(Last updated July 2025)
All state employees, including faculty, staff, and graduate student employees will be individually and collectively responsible for formatting all electronic content, including class materials, website pages, and work processes, in a way that is digitally accessible by by April 2026 to comply with the ADA Title II Accessibility Rules. (See Introduction to the Americans with Disabilities Act if you’re not generally familiar with this law.)
For some campus messaging on this initiative, see Digital Accessibility (Chief Information Officer), New Digital Accessibility Resources Available (Provost Massmail, 6/10/25), UI System Accessibility Newsletter Issue 1 (10/4/24), and UI System Accessibility Newsletter Issue 2 (3/18/25).
Contacts and Support
Our Department
The Department of Linguistics is devoted to making digital materials accessible for all users and has people working to support this initiative who you can reach out to with questions:
- Linguistics IT Accessibility Liaison: For questions about getting started or specialized/subject-specific support, our Department's IT Accessibility Liaison, Amber Dunse, is a great resource.
- ESL Program Web Accessibility Sub-Committee: For more information on how we support the ESL Program in the program-wide revision process and ongoing instructor training and support, contact Cassandra Rosado.
ATLAS (for our College of LAS):
- Email the ATLAS Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) team with questions (atlas-tlt@illinois.edu).
- Stop by in-person for basic support/questions from trained students at the ATLAS Help Desk.
Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (for all of campus):
- CITL also offers regular Quick Start Workshops on accessibility with a video playlist of previously recorded sessions and a list of upcoming offerings (see Accessibility Training Opportunities (CITL)).
Chief Information Officer (for all of campus):
- The Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is another office offering Digital Accessibility Office Hours (CIO), where you can drop in with questions.
Resources
ATLAS
ATLAS offers support to LAS faculty and staff– such as consultation, helping to create a workflow, answering questions.
Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL)
CITL offers great guides and checklists, including Document Accessibility and LMS (Canvas) Accessibility.
University of Illinois System
A system-wide Digital Accessibility Overview Course is now available for all faculty, staff, and students. The training covers many introductory topics and is aimed at helping people grow their understanding of the need for a completely accessible digital world.