To support accessibility awareness and professional development across the URochester, the digital accessibility team in University Marketing and Communications is sharing several opportunities for faculty and staff to learn more about accessibility and strengthen their digital skills.

Free live accessibility training through Deque

Faculty and staff are invited to participate in a free live accessibility training event provided through Deque, the University’s digital accessibility partner. The event focuses on accessibility fundamentals and is a great opportunity for faculty and staff who are just getting started with digital accessibility and would like to build a better understanding of accessibility best practices and inclusive digital experiences.

Accessibility training in MyPath

The free “Digital Accessibility for Content Creators” course is available in MyPath for faculty and staff who would like to continue learning beyond GAAD. The course provides practical guidance for creating more accessible digital content and experiences.

Digital Accessibility Awareness Survey

Faculty and staff are invited to participate in the annual Digital Accessibility Awareness Survey. The survey helps the University better understand awareness, challenges, training needs, and opportunities related to digital accessibility across the University.

ĚýDigital Accessibility Community of Practice

Digital creators across the University are also encouraged to join the Digital Accessibility Community of Practice. The community provides opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and collaboration through discussions, events, resource sharing, and knowledge exchange with colleagues across the University who are working to create more accessible digital content and experiences.

Learn more about the Digital Accessibility Community of Practice

The post Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) appeared first on Digital Accessibility.

Accessibility ensures that people with disabilities can perceive, navigate, and interact with your website. It also improves usability, search visibility, and the overall quality of the digital experience for everyone.

Below are key steps to help ensure accessibility is included throughout your website project.

Start with accessibility as a project requirement

Accessibility should be included as a core requirement when planning a new website project.

This means:

• Defining accessibility expectations at the beginning of the project
• Aligning the website with standard
• Including accessibility requirements in vendor contracts and statements of work
• Allocating time for accessibility testing and remediation

If accessibility is not considered at the planning stage, it often becomes more difficult and expensive to address later in the project.

Choose accessible platforms and tools

The technology used to build your website can significantly affect accessibility.

When evaluating platforms, themes, or tools, consider whether they support accessible development and content creation practices.

For example:

• Does the CMS provide accessible templates and components?
• Are forms, navigation systems, and media players accessible?
• Can developers control semantic HTML and accessibility attributes?
• Can accessibility issues be identified during development and content creation?

Selecting tools that support accessibility early helps prevent systemic issues across the entire website.

If your website runs on WordPress, it should be built with the Rochester Core theme. Rochester Core has already been reviewed for accessibility and helps ensure a cohesive brand identity. This option may be especially helpful for teams or projects without dedicated web development resources, as it is supported and managed by the University Marketing and Communications digital team.

Design with accessibility in mind

Accessibility should be incorporated during the design phase rather than added later.

Design teams should consider:

• Color contrast that meets accessibility requirements
• Clear page structure and heading hierarchy
• Accessible navigation and menus
• Meaningful link text
• Form labels and instructions
• Layouts that work well with screen magnification and responsive design
• Interactive elements designed to work for people using keyboards, touch, or other input methods, not only a mouse

Design decisions strongly influence whether the final website will be accessible once implemented.

Build accessibility into development

Developers play a key role in ensuring that accessibility is built into the technical foundation of the site.

During development, accessibility issues can often be identified and resolved before the site is launched. For example, developers can use accessibility linters and testing tools—such as —to detect common accessibility issues while building templates and components.

Development practices should include:

• Using semantic HTML elements
• Ensuring all functionality works with keyboard navigation
• Providing accessible forms and clear error messages
• Supporting screen readers and other assistive technologies
• Testing components during development rather than after launch

Addressing accessibility during development helps ensure that many technical issues are resolved before content is added.

Create and publish accessible content

Accessibility also depends on how content is created and published.

As pages are being built, content authors should check for accessibility issues directly in the browser using tools such as the . This allows common issues—such as missing alternative text, unclear link text, or heading structure problems—to be identified and corrected as content is created.

Content creators should focus on:

• Writing clear headings and structured content
• Adding meaningful alternative text to images
• Creating descriptive links
• Ensuring tables and lists are structured properly
• Publishing accessible documents and media

Addressing accessibility during content creation helps prevent large numbers of issues from accumulating across the site.

Monitor accessibility after launch

Even when accessibility is addressed during design, development, and content creation, websites continue to evolve.

Monitoring tools such as Siteimprove can crawl public websites to identify accessibility issues and track progress over time. These tools are most effective when used for ongoing monitoring and continuous improvement, rather than as the first step in identifying problems after a site is completed.

