Diversifying Accessibility Education: Presenting and Evaluating an Interdisciplinary Accessibility Training Program

Abstract

There is a growing emphasis to educate STEM students about accessibility, so that they can become accessibility advocates. We introduce a community-based accessibility training program that brings together graduate students in STEM and related fields, called the Research and Education in Accessibility, Design, and Innovation (READi). Going beyond academic degree training, this program includes five training components: (1) a graduate course on accessibility and inclusive design, (2) an Action Team Project (ATP), (3) a Retreat, (4) Workshops, and (5) a Symposium. As our initial program assessment, we analyzed 22 students’ written program reflection and found three themes that highlight what students learned about accessibility and professional skills (Theme 1: Learning Outcomes), what students planned on doing after the training (Theme 2: Future Endeavors), and how students want the program to improve (Theme 3: Program Improvement). We advance accessibility education by introducing an innovative training that embraces collaboration among local community, faculty, and multidisciplinary cohorts of graduate students.