Accessibility Day at UTA

Accessibility Day at UTA

Join us at noon on April 7, 2026 as we celebrate Accessibility Day! On this day, there will be events (virtual and in person) across campus for students, faculty and staff.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Faye Cocchiara

We are honored to have Dr. Cocchiara present "Accessibility as an Invitation: Places Where Everyone Can Move, Think, and Belong."  

Dr. Cocchiara is a Clinical Professor in Management under the College of Business at UT Arlington.

Join us in person in the Central Library Parlor 12:30pm - 2:00pm for the keynote address.

This event is co-sponsored by

  • College of Liberal Arts, Disability Studies Minor
  • College of Business, Department of Management 
  • Student Access and Resource Center
  • Center for Research on Teaching and Learning Excellence
  • Center for Distance Education
  • UTA Libraries
  • Office of University Compliance
  • EIR Accessibility, Office of Information Technology

See the Accessibility Day event schedule below for presentation and workshop details. 

   

 

 

 

2026 Accessibility Day Event

April 7, 2026 at 10:00am

Designing for Readability: Understanding Color Contrast
Presented by Brittany Usman (Center for Distance Education)            
10:00 am | Microsoft Teams

April 7, 2026 at 11:00am

Microsoft Teams

Online Document Accessibility: Shortcuts, Hints, and What Accessibility Checking Tools may Miss

Presented by Joseph Rutledge (Center for Distance Education) 

We have several accessibility checking tools available to us at UTA, Ally in Canvas, Check Accessibility for MS Word and PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat’s Prepare for Accessibility tool. These tools find most of the accessibility issues you may have in your online documents. Depending on your document style, these tools may not catch all the accessibility problems in your document. This session will highlight missed accessibility issues that may not appear in the accessibility checking tools. We will also include shortcuts and quick fixes for accessibility issues in MS Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat.

 


Keynote address, April 7, 2026 12:30pm

Accessibility as an Invitation: Places Where Everyone Can Move, Think, and Belong

Presented by Dr. Faye Cocchiara (Department of Management and Affiliated Disability Studies faculty)
Faculty Profile:  https://www.uta.edu/academics/faculty/profile?user=faye.cocchiara#About%20Me
And curated materials from the Texas Disability History Collection
12:30-2:00 pm | UTA Central Library - Central Library Parlor (6th Floor) and Microsoft Teams
ASL & CART (captioning) will be provided.  

 

On Demand from The Center for Research on Teaching and Learning Excellence at The University of Texas at Arlington

Pedagogy NEXT: Faculty Voices about Teaching and Learning

Accessibility Day on April 7 offers a valuable opportunity to reflect on teaching practices that help more students engage, participate, and succeed. In higher education, accessibility is not only about meeting requirements. It is also about designing courses that are clearer, more flexible, and more supportive for a wide range of learners.

With that broader goal in mind, accessibility continues to be an ongoing focus across CRTLE’s Pedagogy Next work rather than a one-time topic.

Three videos curated specifically for UTA's Accessibility Day for your viewing at your convenience can be found at Pedagogy Next:

1. Accessibility as Good Teaching: Practical Strategies, Campus Support, and What's Changing

2. Accessibility in Teaching Made Practical: Universal Design Tips for Faculty

3. Open Educational Resources (OER) and Accessibility: Supporting Student and Faculty Success at UTA

Accessibility Day is a good occasion to sit with that idea and to consider where those choices might fit into your own teaching. Explore the sessions at your own pace, and visit CRTLE’s Accessibility Resources page for additional guidance and practical support as you continue that work.

 

 

On-Demand: UTA's Accessibility Resource Toolkit

Visit UTA's Accessibility Resource Toolkit website for training videos and training guides created specifically for UTA by OIT's Knowledge Services and EIR Accessibility.

If you are trying to fix or mitigate accessibility issues with your own content, please review the videos and training guides in the Resource Toolkit will assist you. You will find nine sections of video tutorials:

  • Adobe Acrobat PDF
  • Canvas Accessibility
  • Closed Captions
  • Color Contrast
  • Microsoft Word (Windows/MAC)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Excel
  • TidyUp for Canvas
  • Website Accessibility (Siteimprove0

Training Guides are available in the Resource Toolkit covering:

  • Adobe Applications
  • Canvas Accessibility
  • Closed Captions
  • Color Contrast
  • Microsoft Programs (Word/Excel/PowerPower)
  • TidyUp for Canvas
  • Website Accessibility (Siteimprove)
  • Accessibility Checklist