The Equal Access Academy

Welcome to the Equal Access Academy! We're so glad you're here to check out ways to increase your knowledge about accessibility. All sessions are available to students, staff, faculty, and guests.

Descriptions of each training are under the calendar. We highly recommend starting with Accessibility Awareness 101 before you move on to more specific trainings.

If you would like to see something discussed or taught that isn't listed, please let us know by emailing EqualAccess@kent.edu.

If you experience any difficulties registering for any of the events listed on this page, please contact Alison Haynes at ahayne23@kent.edu.

Accessibility Awareness

Accessibility Awareness 101

Presented by:
Amanda Feaster, Director of Student Accessibility Services, Division of Student Affairs
James Trombka, Accessibility Specialist, Student Accessibility Services

This is the foundational workshop for understanding accessibility at Kent State. We'll dismantle mistaken assumptions about disability and accessibility and explore the experiences of our students with disabilities. You’ll leave with a greater understanding of the additional challenges students with disabilities face and eager to work towards Equal Access for the entire Flashes Family. Open to students and employees.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Accessibility Awareness 201

Presented by:
Amanda Feaster, Director, Student Accessibility Services
Donna Bernert, Associate Professor, Health Sciences

Come dig deeper with us on the models of disability, progress in disability activism and education, how disability and higher education intersect, and best practices for communicating with people with disabilities.

Upcoming Sessions

Thursday, April 4
1 - 2 p.m.
Online

Register

Accessibility Animals on Campus

Presented by:
Nichole Decaprio, Associate General Counsel, Office of General Counsel
Amanda Feaster, Director of Student Accessibility Services, Division of Student Affairs

How does a guinea pig help with disability? Can I pet my friend's Seeing Eye dog? Do I have to allow an emotional support cat in my class? Come get answers to these questions and more. Open to students, staff, and faculty. Highly recommended for faculty and student-facing staff.

Upcoming Sessions

Tuesday, April 16
1 - 2 p.m.
Online

Register

Accessibility for Webmasters

Accessibility for Webmasters 101

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology

Join the Digital Accessibility Team and UCM’s Web Team to discuss the fundamentals of web accessibility and how Kent State users with disabilities experience web content. You’ll learn the accessibility policies and legal requirements governing Kent State’s digital presence, see some examples of good (and bad) web accessibility, and sample digital tools that help monitor your www.kent.edu websites.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Accessibility for Webmasters 201: Toolbox and Audit

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology

In this workshop, we’ll use Siteimprove’s Quality Assurance and Accessibility modules to quickly identify, prioritize and fix issues on your website, teach you to audit and remediate your content more effectively, and explore Siteimprove’s built-in reporting tools to help you keep track of the progress you make and share that information with the people who need it.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Accessibility for Webmasters 301: Strategy

Presented by:
Alison Haynes, Assistant Director, Division of Information Technology

In this workshop, we’ll review the important concepts learned throughout the 101 and 201 courses and see how they fit into creating a long term and sustainable web accessibility strategy for your department or divisional website. We’ll teach you how to explain your new accessibility strategy to others and help you leverage the strengths of teammates for greater accessibility.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Accessibility in a Flash

Need a refresher or bite-sized training on key digital accessibility elements? Grab your lunch and join us for a quick tutorial and best practices discussion. Each session counts as 0.5 hr Beyond Compliance (BC) credit.

Headings and Labels

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Adding Alternative Text to Images

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Captioning Live or Recorded Events/Videos

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology
Eileen Mlachak, Speech-to-Text Transcriber, Student Accessibility Services

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Screen Reader Demo

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Quick Start Your Own Accessibility Testing

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology

Upcoming Sessions

Monday, April 8
12:15 - 12:45 p.m.
Online

Register

Creating Accessible Courses in Canvas

Designing Proactively Before Accommodation Letters

*Designed for Faculty and Education/Instructional Design Students

Written and Presented By:
Amanda Feaster, Director, Student Accessibility Services
Lydia Rogouski, Instructional Designer, Kent State Online

Companion webpage: Accommodations For Faculty

Course accessibility and universal design principles are part of pursuing the best ways to meet the educational needs of your students. What if each semester you prioritized adding one new accessibility habit to your course design workflow in Canvas until your course is accessible? We'll give you entry-level through advanced tips and tutorials on how to make it all happen.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Creating Accessible Events: In Person and Virtual

Presented by:
Amanda Feaster, Director, Student Accessibility Services

Taking a proactive approach to event accessibility can make guests feel more comfortable and included, and it can save you work in the long run. Learn practical ways to incorporate accessibility into your regular and special events as well as campus resources for planning accessible events. We will discuss best practices for both in-person and virtual events.