Regular monitoring helps teams:

• Identify accessibility issues as new content is published
• Track improvements over time
• Maintain accessibility standards across the website

Where to get help

If your project involves a new website, platform implementation, or major redesign, consider consulting with the digital accessibility team early in the process.

We can help with:

• Accessibility planning and requirements
• Guidance during design and development
• Testing strategies
• Resources for content creators

Early collaboration can prevent costly accessibility issues and help ensure a successful project launch.

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April is around the corner, and it marks a key milestone: public entities have an April 24, 2026 deadline (Note: , moving the compliance deadline to April 26, 2027) to meet specific web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 Level AA) for web content and mobile apps under a . While this requirement applies to public entities, it reflects a broader trend across higher education: accessibility expectations are increasing, and the urgency around remediation work is growing.

While this rule is not a new expectation for the URochester, it’s a timely reminder to renew our focus—especially on legacy PDF content.

PDFs are widely used across the University—and they can be a common source of accessibility barriers if accessibility isn’t built into the workflow. PDFs may not work well with screen readers or keyboard navigation when they’re missing tags, headings, properly formatted links, or a logical reading order.

Take action now: reduce, replace, plan

Here are three practical steps that make an immediate impact:

• Cut what’s not needed. If a PDF is outdated, duplicated, or rarely used—remove it.
• Replace what you can with accessible web pages. If the content is meant to be read online, the web is often the better format.
• If you must publish PDFs, publish them with a plan. Build skills through training, use the right tools, and plan time/budget for remediation support when needed.

New PDF accessibility resources

To support this work, we’ve published new PDF resources—including checklists, guidance, and practical workflows from the Digital Accessibility Community of Practice—to help you create, evaluate, and improve accessible PDFs.

Not sure where to start? Contact the Digital Accessibility team and we’ll help you prioritize.

The post New accessibility rule and renewed urgency (and a good time to reduce PDFs) appeared first on Digital Accessibility.

In Episode 10: Beyond Compliance, host Kelsey Sherman, Ed.D., speaks with Ewa Zennermann, director of digital accessibility, and Rachel Cherry, lead accessibility developer, about what accessibility means, why it matters, and how it shapes everything from education and healthcare to everyday digital interactions.

The PACE Podcast gives voice to diverse perspectives across our University community. We’re proud to be part of the conversation.

The post A conversation on digital accessibility appeared first on Digital Accessibility.

Members come together to:

• Share knowledge, strategies, and tools
• Explore practical accessibility techniques
• Support one another in creating inclusive digital experiences

This community is part of the Digital Makers Communities of Practice program, led by University Marketing and Communications. It’s open to any University faculty or staff involved in digital work who want to build their accessibility skills and make a meaningful impact.

What to expect:

• Zoom sessions, workshops, and in-person meetings
• Asynchronous collaboration in Microsoft Teams
• A shared library of accessibility resources

Interested in joining?

to get started.

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Free Webinars

Help us celebrate GAAD by provided by our accessibility partner, , on May 15, 2025 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM (Eastern). This is a virtual training event that’s open to everyone.

Here’s some things you’ll learn during the session:

• Discover what digital accessibility is and why it matters.
• Learn which laws and guidelines apply to your location.
• Explore how people with disabilities navigate the web.
• Get tips for championing accessibility at your organization.

Be the Change

By participating in GAAD with us, you’re taking a step towards creating a more inclusive digital environment for people with disabilities. Spread the word, invite colleagues, and come ready to learn and engage.

Have questions? Reach out to digitalaccessibility@rochester.edu.

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• is the most commonly used screen reader, being used by 65.6% of respondents, overtaking , which had a 60.5% usage rate.
• For those using mobile or tablet devices, is the most commonly used screen reader.
• When navigating long web pages, a majority of respondents (71.6%) use headings for navigation. Others opted for the Find feature (13.6%), reading through the page (6.4%), or navigating via links (4.8%).

Problematic items

The most problematic items, in order are:

1. CAPTCHA – images presenting text used to verify that you are a human user
2. Interactive elements like menus, tabs, and dialogs do not behave as expected
3. Links or buttons that do not make sense
4. Screens or parts of screens that change unexpectedly
5. Lack of keyboard accessibility
6. Images with missing or improper descriptions (alt text)
7. Complex or difficult forms
8. Missing or improper headings
9. Too many links or navigation items
10. Complex data tables
11. Inaccessible or missing search functionality
12. Lack of “skip to main content” or “skip navigation” links

Check out the complete to discover additional insights.

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