Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is celebrated in May each year to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion.
This year City has planned a month-long programme of events and activities to raise awareness of GAAD, Thursday 19 May, and the work we're doing at City to advance accessibility and inclusion for our communities.
Register your place for the sessions or panel events you would like to attend by following the link to the LEaD events calendar.
Panel events and training workshops
Student/staff workshop: Introduction to digital accessibility
Tuesday 3 May | 11am
Learn an overview of digital accessibility regulations, common issues in accessibility, and the tools you can use to assess and improve your online content and digital documents.
Staff workshop: Improving accessibility with Blackboard Ally
Thursday 5 May | 12.30pm
Get a demo of Blackboard Ally, a new tool launching on City's Moodle this Summer, which helps staff and students with accessible content and documents.
Student/staff workshop: Creating accessible documents
Tuesday 10 May | 11am
Learn how to make digital files such as documents, presentations and spreadsheets accessible to people with disabilities and for the benefit of all users. We will cover the general principles that apply to different formats, such as colour, images, links, and tables, examine specific elements for each file type, and use the accessibility checker to fix errors. We will also discuss the considerations to bear in mind when converting documents to PDF and basic remediation techniques.
Student workshop: Inclusive technology training
Wednesday 11 May | 2pm
AbilityNet’s tech demo session will showcase free and low-cost apps and software that can support you with your studies. The session will break into four sections, exploring apps around four themes: 'focus', 'time management', 'notetaking/organisation' and 'mental health'. The session will be a mix of presentation, group discussion, live demonstrations, and interactive activities.
Student/staff workshop: Alternative text and complex imagery
Tuesday 17 May | 11am
Explore the alternative (alt) text accessibility feature in Office 365, its benefits and constraints, and the further text alternatives available. We will compare when to use alt text or longer text alternatives and descriptions, or both. We will introduce the concept of complex images and practice writing and implementing text alternatives to make visual content accessible.
Student/staff panel event: From luck to judgement – making accessibility meaningful to everyone
Wednesday 18 May | 2pm
The phrase 'It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it' is never more true than in the field of digital accessibility. Digital tools and resources can be great enablers, but used carelessly they disable and exclude. This session looks at digital accessibility from an institutional perspective, identifying the influences on the learner experience and highlighting the policies, practices and interrelationships that kickstart a sustainable culture of digital inclusion.
Staff workshop: Improving the inclusivity of your teaching, especially for neurodiverse and disabled students
Tuesday 24 May | 1pm
Gain practical, hands-on experience of research-backed principles for inclusive teaching, as well as specific examples for synchronous, asynchronous, and face-to-face teaching. The workshop fills a gap in providing behaviourally-focused teaching tips that can be implemented immediately, including in conjunction with a variety of learning technologies.
Student/staff panel event: Accessibility at City
Wednesday 25 May | 1pm
Join a panel of accessibility champions across City and learn what support the University can offer with accessibility requirements. The panel will also share what accessibility work can look like day-to-day, and exciting developments in accessibility to keep an eye on.
Staff workshop: How to use a screenreader for accessibility testing
*Rescheduled date* Thursday 23 June | 9.30am
A screen reader allows people who are blind or visually impaired to use their computer. Screen readers allow people to navigate through websites and applications via the speech output.
This session will look at the most widely available and used screen readers, to better understand how content is read out on the web, the fundamentals of using screen readers to navigate through a web page, and the most optimal way of testing for accessibility using a screen reader.
Accessibility drop-ins and coffee breaks
Our LEaD team will run online 'Accessible documents drop-in clinics' for staff on Thursday 12, 19 and 26 May, where you can join with your documents and any questions you have on how to make them more accessible for your audience. Register your place to receive the log-in details on City's LEaD events calendar.
On Friday mornings, the team will also host a series of online 'Accessibility coffee breaks' for students, where you can join to meet fellow GAAD attendees and presenters. Register your place to receive the log-in details on City's LEaD events calendar.
Blog posts
Check back on the Learning at City blog throughout the month for a series of dedicated blog posts to mark GAAD, exploring themes including invisible accessibility, multimedia and caption accessibility.
Attendance at City events is subject to our terms and conditions.