Explore how our grassroots IT accessibility team is gathering as a force for change. Discover practical steps for building a collaborative team for training, empowering, adapting, and motivating digital accessibility across multiple units with leadership support. Collaborate with us to create effective strategies and foster inclusion at your home institutions.

Digital accessibility has always been an important component of online learning, even more so following the pandemic’s reliance on virtual environments. Ensuring that all students, faculty, and staff have equitable access to digital resources is not only a legal requirement but also a moral imperative for fostering an inclusive campus culture. Moreover, revised federal guidelines for digital accessibility place a firm deadline for K12, community colleges, and universities to proactively prepare and remediate all content, public and password-protected, for accessibility rather than continue a reactive approach as it has done previously. This session highlights the grassroots efforts of an IT accessibility group at a four-year public Maryland university to bring together stakeholders from a variety of stakeholders and departments including instructional technology, disability services, communications and marketing, classroom technology, the library, and procurement. During an initial review, this group audited the university’s current state of digital accessibility, made initial recommendations, and surveyed the institution’s digital accessibility footprint compared to its peers. While the institution implemented changes to support captioning, increased assistive technology, and licensed software to scan websites and files, the IT accessibility group continued to advocate for increased digital accessibility support and strategic investment. With new campus leadership expressing support for inclusion and growing faculty awareness, now is the perfect time to strategize and build robust support systems for digital accessibility. As advocates for digital accessibility, the IT accessibility workgroup seeks to elevate its efforts on a broader scale. The grassroots approach has reached its tipping point and now requires administrative support to facilitate extensive training, support and outreach, policy development, fundamental changes to procurement and staffing, and meaningful cultural change. Gathering stakeholder input and engaging shared governance is also necessary. A digital accessibility plan needs to reflect a comprehensive, thoughtful approach with plans for future proofing, remediating course materials, archiving legacy content, and hiring professional staff. We are not alone in this endeavor -- as other institutions, educators, and support staff are on this same journey, we seek to share our experiences and learn from others. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1. Identify key components and stakeholders necessary for forming an effective accessibility team on their campuses. 2. Implement practical strategies for training, empowering, adapting, and motivating (TEAM) digital accessibility initiatives. 3. Collaborate with peers to develop actionable plans for fostering a culture of inclusion and meeting federal compliance standards. The session will begin with a brief introduction to our grassroots IT accessibility team and its mission. We will review how we started and the current landscape of digital accessibility at our institution and common challenges we experience across various units. A poll will assess attendees’ experiences with accessibility initiatives. Next, we will describe the TEAM (Training, Empowering, Adapting, Motivating) framework with examples of successful initiatives and strategies implemented by our team. We will share our experience with gathering stakeholder buy-in, particularly leadership, and how to align digital accessibility initiatives to institutional priorities. During the exploration of challenges and identification of solutions, breakout groups allow attendees to discuss common experiences and exchange ideas. Key themes for breakout groups include: 1. Practical strategies for training, empowering team members and motivating ongoing commitment to digital accessibility. 2. Concrete ideas for fostering inclusion and meeting compliance standards. 3. Opportunities for team building, training programs, stakeholder engagement, and policy development. 4. Connections with other professionals dedicated to accessibility. A TEAM worksheet will help inform and guide groups through these candid conversations about digital accessibility. The session will conclude with an open floor for questions and discussion, followed by an invitation to continue collaboration. By participating in this session, attendees will gain valuable insights and practical tools for advancing digital accessibility on their campuses, fostering a culture of inclusion, and ensuring compliance with federal guidelines. Join us to make a meaningful impact and be part of a supportive community dedicated to accessibility. This session is relevant for administrators, faculty, instructional support staff, training professionals, and technologists dedicated to creating inclusive learning environments.