|
University Challenges Websites to be Accessible
In September, UT launched the University Challenge, a month-long effort to increase the accessibility of the UT Website, to all users, especially people with disabilities. The McCombs School helped spearhead the effort, with sponsorship from Dean May, who worked with fellow deans to generate support for the project.
Through a collaboration with local technology companies and the Austin-based non-profit Knowbility, Inc., UT hopes to become a model of Internet accessibility. The school has challenged other universities to match its efforts and dramatically improve the accessibility of higher-education Websites.
“One in five people will experience some form of disability during their lifetime,” noted Dean May at the project’s kick-off event. “For those of us who are leaders at the University, it’s important to consider what our lives would be like if we woke up tomorrow with disabilities that made it hard to get at the information we need to do our jobs. Would we feel like the leadership of the school had done all it could to make information accessible? That’s what we need to do.”
Several prominent members of the UT community who are disabled joined May at the event, including former Regent Lowell Lebermann, who is visually impaired. Lebermann explained his reliance on the Web as a means of communication. His story and others energized the crowd of UT staff and Web designers.
People with disabilities often rely on enhanced technology to surf the Web. For example, blind people can use the Internet as long as sites allow assistive technology to read their content.
The University Challenge complements Knowbility’s third annual Accessibility Internet Rally for Austin. During AIR-Austin, Web designers from around the city compete to build accessible Websites for area non-profits, free of charge.
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
