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Tag: disability advocacy

  • Teach Access Releases 2024 Impact Report, Celebrates Reaching 930,000 Students, and Unveils Bold New Strategic Plan

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    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., December 12, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Teach Access, a leading nonprofit dedicated to enhancing digital accessibility education, announced its 2024 Impact Report today. The report highlights the organization’s extraordinary milestone of reaching 930,000 students with accessibility-focused education and training. Alongside this achievement, Teach Access is proud to unveil its new three-year strategic plan, charting a visionary course to advance its mission of preparing the next generation to create a more inclusive digital world.

    The 2024 Impact Report showcases how Teach Access continues to influence curriculum design and industry practices by empowering educators, institutions, and tech companies to prioritize accessibility. This remarkable reach reflects the collective efforts of Teach Access partners and supporters who have integrated accessibility concepts into coursework, workshops, and corporate initiatives nationwide.

    “Reaching 930,000 students is a testament to the power of collaboration and the dedication of our partners in education and industry,” said Kate Sonka, Executive Director. “This milestone underscores the growing recognition that accessibility is not a niche skill-it’s an essential competency for creating equitable and inclusive technology.”

    In tandem with the Impact Report, Teach Access has outlined an ambitious three-year strategic plan focused on several core pillars, including:

    • Program Expansion – To accelerate its mission, Teach Access will expand its scope outside of traditional U.S. higher-education classrooms, including international, US-based K-12 classrooms and training programs such as boot camps, to continue reaching more educators and students.

    • Program Evaluation – Teach Access will design and execute a program evaluation plan to support the organization’s ability to define its short and long-term impact toward its vision of a world where all technology is born accessible. Using data-driven insights, Teach Access will make informed decisions about current and future programming and effectively evaluate its impact on students and, ultimately, the workforce for accessible technology.

    “With this new strategic plan, we are poised to amplify our impact and lead a transformative movement toward a more inclusive future,” said Sonka. “The digital accessibility skills gap is a solvable challenge, and together, we will continue equipping tomorrow’s innovators to rise to the occasion.”

    Teach Access invites educators, industry professionals, policymakers, and advocates to join this mission and contribute to its vision for a digitally inclusive society.

    To learn more, visit teachaccess.org

    About Teach Access
    Teach Access is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization collaborating with education, industry, government, 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. Teach Access envisions a fully accessible future in which students enter the workforce with knowledge of the needs of people with disabilities and skills in the principles of accessible design and development, such that technology products and services are born accessible.

    Source: Teach Access

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  • Teach Access Announces Its First Academic Hub in the Nation

    Teach Access Announces Its First Academic Hub in the Nation

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    Michigan State University’s College of Arts and Letters Collaborates with National Nonprofit


    EATON RAPIDS, Mich., June 20, 2024 (Newswire.com)
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    Teach Access, a national nonprofit collaborating with industry, higher education, government, and disability advocacy organizations, announced that it has secured its first academic hub to scale Teach Access programs, getting closer to reaching its goal of 1 million students by 2030. 

    Michigan State University’s College of Arts and Letters was signed as Teach Access’s first academic hub, and Teach Access continues to establish other hubs nationwide. 

    “Our students have worked for Teach Access as interns and have learned how to apply knowledge from coursework and articulate their passions for accessibility,“ said Casey McArdle, Assistant Professor and Director of Experience Architecture in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures at MSU. “We are excited to be an academic hub for Teach Access and the opportunities it will bring to our program and students.” 

    As an academic hub, MSU’s College of Arts and Letters is committed to intentionally increasing efforts to promote teaching accessibility, foster a culture of inclusivity and accessibility, and integrate accessibility fundamental concepts and skills into the curriculum. 

    “Promoting our programs and resources among their faculty, staff, and students is critical for scaling our programs,” says Rolando Méndez-Fernández, Teach Access Director of Education. “We look forward to supporting educators in transforming their curricula so that every student learns the fundamental concepts and skills of digital accessibility.” 

    Teach Access is working with institutions in the United States and Puerto Rico to establish additional hubs, focusing on Minority-Serving Institutions. Teach Access aims to equip the next generation of workers with the skills and knowledge necessary to create a more inclusive world where digital technology is born accessible. To learn more, visit https://teachaccess.org.

    About Teach Access 

    Teach Access is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization collaborating with 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. Teach Access envisions a fully accessible future in which students enter the workforce with knowledge of the needs of people with disabilities and skills in the principles of accessible design and development, such that technology products and services are born accessible. 

    Source: Teach Access

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  • Teach Access Announces 2024-2025 Digital Accessibility Grant Winners

    Teach Access Announces 2024-2025 Digital Accessibility Grant Winners

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    Teach Access Grants program, now totaling more than $350,000 since inception, supports educators in creating innovative course materials that develop a workforce skilled in making technology usable by people with disabilities. 


