Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is a virtual event aimed at refining your digital accessibility skills based on the theme: “Design, Develop, Deliver.” You can register to attend the free virtual event held on May 21, 2026 using your UMN email account and select from 9 different sessions. You can find more information, including the event schedule and how to register, on the GAAD website.

Making outdoor recreation accessible for all

Spring has arrived, and many of us are excited to participate in outdoor activities, like visiting parks and hiking on Minnesota’s extensive trail system. However, only about 30% of Minneapolis Park properties meet basic federal accessibility standards for disabled people, and the degree of accessibility varies from park to park across the state.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) “Accessible Outdoors” effort is actively addressing these challenges with initiatives such as providing trail chairs and renovating parks. Still, more solutions are needed to improve accessibility for everyone. You can help these efforts by doing the following:

• Advocate for accessible infrastructure, such as ramps, wider paths, benches, accessible restrooms, picnic areas with level ground, and clear signage that includes sensory information.
• Participate in inclusive activities, like adaptive gardening or guided hikes.
• Practice thoughtful inclusion by asking individuals with disabilities what they need for a comfortable experience.
• Consider volunteering with local adaptive sports or outdoor recreation groups, such as St. Paul’s Adaptive Recreation or Northland Adaptive Recreation.

Document and slide templates

If you are creating documents or slides and want them to follow accessibility and University branding standards, please use the University templates available within Google. You can access the University templates when you create a document or presentation using the “+New” button in Drive. Click the right arrow next to Google Doc/Google Slides to expand the menu, which will give you the option of choosing “From a template.” You will be presented with the current University templates (illustrated instructions).

Please keep in mind that ensuring documents and slides are accessible requires more than just using the correct University templates. You should also complete Digital Accessibility training if you are regularly creating and sharing documents and slides with others.

The University is also in the midst of a branding change and replacing Driven to Discover, which could affect things like color and type. Always using the currently available template is the best way to ensure you have the most up-to-date version. If you have questions, please email asrux@umn.edu.

Digital Collegium: accessibility resources

The ADA Title II deadline is quickly approaching on April 24! The regulations require all public entities to meet new standards for digital accessibility regarding their websites and online documents. Digital Collegium provides the following actionable tips to help you tackle this work:

• Learn the law—Coppin State University gives a meaningful overview of digital accessibility and how it impacts higher education.
• Create a plan—University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill developed a 3-step digital accessibility compliance plan.
• Build your skills—The University of Minnesota identified 7 core accessibility skills and the 3Rs framework to prioritize your accessibility work.

You can find additional resources, such as guides, in-person experts, and recommended accessibility tools, on the Digital Collegium website.

Fighting systemic and personal ableism in our work

Signed into law on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and ensures equal opportunity in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications.

While the ADA has led to opportunity and access, it cannot remove the long-standing discrimination, systemic ableism, and social prejudice against people with disabilities and the ableism ingrained in our culture. We can continue to challenge our biases and reduce barriers for students, faculty, and staff in our work by:

• Providing both physical and digital accommodations.
• Improving accessibility in our digital content.
• Ensuring DEI is a part of the hiring process.
• Creating accessible and inclusive meetings.
• Participating in disability-related education and training and the Digital Accessibility Badging Program.
• Engaging with accessibility experts in our community.

Take a virtual vacation

Are you feeling the winter blues, but can’t get away for a vacation? If so, a virtual vacation might be the perfect solution. Virtual vacations make tourism accessible to all, regardless of disability, age, or financial status. You can use the power of technology to experience challenging-to-reach terrain, explore heritage sites without navigating steep steps, walk through historic buildings without limitations, and preview destinations before booking—all from the comfort of your own home.

Popular virtual travel experiences:

• Virtual museum tours—Explore museums around the world, like the Vatican or the Louvre.
• Virtual city tours—Walk through the streets of iconic cities such as Tokyo, Rome, or Seoul.
• Virtual nature walks—Experience virtual tours of national parks, gardens, and natural wonders, such as the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone.

Creating Accessible Google Documents

As ASR prepares for compliance changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II Regulations, it is important for us all to understand the importance of accessible electronic documents. A great place to start is understanding how to create accessible Google Documents and how to verify if those documents are accessible. Making a document accessible doesn’t just help those who use assistive technology, but also makes documents more usable for everyone.

Resources for making accessible Google Documents

• Watch the Accessibility Ambassadors workshop about creating accessible Google Documents. The following core skills are highlighted:
• Using headings
• Reducing and simplifying tables in word documents
• Ensuring the document is high-contrast (e.g. black text on a white background)
• Download and familiarize yourself with GrackleDocs. This is an approved browser extension for checking the accessibility of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
• Explore the Digital Accessibility: Create Accessible Documents online training. This course is part of the digital accessibility badging program.

Office of Digital Accessibility 10-week challenge

The Office of Digital Accessibility will launch a 10-week, opt-in email campaign covering digital accessibility topics and resources starting in January 2026. Each week, the campaign will focus on a different topic and how accessibility can be integrated into existing work. You can sign-up for the Accessibility Challenge and receive more information from the Office of Digital Accessibility.

ASR DEI Coffee Hour

Please join us for our next ASR DEI Coffee Hour on Friday, November 14, 2025 at 11 a.m. via Zoom, where we’ll be setting aside some time to discuss accessibility, digital accessibility, and ableism. The invite is already added to your calendar. We will also save space for an open ended conversation about any topics you would like to discuss. Whether you have questions, need to recharge, or are just looking for community, we invite you to join us!

Digital accessibility highlight: Links

As we work on ensuring all of ASR is compliant with Title II requirements, we will be highlighting the 7 Core Accessibility Skills that are important for everyone to learn.

