Frequently Asked Questions

Teach Access is a new, unique collaboration among members of Higher Education, the Technology Industry and advocates for Accessibility.

Teach Access is an active collaboration among education, industry, and disability advocacy organizations to address the critical need to enhance students’ understanding of digital accessibility as they learn to design, develop, and build new technologies with the needs of people with disabilities in mind.

Today, education about accessible design and development, where it exists, is producing a very limited number of domain experts. While these experts drive innovation toward the goal of making all technology accessible to everyone, Industry requires even those who are not expert to have a working knowledge of the basics of Accessibility. The Teach Access initiative was created to respond to this pressing need. Incorporating accessibility during product concept and development (and not just immediately prior to a product launch) requires well-trained developers who grasp at least the basic concepts of alternate input, output and navigation modalities.

All who share the vision and mission of Teach Access are encouraged to volunteer time and/or make a gift.

In recognition of our continued growth as a nonprofit, we’ve changed our original membership model. We now have sponsors, donors, and volunteers, which is typical of many nonprofit organizations. We would happily add you to our public mailing list for updates. Just contact us to request that we add you to the list. And keep watching our website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed for news and other ways you can support our mission.

For the latest information about Teach Access, visit www.teachaccess.org and follow the project on Twitter @teachaccess.

Both. Teach Access can only reach its goal through collaboration between Industry and Education with the active participation of Accessibility Advocates. For example, Higher Education trains, educates and continually adapts its curricula to the needs of industry. Industry communicates the skills it needs, promotes employment opportunities for graduates, and works collaboratively with Higher Education to develop appropriate curricula. Accessibility Advocates provide essential input into user requirements, advise on Accessibility policy, and actively communicate opportunities and advancements to its constituents.

In essence, it’s a calculation based on demand and supply. As industry demands accessibility skills from its workforce, education consumers demand accessibility training, so they have marketable skills when entering the workforce. With demand for accessibility skills on the rise, education must respond by providing more opportunities for learners to build accessibility skills and knowledge. When this happens, accessibility advocates and experts are there to help education build effective programs.

Technology development is moving faster than ever before. For example, there are now tens of thousands of development teams around the world creating millions of mobile apps. Similar scale is expected for emerging technologies such as wearables, sensors, and more. It is no longer possible for a small cohort of Accessibility experts to be available to each team or to keep up with the unprecedented pace of technology development. At the same time, new technology products are becoming increasingly integral to our ability to work and to conduct our social lives. As a result, making these products accessible is all the more important — and expected. When one considers that legislation in many countries now mandates accessibility for a variety of technologies, the lack of developers with appropriate skills becomes apparent. The need is truly urgent.

Only a small number of introductory and advanced degree programs provide substantive Accessibility education, and as a result the number of graduates in this area is extremely limited. Teach Access applauds these programs and seeks to expand the number of graduates with these skills by incorporating the fundamentals of Accessibility into “non-expert” undergraduate curricula for programmers, designers, and product managers.

No. Teach Access considers Accessibility fundamentals to be vital in the technology curricula of all post-secondary teaching institutions as well as informal and online education. Efforts are even being made to introduce the concepts to high school age students.

Advocacy groups play an important role in Teach Access by providing input and feedback into proposed training curricula, while at the same time recommending policy, providing accessibility expertise, and communicating opportunities for their constituents.

Initially, Teach Access is focused on North America but the program expects to grow and attract members from around the world.