Upcoming Sessions

Tuesday, April 9th
1 - 2 p.m.
Online

Register

Creating Accessible InDesign Publications

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology
Larry Langston, Senior Graphic Designer, University Communications and Marketing

Learn how to make your InDesign documents accessible and convert them into accessible PDFs. Topics include fundamental accessibility concepts such as headings, image descriptions, and document tags, as well as best practices for saving and sharing your InDesign documents with others.

Upcoming Sessions

Thursday, April 11th
1:15 - 2:45 p.m.
Online

Register

Creating Accessible Marketing and Social Media

Creating Accessible Marketing and Social Media 101

Presented by:
Alison Haynes, Assistant Director, Division of Information Technology

Companion Webpage: Accessible Marketing

Learn best practices for creating accessible social media posts, flyers, videos, and digital displays. Open to students, staff, and faculty. Highly recommended for content writers and communications employees, both staff and student.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Creating Accessible Office 365 Documents

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology

Companion Webpage: Accessible Documents

Learn the accessibility features of and best practices for Microsoft Word, Excel, and Power Point, and learn how to save documents as accessible PDFs. Session includes hands-on practice. Open to students, staff, and faculty.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Creating Clean and Accessible Dynamic Forms

Presented by:
Alison Haynes, Assistant Director, Division of Information Technology
Amanda Kelley-Hurm, Manager, Division of Information Technology

Beyond knowing how to build a form, can you make it accessible and keep your users from getting frustrated? Do you know how to design for students and employees with ADHD or a language-processing disorder? Do you know how to write the form cleanly and with good spacing and styling? These and other best practices are crucial for the understanding and completion of your forms and for keeping Kent State legally compliant.

Note: this training will focus more on creating dynamic forms rather than accessible PDFs. Please see Creating Accessible PDFs Using Adobe Acrobat PRO to learn of accessible PDFs.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Disability in the Classroom

Presented by:
Amanda Feaster, Director, Student Accessibility Services
Donna Bernert, Associate Professor, Health Sciences
Jenny Marcinkiewicz, Director, Center for Teaching and Learning; Associate Professor

Most faculty believe that all students should have equally effective access in the classroom. But desire alone doesn't produce results; concrete methods DO. Come learn ways to teach confidently to all students by providing accommodations correctly, incorporating universal design strategies, and learning to discern the role disability plays in both straightforward and difficult interactions.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Making PDFs Accessible Using Adobe Acrobat Pro

Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology

Companion Webpage: Creating Accessible Documents

Learn how to review PDFs for accessibility, including how to quickly identify and fix accessibility issues using Adobe Acrobat Pro’s built-in tools, resulting in an accessible PDF. Session includes hands-on practice. Open to students, staff, and faculty.

*Adobe Acrobat PRO (subscription), not just Adobe Reader (free), is recommended for the hands-on part of this course. If currently unavailable to you, Acrobat PRO can be purchased and downloaded at software.kent.edu.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Managing My Disability

Managing My Disability as a Kent State Employee (For Employees with Disabilities and their Supervisors)

Sponsored and presented by:
Access Betters the Lives of Everyone (ABLE, a new faculty/staff group) and the Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action (EOAA) office. 

Managing a disability is complicated, especially when juggling life as an employee at Kent State. This workshop will help you navigate your rights, the resources available to you, and demystify the voluntary process of declaring a disability and requesting accommodations. We'll also reviews tips and resources for managing various disability symptoms as well as for supervisors of individuals who disclose a disability. 

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

What is Neurodiversity?

Presented by:
Zach StricklerNeurodiversity Coordinator, Student Accessibility Services

Join us for a discussion on changing the way neurodiversity is viewed from an all-encompassing characteristic to a facet of one's identity. This will be done by discussing what stigmas are present, why the term neurodiversity was coined and how we can reframe our thoughts.

Upcoming Sessions

TBA, Fall 2024

Writing Accessible Code

Written and Presented by:
Doug Flower, Digital Accessibility Specialist, Division of Information Technology
Wayne Fincher, Associate Applications Developer, Division of Information Technology

Companion Webpage: Writing Accessible Code

Writing accessible code is an essential development skill for potential or current students, faculty, or staff who access your digital content or application via many different devices, interfaces, and assistive technologies. Accessible code is easier to write and understand, and it enables the greatest amount of access to the information to ensures an equitable experience for all Kent State users.

Upcoming Sessions

Thursday, April 4
1 - 2:30 p.m.
Online

Register