Links are a fundamental part of digital content. Improving the usability and accessibility of links is beneficial to everyone. The most impactful practice is to embed links within meaningful text. This helps screen readers and provides the user with more information about the link. Avoid link text such as “click here,” “read more,” or “info” because it does not tell a reader anything about the destination of the link.

You can learn more about the importance of links, how to use them appropriately, and watch a screen reader demonstration on the ODA website.

Disability Pride Month - We Belong Here, and We’re Here to Stay

July celebrates the signing of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It is a defining moment for people with disabilities and a recognition of the decades of protest and activism. While we celebrate some of the gains, people with disabilities continue to experience barriers in housing, employment, education, and healthcare. People with disabilities are also four times more likely to experience violence than persons without disability.

Disability justice highlights the ways in which marginalized identities experience disability differently and recognizes that disabilities are transitory and fluid. Many of us will experience a disability over the course of our lives. According to the World Health Organization, 15% of the world’s population experiences some form of disability and one in four people in the US are considered disabled. That is about 70 million people.

Want to learn more?

• Office for Equity & Diversity: Equity Certificate Hosted Online courses includes a module on Abelism & Disability Justice
• Disability Pride Month activities (bottom of the page)
• Recommended reading from St Paul Public Libraries: Adult fiction, adult nonfiction/memoirs, teen fiction/nonfiction, and kids fiction/nonfiction
• Connect with ACT: Advocating Change Together - supports the leadership of people with disabilities to fight ableism and build inclusive communities
• Podcasts recommendations

Digital accessibility highlight: Headings

As we work on ensuring all of ASR is compliant with Title II requirements, we will be highlighting the 7 Core Accessibility Skills that are important for everyone to learn.

Headings are useful for any written material. They help to organize and structure the content, making it easier to read. When it comes to digital content, it’s important that the headings not only visually look good, but also are properly formatted using styles and following a hierarchy. This hierarchy identifies headers for assistive technologies and allows users to skim and locate content in an accessible way. Google docs have built-in tools to apply these styles and make them visually appealing as well.

There are accessibility evaluation tools, including Pope Tech (for websites) and GrackleDocs (for Google docs), that can help you check if headings are being used correctly. You can learn more about the importance of headings, how to use them appropriately, and watch a video of someone using a screen reader to navigate with headings on the ODA website.

Digital accessibility highlight: Contrast

As we work on ensuring all of ASR is compliant with Title II requirements, we will be highlighting the 7 Core Accessibility Skills that are important for everyone to learn.

Color plays an important role in presenting information. What may first come to mind is creating data charts, but this also applies to icons, buttons, and error messages. It is a very powerful part of visual communication, but it needs to be used appropriately so that it is effective and accessible. In short, the foreground (including text) and background must have a minimum amount of contrast (the amount depends on the size) to meet accessibility standards. Color should also not be the only way that information is conveyed (for example: color plus shape or color plus words). This is important with those who have low vision or colorblindness, but also situationally such as looking at a phone screen in bright light or with an older computer monitor.

If you would like to check contrast for Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides you can use GrackleDocs. You can learn more about the importance of contrast and find some contrast checkers on the Office for Digital Accessibility (ODA) website.

The importance of accessible content

Creating accessible content is one of the most important ways to improve the user experience. Accessible content utilizes specific tools to ensure folks of all abilities can understand the content they read. This is a crucial requirement for all organizations–around 2.5 billion people worldwide use assistive technology for digital content. The University of Minnesota community has around 90,000 people with different abilities and requirements.

You have the power to make your digital (e.g., emails, documents, forms) content an equitable and universal experience for your readers. The UMN Office of Digital Accessibility’s 7 core accessibility skills course covers how to make digital content accessible for all audiences. The course is free and available to all University staff, students, and faculty. Participants also become part of the digital accessibility badging program to show off their accomplishment. You can also learn more about the 7 core accessibility skills on the ODA website.

Digital accessibility highlight: Alt text

As we work on ensuring all of ASR is compliant with Title II requirements, we will be highlighting the 7 Core Accessibility Skills that are important for everyone to learn.

Alternative text, or alt text, is a textual substitute for visual content like images, charts, videos, or presentations on a website or electronic document. Alt text ensures that anyone who is blind, low-vision, or using assistive technology can access visual content by providing an audio description to the user. This creates an equitable experience and enhances the overall user experience. Tip: You can add alt text to images in Google docs by right-clicking an image and selecting “Alt text.”

The UX and Content Strategy team will be ensuring that we have meaningful alt text on images in our materials by using accessibility evaluation tools, including PopeTech (for websites) and Grackledocs (for Google docs). You can learn more about the importance of alt text and how to write effective alt text on the ODA website.

Fighting systemic and personal ableism in our work

Signed into law on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and ensures equal opportunity in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. While the ADA has led to opportunity and access, it cannot remove the long-standing discrimination and social prejudice against disabled people and the ableism ingrained in our culture.

Before laws like the ADA, it was perfectly legal to exclude people with disabilities from government services, employment, public schools, and even buying goods and services. This systemic ableism—discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities—continues today in restrictive laws and inequalities, such as allowing subminimum wages for disabled workers, or even in our own personal biases, where we inherently prefer body and mind normativity.

We can, however, challenge our biases and wield the power of alleyship by engaging with people with both visible and invisible disabilities and listening to their lived experiences. We can also reduce barriers for students, faculty, and staff in our work by:

• Providing both physical and digital accommodations.
• Improving accessibility in our digital content.
• Ensuring DEI is a part of the hiring process.
• Creating accessible and inclusive meetings.
• Participating in disability-related education and training.