Digital Accessibility Readiness & Training

As new ADA Title II digital accessibility requirements created uncertainty across higher education, I helped champion early accessibility readiness efforts at the University of Tennessee System. After communicators across campuses and institutes asked for guidance and no clear ownership path had been established, I stepped in to connect stakeholders, organize early working conversations and surface needs for leadership.

As broader leadership became involved, I continued the work by developing Word Doc Accessibility Basics, a hands-on training that helped employees move from general awareness to practical document accessibility skills.

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Project Snapshot

Role

As Assistant Director of Web and Digital Communications, I helped initiate early system-level accessibility coordination, established a working group, connected with peer institutions for guidance and supported early exploration of tools and needs. As ownership expanded to senior leadership and other responsible areas, I continued contributing through training development, creating and facilitating Word Doc Accessibility Basics.

Project Type

Accessibility Readiness, Cross-Functional Leadership, Training Development, Change Management

Audience

UT System staff, executive leadership, and campus and institute communicators

Timeline

2024-2026, ongoing

Platform(s)

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The Challenge

At a communicators retreat, colleagues from campus and institute teams began asking whether guidance existed for the upcoming ADA Title II digital accessibility requirements. The questions revealed a broader issue: people knew accessibility expectations were coming, but there was confusion about ownership, tools, timelines and what staff should be doing to prepare.

The challenge was not only technical or compliance-related. It was organizational. Accessibility touched websites, documents, PDFs, presentations, training, procurement, communications and everyday content creation. Without a coordinated approach, teams risked duplicating efforts, waiting for direction or continuing to create inaccessible materials without realizing it.

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Strategic Approach

Seeing the confusion, I stepped up to help connect people and move the conversation forward.

I helped establish an early working group with communicators and partners across the system, reached out to leadership to elevate the need for direction, and met with colleagues at another university that was further ahead in its accessibility readiness work. Those conversations helped identify practical considerations around tools, staffing, workflows, training and remediation needs.

I also supported early audits of potential accessibility tools to help inform leadership discussions. While that initial tool audit did not become the final path forward, the process was still valuable because it surfaced the complexity of the issue and helped clarify the need for broader leadership involvement. Eventually, the work transitioned to the appropriate leadership level, where decisions around tools, ownership and systemwide direction could move forward. My role shifted from early champion and organizer to practical capacity builder.

From Readiness to Skill-Building

After a colleague in EEOD expressed interest in adding accessibility-related training to K@TE, I saw another gap.

Foundational ADA training existed, but there was not a practical training that walked staff through how to actually make common workplace documents accessible. Employees needed more than awareness. They needed to know how to apply accessibility basics in Microsoft Word.

To fill that gap, I developed Word Doc Accessibility Basics, a recommended training focused on practical document accessibility skills.

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Training Development and Execution

I created the full training package, including:

  • A presentation covering foundational accessibility concepts and built-in Microsoft Word tools
  • A facilitation guide that both I and a colleague could follow
  • An inaccessible Word document exercise for hands-on practice
  • A guided remediation activity completed together during the session
  • A Q&A structure for real workflow questions

The training was originally planned as an in-person session. After remote UT System employees expressed interest, it expanded into a same-day hybrid format. I facilitated the in-person session, while a colleague facilitated the virtual session using the materials and guide I created.

The hands-on exercise was the core of the training. Participants worked through an inaccessible Word document together, identifying and fixing common issues so they could connect accessibility concepts to the documents they create in their own roles.

What Made This Project Distinctive

Championing Early Action

When colleagues had questions but no clear direction had been established, I helped organize early conversations, connect stakeholders and elevate the need for leadership involvement.

Cross-System Collaboration

The work involved communicators, campus and institute partners, EEOD, leadership and colleagues from another university who shared advice from their own accessibility readiness efforts.

Practical Capacity Building

The training filled a gap between foundational ADA awareness and the hands-on skills employees needed to create accessible Word documents.

Workflow-Based Accessibility

The project framed accessibility as something that should be built into everyday document creation, not treated only as a final remediation step.

Shared Leadership

After developing the Word training, I supported continued accessibility work by creating reusable materials and giving a colleague the opportunity to lead a related presentation accessibility session.

Lasting Impact and Future Use

This project helped create momentum for digital accessibility readiness across the UT System.

The early coordination work helped surface the need for clear ownership, tools and systemwide direction. The training work then helped translate that broader accessibility priority into practical action for employees.

Together, these efforts supported a more sustainable accessibility culture: one where leadership could address system-level needs while staff began building the everyday skills needed to create more accessible documents from the start.

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