    EATON RAPIDS, Mich., May 16, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    To celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on May 16, Teach Access proudly announces the winners of its 2024-2025 Grants program, supporting 25 faculty members from diverse U.S. institutions in their development of digital accessibility concepts for their existing course curricula.  

    Teach Access is a national non-profit disability advocacy organization dedicated to bridging the digital accessibility skills gap between education and industry. Its free programs and resources help educators teach and students learn about the fundamentals of disability and accessibility. Teach Access programs have educated more than 500,000 students on digital accessibility since the group’s founding in 2016, and the group has awarded more than $350,000 in grants since 2018. 

    The Teach Access grants are a core element of the organization’s programs. Each winner receives a $2,000 grant that funds their work to incorporate teaching about accessibility into their existing courses. Grant recipients, in turn, contribute their teaching materials (such as lesson plans, assignments, tests and discussion prompts) to the free and open-access Teach Access Curriculum Repository, multiplying the impact of the grants. 

    “The Teach Access 2024-2025 grant recipients have shown exceptional dedication to the cause of accessibility,” said Kate Sonka, executive director of Teach Access. “Their curricular enhancements, prepared during the summer months, made possible with the generous support of our sponsors, will inform and inspire students about the fundamentals of accessibility, ultimately creating a more inclusive digital landscape.”  

    The 25 winners of the Teach Access grant program are: 

    • Angela Thering, SUNY Buffalo State University 
    • Bridget Marshall, University of Massachusetts Lowell 
    • Catherine Beaton, Rochester Institute of Technology 
    • Destini Kirkwood, Gray’s Harbor College 
    • Donna Schnupp, Johns Hopkins University, School of Education 
    • Emily Whiting, Boston University 
    • Evelyn Zayas, Rasmussen University 
    • Heather Leavitt, Yavapai College 
    • Herbert Lewis, Stony Brook University 
    • Hongmin Li, California State University, East Bay 
    • José G. Montañez Orengo, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, San Germán Campus 
    • Katie Ducett, SUNY Cortland 
    • Kristen Cole, San José State University 
    • Lisa Dunkley, East Tennessee State University 
    • Marie Frank, University of Massachusetts Lowell 
    • Rua Williams, Purdue University 
    • Sandra Watts, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte 
    • Shari Lanning, Colorado State University 
    • Shavonda Jackson, Alcorn State University 
    • Shelley Stewart, Hillsborough Community College 
    • Soyoung Choi, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
    • Suhasini Kotcherlakota, University of Nebraska Medical Center 
    • Suparna Chatterjee, New Mexico State University 
    • Susan Pramschufer, University of Maryland, College Park
    • Tim Gorichanaz, Drexel University

    Winners of the prior 2023-2024 Teach Access Grants program Karen Caldwell, assistant professor at SUNY Potsdam’s School of Education and Professional Studies, and Laura Perry, director of academic technology & support at SUNY Potsdam, reflected on the impact of receiving support to create material that can be used by people with disabilities. 

    “The Teach Access Grant and resources (Teach Access by Design for instructors, the Student Academy, online materials) both inspired and informed our collaboration to embed concepts and principles of accessible, inclusive design into three quite different course topics: leadership, human capital development, and instructional design,” said Caldwell. “Our emerging proof of concepts demonstrates that students are able to recognize and apply their learning in real-life contexts beyond the boundaries of our semester-long courses,” added Perry. 

    Grant winners are instructors teaching an existing course during the 2024-2025 academic year that can incorporate curricula designed to impact a student’s knowledge of fundamental accessibility concepts and skills, and the ability to implement the principles of accessibility in technology. Teach Access focuses on colleges and universities nationwide, including community colleges and four-year institutions. Additionally, they have a strong commitment to recruiting educators from Minority Serving Institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). 

    “Teach Access’s work is ceaseless. As we celebrate the 2024-2025 grant winners, we also prepare to call for proposals for our next grant round in February 2025,” Sonka said. “We encourage faculty members from all disciplines that can incorporate accessibility concepts to apply. Let’s together ensure the future workforce inherently understands accessible design principles, creating a world where technology is inclusive regardless of ability.” 

    To learn more, please visit https://teachaccess.org/.

    About Teach Access 
    Teach Access is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization collaborating with education, industry, government, 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. Teach Access envisions a fully accessible future in which students enter the workforce with knowledge of the needs of people with disabilities and skills in the principles of accessible design and development, such that technology products and services are born accessible. 

