Who are we?
The Digital Accessibility SIG was established in September 2024. Accessibility remains a serious challenge for the sector, with institutions grappling with compliance. The law was not written with large and complex higher education institutions teaching advanced material to large numbers of students in mind: this group seeks to establish a consensus for the sector around best practice when it comes to digital accessibility, and in particular to create a shared view of how best to handle the various compromises that are required when considering compliance.
Institutions are at different stages on their respective journeys. We have seen fantastic work emerging from those where accessibility has been properly prioritised, led, and resourced, but for institutions starting out on their journeys it remains difficult to understand what best practice looks like, and there are no established frameworks to help guide their work. Universities that are further ahead need confidence that the approaches they are taking are sound, that the decisions they have made are adequately protecting them from the various risks, and that they are providing the very best in terms of accessible teaching and learning to their students. The law is not helpful when it comes to the various challenges that institutions face, and the standards that do exist do not help at all when it comes to digital accessibility at the teaching and learning level.
Our group seeks to address those challenges by establishing a consensus across the UK HE community. This consensus is already emerging from the work being done by those institutions leading the way: we are all coming up with similar answers, and similar approaches, and we all recognise similar challenges, but we don’t always feel confident about our answers to those challenges, and it is not easy to validate the approaches we are taking. There is safety in numbers.
Join Digital Accessibility SIG
To join the group and be kept up to date with the news and events, subscribe to the ALT-DigitalAccessibilitySIG mailing list.
If you would like to get involved in the organisation of the Group and its activities, let us know by expressing an interest.
Future events
View Digital Accessibility SIG's upcoming events.
Community Space
Digital Accessibility SIG blog
Our remit
- To facilitate an annual event held in the summer each year, and to supplement that with a series of community events throughout the year;
- To contribute to the existing digital accessibility communities rather than create our own;
- The production of authoritative guidance around all aspects of digital accessibility that can be used with confidence across the sector, providing a benchmark for institutions;
- The production of open-source frameworks, tools, and templates to accelerate digital accessibility efforts;
- To champion effective leadership and change management;
- To act as a pressure group when it comes to third parties, vendors, suppliers, and other influences from outside the sector;
- To build partnerships across the sector: the institutions, and the organisations that support them;
In common with ALT Members Groups and SIGs this group will :
- Support activities in line with ALT’s strategic aims
- Share ALT’s values of being participative, open, collaborative, innovative, inclusive and transparent
Officers
The SIG officers are:
Julian Tenney, Co-Chair
Sylwia Frankowska-Takhari, Co-Chair
David Voss, Officer
Alice Chapman, Officer
Lucy Thacker, Officer
Stephen Taylor, Officer
Russell Brookes, Officer
Gavin Henrick, Officer
Christopher Ward, Officer
George Rhodes, Officer
Tharindu Liyanagunawardena, Officer
Andy Eachus, Officer