Conference Schedule 2025
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Sessions will be held on June 10, 2025, via Zoom webinar. All sessions will be 45 minutes long, with time for questions. All times listed are in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Presenter Slides and recordings will be available in July 2025.
Keynote: Digital Accessibility: Why does it Matter?
9:00-9:45 a.m. (EDT)
This session will discuss why digital accessibility matters to everyone. There are legal requirements, but at the end of the day, it is about equity and providing access to all. It is better to plan for accessibility instead of thinking about it after the fact.
Presenter
Judith Risch, J.D., Ph.D., is the Title IX & Equity Access Services Special Advisor at Grand River Solutions. Judy brings over two decades of invaluable experience from her tenure at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education. Judy is nationally recognized as a foremost expert in digital accessibility, having served as a senior attorney at the Department of Education, where she co-led the Office for Civil Rights National Digital Accessibility Team. Her role involved overseeing a team of attorneys and investigators across twelve regional offices, enforcing digital accessibility policies and advising educational institutions and business leaders on compliance with federal disability discrimination laws.
While at OCR, Judy provided expert technical guidance during the development of the new ADA Title II amendments that cover digital accessibility. She also contributed her expertise to updating the 2024 Section 504 Regulations regarding digital accessibility for the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. Judy regularly advises and presents to educational institutions and business leaders throughout the country about how to effectively comply with federal civil rights laws, especially those that relate to disability discrimination, access, and technology.
Built-In, Not Bolt-On: Designing for Accessibility with a Strong Foundation
10:00-10:45 a.m. (EDT)
In this session, we’ll explore how to design for accessibility with the same intentionality and durability as a well-built structure. Accessibility shouldn’t be an afterthought, but rather a core part of the design process. Just like the foundation of a building, accessibility needs to be integrated from the start. We’ll dive into strategies for ensuring content is accessible, from video and audio to social media, with a focus on captions, audio descriptions, and transcripts. The session will also highlight essential tools and technologies for embedding these features, along with best practices for collaboration between stakeholders to ensure accessibility is truly built-in, not bolted on.
Presenter
Brittany McLeod is an accessibility advocate with nearly a decade of experience supporting individuals with disabilities across diverse settings. She currently serves as the Assistant Director of Accessibility Resources at Forsyth Technical Community College, where she leads professional development initiatives focused on creating inclusive, digitally accessible learning environments. Brittany holds a CPACC certification and a certification in Disability Inclusion and Accessibility Design from the University of Michigan. She also serves on the NC AHEAD Board of Directors as Communications & Engagement Officer and incoming President-Elect. Brittany is passionate about equity and inclusion and empowers faculty, staff, and students through strategic communication and collaborative leadership.
Captioning & Accessible Videos
11:00-11:45 a.m. (EDT)
Presenter
Nathan Myers is an Instructional Designer at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He attended UNCG as an undergraduate through the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program and began his career as a high school teacher in Lexington City Schools, where he served as the LSHS social studies department head and was named the 2016 LCS Technology Teacher of the Year. He earned a Master of Education from North Carolina State University and joined the UNCG staff in 2017. At UNCG, Nathan supports faculty in designing and developing courses and full degree programs as part of ITS Learning Technology’s Instructional & Multimedia Design team. He enjoys collaborative problem solving and consulting with faculty on creative approaches to assessment and instruction. In addition to his instructional design work, Nathan also serves as UNCG’s Quality Matters Coordinator.
Share the Journey: Accessible Communications in an Evolving Media Landscape
1:00-1:45 p.m. (EDT)
This session will introduce foundational skills and essential questions to consider when incorporating accessibility into your marketing and communications. Given the widespread use of social media and other mass communication platforms, we are all communicators in our professional and personal lives, and principles of accessibility can help us hone our communication skills and expand our audience.
Presenter
Davita DesRoches (pronouns: she/her/hers) is the Alternative Media Specialist for the Center for Learning, Access, and Student Success at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Davita has been working with students at Wake Forest to support their access to the academic environment by providing assistive technology and course materials in alternative format since she joined her team in 2019 as a graduate student employee. She believes that accessibility work is at its best when done collaboratively and wants to thank her students and her colleagues at Wake Forest and in the Collaborative for their immeasurable impact on her professional practice.
Virtual Event Accessibility
2:00-2:45 p.m. (EDT)
This presentation explores how to make virtual and hybrid events accessible by covering key features like captions, and mindful communication strategies. Attendees will learn how to choose accessible platforms, plan inclusively, and ensure both live and recorded content is easy to access—creating a more engaging and inclusive experience for all participants.
Presenter
Chelsea Porter, Head of Digital Accessibility at UNC – Chapel Hill (she/her). Chelsea has been in NC higher education for nearly 20 years as an instructor, web professional, and digital accessibility consultant. She has been with UNC-CH since 2020 in the digital accessibility office and rose to head of the office in 2023.