Equal Opportunity Services (EOS) recently announced the creation of a new position within its department - Digital Accessibility Specialist. 

The role of Digital Accessibility Specialist Alexis Hines will be to address university digital accessibility standards regarding documents, course content, websites, apps, and products. 

The specialist role is part of a larger group within EOS that includes the Executive Director for Digital Accessibility, Tammy Gardiner, and focuses on providing training, tools, and education on digital accessibility that will allow departments to implement more accessible features and adhere to the university’s digital accessibility standards. 

“All trainings will cover the broad scope of accessibility. We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Those are standards governed by the federal government,” said Hines. “So, all of those guidelines will be used in any training, which will point to navigation, images, the use of color, link, anything like that will be covered under WCAG.” 

The next step for the Digital Accessibility group is to develop a website that includes training materials. Gardiner is currently working with Microassist, a Texas software company, to launch this resource website. Once finished, the website will have FAQs, trainings, and other materials that will assist departments in adding more accessible features. 

To learn more about this group, its role, training, and resources, please visit the Electronic Information Resource Accessibility page on the Equal Opportunity Services website.