We were conscious of being honest in the framing of our roles for this session. We\u2019re not accessibility experts. We are experienced practitioners: people who apply accessible practices in our day\u2011to\u2011day roles, teach others how to do the same, and continue to learn. Often from our amazing colleagues (more on them below).<\/p>\n
While standards like WCAG<\/a>, PSBAR,<\/a> and the Equality Act 2010<\/a> are incredibly important, true accessibility involves our culture, habits, and intentions. Making choices in our work to prevent exclusion by design.<\/p>\n Whilst accessibility is often framed around compliance. Inclusion goes further. Universal Design<\/a> encourages us to design systems and content that work for as many people as possible, by default. Accessible by design. This framing fits with the University\u2019s Manchester 2035 strategy<\/a>: equity of access, participation and belonging in a digitally enabled university.<\/p>\n The social model of disability<\/a> reframes disability not as a deficit within an individual, but as a mismatch between people and the systems they may use. This perspective helps us to understand that barriers are created by choices and can be removed by choices. Intention and actions can turn accessibility into inclusion.<\/p>\n The core of the session focused on practical examples: things colleagues can do immediately, without specialist tools or extra time. Tips include:<\/p>\n These actions aren\u2019t meant to be revolutionary. That\u2019s what makes them effective.<\/p>\n To embed accessibility into daily practice, take this process one step at a time. One habit at a time. Just as checking attachments or addressees before sending an email eventually became automatic, accessibility checks can become habitual.<\/p>\n Culture change is slow, and it can\u2019t be forced. To encourage colleagues who may be less open to engaging with accessibility, share what you\u2019re doing, focus on people who are curious and receptive, and shine a light on good practice when you see it. Nominations, recognition and storytelling can all help shift behaviours.<\/p>\n What really stood out from this session was the response from colleagues. People were engaged, thoughtful, and generous with their questions and feedback. Interest came from well beyond FBMH, with colleagues from different PS areas reaching out for guidance, training and collaboration. There was strong demand for more events of this type, including interest in offering similar sessions to academic colleagues.<\/p>\n Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with all respondents rating it 10\/10 and describing it as valuable, excellent and informative. Attendees particularly appreciated the practical, actionable advice on improving accessibility, the clear and engaging delivery, and concrete examples that supported understanding and application.<\/p>\n Since the session, I\u2019ve had conversations with colleagues from academic development, central training teams, and teaching and learning leads about how this work could be built into wider programmes. That tells me there\u2019s an appetite not just to learn about accessibility, but to own it through individual action.<\/p>\n The FBMH PS Development Network<\/a> has created an open\u2011access live document with links, tools and resources from the session (alongside the recording), and I\u2019d genuinely encourage you to add to it.<\/p>\n If you take one thing away from this reflection, let it be this: you don\u2019t need permission to make your work more accessible. Every small change reduces barriers for someone. When those changes add up, they reshape how inclusive our working culture really is.<\/p>\n The future is accessible\ufe0f. \ud83d\udc9c<\/p>\n And it\u2019s something we all have a role in building.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By Rachel Heyes\u00a0<\/a>If you have questions, ideas, or want to share good practice with me (specifically related to accessibility and inclusion within FBMH or eLearning), please get in touch.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The session was based on the University\u2019s Accessibility in Blended Learning<\/a> course.<\/p>\n Rachel Heyes<\/a>, Learning Technologist, University of Manchester, is a leading professional in the field of disability, inclusion, digital technologies, and education.<\/p>\n Rachel Pearce<\/a>, Learning Technologist, Liverpool John Moores University, is a leading professional in the field of digital technologies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Appendix –\u00a0Want to learn more? <\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.0.106″ in_same_term=”off” 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range of digital content such as emails, documents, forms, presentations, webpages, images, and event information. This content shapes our communication and how people access our resources. Digital accessibility isn\u2019t an add-on; it\u2019s integral to our work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6688,"featured_media":2450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6688"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions\/2456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Inclusion by design<\/h3>\n
Practical, everyday changes<\/h3>\n
\n
Making it \u2018business as usual\u2019<\/h3>\n
Engagement and feedback<\/h3>\n
Permission to act<\/h3>\n
\n
Related<\/h1>\n
Related posts:<\/h3>
Stephen Mccartney: Leading with Accessibility: A Vision for the University of Manchester<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Daniele Atkinson: International Women\u2019s Day: Validation, Neurodivergence, and the Value of ADHD at W...<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Sally Flint: Disability, Life and Death: Living with ME\/CFS and Invisible Condition<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
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