Western Insights: Accessibility in the Age of COVID | The Foundation for WWU & Alumni

Check out this video to watch the Western Insights: Accessibility in the Age of COVID.

As we all made huge transitions in March in our professional and personal lives, we became much more dependent on online resources. Whether it was Zooming instead of meetings or online banking instead of travelling to a branch, screen time in the US made a dramatic increase.

In that rush, did we leave some people behind? Most of us are aware of the steps taken to make sure everyone has physical access to businesses, schools and beyond. If asked, most people are aware of at least some level of ADA requirements. But are they when it comes to our e-life?

In this edition of Western Insights, our panel will discuss how, in the rush to transition to online, some people have struggled with accessing information and participating fully and what YOU can do TODAY to remove barriers.

Our panel feature Western’s own experts in digital access: Carly Gerard, David Engebretson, and Jon McGough.

The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Meg Warren, Assistant Professor in the Management Department of the College of Business and Economics. Dr. Warren is an organizational psychologist with expertise in diversity, equity, and inclusion. She earned her Ph.D. at the Claremont Colleges.

Western Insights is an online panel series created in response to COVID-19 to provide the broader region, Western alumni, friends, and students with access to information on current events drawing from the University’s nationally respected experts. This free series is offered entirely online and is open to everyone.

EVENT SPEAKERS

Meg Warren
Dr. Meg Warren, Assistant Professor in the Management Department of the College of Business and Economics. Dr. Warren is an organizational psychologist with expertise in diversity, equity, and inclusion. She earned her Ph.D. at the Claremont Colleges.

DAVID ENGEBRETSON JR
David Engebretson Jr is a long time Western community member and alumni. David graduated from Western in 2001 with a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology and has been working in the field of accessible technologies ever since. He currently works as the Digital Technologies Accessibility Coordinator in the Web Communication Technologies department at Western.

Carly Gerard

Carly Gerard ('13, she/her/hers) has been working on digital accessibility since 2015, working in various Washington state colleges before coming back to Western in 2017. Carly is a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA) and has presented on accessibility at conferences like Educause and Accessing Higher Ground.

You can usually find Carly trying to improve some code while drinking coffee and listening to Spotify.

Jon McGough
Jon McGough, M.Ed. is Director of the Disability Access Center at Western Washington University and serves as a consultant to Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine. He was previously at University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University before that. Jon served on the Board of the Coalition for Disability Access in Health Science and Medical Education and is a past President of the Washington Association on Postsecondary Education and Disability. He has over 10 years’ experience in disability resource work in Higher ed. Jon’s adventures in disability services began on a construction crew specializing in custom home modifications for people with disabilities and evolved into a career of disability rights and advocacy work.

QUESTIONS
Contact James McCafferty for this event. Feel free to email at James.McCafferty@wwu.edu if you have any questions or comments.