September 26, 2024 By CDHD Get to know digital accessibility with A11y Idaho Accessibility practices are an important step in making digital materials available to people of all abilities. As more and more of our lives move into the digital realm, understanding accessibility is more important than ever. Enter A11y Idaho. This program is a collaboration between the Idaho CDHD, Idaho Assistive Technology Project and Idaho Digital Accessibility Consortium. It’s a community of practice that supports accessible content creation. This is achieved through weekly free training sessions that are open to anyone that would like to learn more about digital accessibility practices. It officially kicked off this week and will run each Wednesday for the foreseeable future. Training sessions alternate between open office hours and guided training sessions. During the former, the floor is open! Simply join the discussion and ask any questions you may have. You can also discuss different experiences you’ve run into or propose different ideas that will support healthy conversation around digital accessibility. The guided training sessions will focus on a specific topic, with one of our staff guiding you through different accessibility best practices. Topics range from links and buttons, images, color contrast and more. Senior Instructional Designer Laurie Berry is spearheading the program and will be moderating open hours and hosting guided trainings. “It is important to keep our learners and audience at the center and focus of our work. A11y Idaho is a space for everyone to come together to share knowledge, collaborate and understand best practices related to accessibility and content creation. “I am excited to be working alongside others to ensure our materials are designed and created with accessibility in mind!,” she said. You can read more about A11y Idaho on the Idaho Training Clearinghouse website. This includes viewing schedules and guided training topics. You can also register to add all A11y Idaho dates to your calendar or sign up for the quarterly newsletter. We hope to see you at one of our upcoming sessions! For more information about A11y Idaho or digital accessibility resources, please email us at idahocdhd@uidaho.edu.