    Source: Teach Access

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  • Digication and Teach Access Announce Partnership to Advance Accessibility Literacy in Digital Education

    Digication and Teach Access Announce Partnership to Advance Accessibility Literacy in Digital Education

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    EATON RAPIDS, Mich., April 3, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Digication, a leading Ed-Tech company serving millions of users across more than 7,000 K-12 schools and higher education institutions, is thrilled to announce a strategic partnership with Teach Access, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to making digital accessibility a fundamental component of education. This collaboration, cultivated over the past year, is set to transform the digital learning landscape by integrating accessibility literacy into educational practices.

    Deepening Commitment to Accessibility

    Digication’s commitment to enhancing accessibility goes beyond compliance with standards; it’s about educating and empowering its user base. Partnering with Teach Access will bring a wealth of resources and tools to Digication’s platform, aiding in creating accessible digital content.

    Teach Access is an innovative non-profit collaboration between education, industry, government, and disability advocacy organizations. It addresses the urgent need to enrich students’ understanding of digital accessibility in designing, developing, and creating new technologies, considering the needs of people with disabilities.

    Digication and Teach Access envision a future where technology products and services are inherently accessible, with students entering the workforce equipped with knowledge and skills in accessible design and development.

    Innovative Tools for Accessible Content Creation

    Digication will introduce new features to assist users in creating accessible content, such as notifications for missing image alt text or video captions. This proactive approach ensures that all content on the Digication platform is accessible and inclusive.

    A Future of Inclusive Digital Learning

    “This partnership is a significant milestone in our mission to make digital learning accessible to all,” said Jeff Yan, CEO of Digication. “Teach Access’ expertise and resources will be invaluable in enhancing accessibility literacy among our users, paving the way for a more inclusive future in digital education.”

    Empowering Students and Teachers Through Teach Access Programs

    Digication users will have access to free programs and resources for students and educators provided by Teach Access. This includes its Student Academy, Student Ambassador Program, Faculty Fellowship program, and Teach Access Grants for educators. Teach Access has given more than $350,000 in grants to educators to accelerate the integration of accessibility principles in college curricula. Additionally, Teach Access offers a free open educational resource, Curriculum Repository, and several online self-paced courses about disability and accessibility. Programs and resources remain free and open thanks to the support of corporate sponsors, individual and gift-in-kind donations, and grant support.

    “We are grateful to Digication for this opportunity to reach their students and educators,” said Kate Sonka, Executive Director of Teach Access. “We aim to create systemic change within education so all students learn the fundamentals about disability and digital accessibility, creating a pipeline of future employees who can create technology accessible and inclusive for everyone. This collaboration greatly increases our visibility, helping us close in on our goal of reaching one million students by 2030.”

    About Digication

    Digication is a premier ePortfolio technology and assessment tool provider serving millions of users in K-12 and higher education institutions. Its mission is to facilitate dynamic and engaging learning experiences through innovative digital platforms.

    About Teach Access

    Teach Access is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization collaborating with education, industry, government, 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. Teach Access envisions a fully accessible future in which students enter the workforce with knowledge of the needs of people with disabilities and skills in the principles of accessible design and development, such that technology products and services are born accessible.

    For more information about this partnership and to access the new resources, please visit Digication.com and TeachAccess.org.

    Contact Information:
    Kate Sonka
    Executive Director
    kate@teachaccess.org

    Source: Teach Access

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  • Teach Access Paves the Way for Teaching Digital Accessibility

    Teach Access Paves the Way for Teaching Digital Accessibility

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    Nonprofit group’s collaboration with industry, higher education, government, and disability advocacy organizations has goal of teaching 1 million students how to make technology work for disabled people.


    EATON RAPIDS, Mich., March 5, 2024 (Newswire.com)
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    Beginning as a grassroots, 100% volunteer initiative in 2016, Teach Access has now educated more than 500,000 students on digital accessibility, a milestone in the national nonprofit group’s mission of developing a workforce that designs technological products and services with the needs of disabled people in mind.

    The mission of Teach Access is to close the accessibility skills gap by providing a pipeline of skilled workers to industries so technology can be born accessible.

    It does so with a novel approach: Teach Access does not provide workforce training for employers, but instead focuses on the education space, collaborating with colleges, the technology industry and advocacy groups to build curricula that will teach the future workforce about digital accessibility and universal design.

    “We aim to create systemic change within education, so all students learn the fundamentals about disability and digital accessibility, creating a pipeline of future employees who can create technology accessible and inclusive for everyone,” said Kate Sonka, executive director of Teach Access. 

    Teach Access was certified as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization in 2021, and provides its resources and services for free, through funding by grants, private donors and industry sponsors like technology giant Google. 

    “Accessibility is absolutely fundamental to what we do at Google. Yet, we still see that most new grads who join us have never learned about accessibility,” said Laura Allen, head of strategy & programs for accessibility & disability inclusion at Google, and board chair at Teach Access. “We are so excited about Teach Access’ mission and determination to drive this much-needed systemic change and are eager to partner on educating this next generation of students!”

