alternative to the videos, performed an accessibility check on our materials in advance (and even caught a color contrast adjustment we needed to make!), asked about access needs on the registration form to prepare accommodations, and had a contact for accessibility questions on their website. Our presenter contract also specifically required us to use accessibility best practices during presentations by verbally describing visual aids and actions during our sessions and to submit slides, handouts, and resources ahead of time and in an accessible format. HighEdWeb noticeably aligned their actions behind the curtain with the day’s content for an accessible attendee experience. Yes, it’s the way it should be considering the focus of the conference, but it often just isn’t.

The setup of the day worked.

It might seem improbable to make this statement considering twenty-two presentations were packed into one day, but organization, information, and flexibility provided a winning combination for engagement. Each time block had three presentations split into categories by theme (Accessible Academia, Creating an Accessibility Culture and Community, and New Directions in Web and Content Accessibility), and presentations had video and written descriptions as previews prior to registration; this combination allowed us to make informed choices about our selections. But it was also possible to switch our selections, even on the spot. The pre-recorded presentations were presented live with a chat, a format that encouraged great engagement and connection throughout the day. And since I found many of the presentations to be tech-heavy and fast-paced, or presentations I wanted to attend conflicted within the same time slot, the videos are still available to (re)watch!

What a lineup of presenters!

Some of my favorites: The keynote address by Jutta Treviranus, Accessible and Equitable AI in Higher Ed, which pushed our thinking about “where automation and assistive technologies could help remove barriers for people with disabilities,” but also how it “both underserves and misrepresents people with disabilities.”

Melanie Eley’s presentation, Leveraging accessible design for neuroinclusive digital spaces, championed consistency in layout and format. She also beautifully answered a question in the chat about the design of interactive (often overstimulating!) content by recommending designers grant users the ability to open and close it. A portion of her presentation seemed directed toward faculty and practitioners who create and upload content, expanding the conference’s reach to that audience as well.

And I greatly appreciated hearing from Highland Community College’s Jeniece Smith and Liz Gerber in ‘From Complaint to Compliance’. They shared their experience working (with Equalize Digital CEO Amber Hinds) through an OCR complaint toward compliance, and how that process actually propelled them to greater success.

I’ll be digesting the summit for some time. With a special thanks to all of the presenters, attendees, and especially the HighEdWeb organizing committee for a great experience, we hope to see you there next year!