The University of York’s E-Accessibility Working Group is a cross-services team which leads institutional efforts to promote digital accessibility awareness and good practices as part of the University’s inclusive learning agenda. The group is committed to removing barriers so that all learners can study effectively online. It seeks to provide a fresh stimulus to thinking about accessible practice across the institution, in this way promoting the principles of the University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. It operates as part of the University’s Disability Inclusion Framework and draws on representatives from professional support services, staff and student groups.
The group works in partnership with students to understand how technology can contribute to their learning and works in synergy with other teams to improve digital skills. Examples include collaboration with students to research accessible practice, resulting in the development of an accessible equations resource, a Blackboard Ally evaluation site and a student site for learning technologies, with templates for online learning in two VLEs and several user research outputs. The group has also supported the development of a vibrant digital accessibility champions’ community and diverse e-intern community groups, which work with staff on funded digital accessibility projects to improve digital skills.
A key feature of the group’s work is the user research workshops and user experience research that members conduct to inform training activities in an evidence-led way. The team has developed a guide for other staff to follow on how to run digital accessibility user research. It has also developed its own Digital Accessibility Tutorial and Creating Accessible Documents workshops for all staff to follow, and provides regular monthly meetups where colleagues can help each other to resolve sticky issues.
The group is committed to working collaboratively with academic departments and professional teams across the university and has ensured that staff can take responsibility for developing their own accessible practice. Examples of this are enabling academic departments to undertake disabled students' user research and helping professional service departments to feel confident in producing their own accessibility statements and supporting resources.