    Employers say there is a strong need for the digital accessibility education that Teach Access facilitates, according to the organization’s 2022 Accessibility Skills Gap Survey: 

    Three out of four respondents (75%) reported a moderate to significant increase for employees with accessibility skills in their organizations in the last five years.

    More than 86% anticipated the demand to increase, while only 2% said it is easy for them to find candidates with accessibility skills.  

    Two out of three reported their products are not as accessible as they would like and are interested in job training for employees. 

    Teach Access has an ambitious goal and focused strategy to meet those needs. It has a target of introducing 1 million students by 2030 to digital accessibility, via free synchronous and asynchronous programs and resources for students and educators to learn about disability, accessibility, and how to incorporate accessibility into the curriculum.

    Teach Access offers courses for educators on the principles of accessible design in disciplines including human-computer interaction, computer software engineering, instructional technology, technical writing and more. It also maintains a curriculum repository, a free collection of open education resources such as syllabi, slide decks, assignment props, discussion questions and quizzes that have been developed by faculty to support teaching accessibility to students in a wide variety of disciplines.

    It also provides grants and fellowships to educators to encourage digital accessibility curricula and teaching, and sponsors programs like Study Away, which brings together students, faculty, and industry partners to explore the field of accessibility, and Student Academy, a series of free virtual webinars for students on topics of disability and accessibility.

    Teach Access Teach Access has a commitment to ensuring engagement with faculty members in educational programs that are from historically excluded and underrepresented institutions such as historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, community colleges, and minority faculty at predominantly white institutions.  

    “Technology is developing more quickly than ever, from mobile apps to emerging systems and devices like wearables and sensors, and they are becoming increasingly integral to our ability to work and to conduct our social lives,” Sonka said. “Teach Access is working to ensure a workforce with knowledge of digital accessibility that it needs to make these essential products usable for the disabled population.”    

    For more information, please visit https://teachaccess.org.

    About Teach Access

    Teach Access is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization collaborating with 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. Teach Access envisions a fully accessible future in which students enter the workforce with knowledge of the needs of people with disabilities and skills in the principles of accessible design and development, such that technology products and services are born accessible.

    Source: Teach Access

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  • Bona Fide Conglomerate Praises AbilityOne for Wage Reform

    Bona Fide Conglomerate Praises AbilityOne for Wage Reform

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    Press Release
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    updated: Sep 19, 2022


    SAN DIEGO, September 19, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Bona Fide Conglomerate, a registered non-profit agency providing jobs for people with severe disabilities, commends the AbilityOne program for its recent decision to end the use of subminimum wages in their federal contracts. The AbilityOne Program is one of the largest employment sources in the United States for people who are blind or have significant disabilities. The subminimum wage allowed federal employers to pay people with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage.

    The reform ensures that over 45,000 people working within the program will receive at least the federal minimum wage for their work. Bona Fide Conglomerate INC works within the AbilityOne program to provide jobs for people with significant disabilities. Bona Fide has never paid a subminimum wage. 

    “Doing away with these subminimum wages will help to reduce exploitation and prevent discrimination,” states Bona Fide Project Manager Tina Tyko. 

    The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 established minimum wages affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local government. Within this law is the Section 14(c) provision. This provision allowed employers to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage.

    According to the United States General Accounting Office (GAO), this allowed some contracting agencies to pay their employees less than $2.50 an hour. The decision by the AbilityOne commission forbids the use of certificates authorized under section 14(c). 

    Bona Fide believes that ending the subminimum wage will lead to an increase in available labor for the AbilityOne program.

    “A 14(c) enlists those with disabilities to continue to perform very minimal and mundane jobs that don’t allow for growth or further employment options,” notes Tina. “Understandably, many individuals don’t want to work in sheltered workshops, or at subminimum wage jobs, and therefore have chosen not to join the workforce at all. And since there has been a trend for many nonprofits to phase out supported employment programs due to not enough need or funding, this change could result in a transformation at the State level to allow additional grants and change business models to be created, which in turn will bring more individuals with disabilities into the workplace.”

    The rule has an effective date of Oct. 19, 2022, but non-profit agencies may request a one-year extension by Sept. 19. Non-profit agencies that file extensions will not be eligible to be awarded new contracts from the Procurement List until they are found in compliance. 

    Bona Fide Conglomerate thanks the AbilityOne program for this progressive and positive step to support people living and working with disabilities.

    About Bona Fide Conglomerate

    Bona Fide provides job training and placement opportunities to people with severe disabilities through the AbilityOne program and private commercial partners. 75% of Bona Fide’s direct labor hours are performed by people who have significant disabilities.

    Source: Bona Fide Conglomerate INC

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