UoY Digital Accessibility Unit

Templates could be designed and coded according to web accessibility standards, but this won't ensure that the final product would be accessible. Content creators still need to know about key accessibility concepts, including alt text, link text, and proper headings.

Are you interested in Shakespeare, streaming and accessibility? Tamar Knott, one of the wonderful research students I supervise is working on the accessibility of streamed performances of Shakespeare and is running a survey. Your help is very much appreciated york.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Just here for your amazing alt text. Show off and show us what you’ve got. 💅

University Campus with rainbow on sky

Rainbow over Campus

We're another account that won't repost a post that has an image with no alt text. We highly recommend enabling the Bluesky setting that won't let you post an image without alt text - that way, you can't forget!

A reminder that our Open Research Awards are open for submissions until Monday 27 April 📆

This year's scheme is open to research staff and students at different roles/levels and from all disciplinary backgrounds. Take a look at our wiki pages for full details of our £400 prize categories 🏆

Keeping to time is an accessibility issue! Many disabled people need the breaks in conferences - to manage energy levels, take extra comfort breaks, take meds, check blood sugar - and frankly everyone needs the loo at some point! Keeping to time preserves breaks, making events more accessible.

Sighted users often use bold or large fonts to create the appearance of headings in documents. People using screen readers have no way of understanding these visual cues. Use heading styles from the styles menu to correctly format headings.

We are delighted that our very own digital accessibility manager, Lilian Joy, has been announced as one of JISC's 2026 Community Champions!

The title page of volume one of The Gospel of John embossed in moon type.

The same moon title page, but a screenshot of a 3D scan of the page that is blue with scanner guide markers placed randomly on the page.

The same 3D scan but now white with the extra details around the page deleted and cleaned up as a 3D model.

The same title page in moon, but now a 3D printed physical object printed with purple filament. There are printed supports on the front, right side, and base still attached.

From rare book (physical) to 3D scan (digital) to cleaned-up 3D model (digital) to 3D printed object (physical).

This was a really fun process to think through texture and materiality of a tactile book object. This was a test, and I learned a lot from the process. More to come later this year!

Love Data Week (@lovedataweek.bsky.social) provides an opportunity to take stock of how you handle, manage, archive and share research data 📊

We have numerous resources to help you do it well, like the RDM 101 online tutorial (in the VLE) and our Research Data Management practical guide 👇

Reminder thats this is TOMORROW! (Tuesday 10th Feb). You can find us in the @uoylibrary.bsky.social foyer, 10am to 1pm where digital accessibility and library staff will be there to answer all things accessible readings, so bring your reading related problems and drop by!

People get prickly about these requests bc they see them as individual critiques but they're really efforts to set norms and build culture around sharing information, which feels very meaningful and worthwhile to me in this moment.

Photo of a wall made of stacked vintage hardback books, creating a wall of multicoloured books spines

This Tuesday (10th Feb) we've got a pop up in the library@uoylibrary.bsky.social 10am-1pm, focused on helping students access their readings - please do tell any students who may be interested! We're happy for anyone to drop in for a reading chat or with a readings related problem.

This review provides an important report on where we are and how far we have yet to go to fully include and support disabled people in education.

Absolutely this! If you want your research to be open and accessible to the biggest audience possible, make it available accessibly!

An ever important question in accessibility tech - who is this making life easier for?

Fantastic accessibility research from @saints-cdt.bsky.social

Baffled by Bibliometrics? Our Open Research Colleagues have it covered:

This is TODAY! (Tuesday 3rd Feb) - so if you're a member of teaching staff at York with any accessibility questions about your VLE site, your teaching materials, reading lists or assigned readings, please join us online at 11am!

Happy Yorkiversary! 🎂

Hey Uni of York people, we're doing our annual audit of the library website.

We're not doing a formal consultation, as it's really just some tweaks and refinements - but if you have anything you'd like to see change about it please do reply here or DM us!

www.york.ac.uk/library/

York Open Research Awards: Innovation, advocacy and good practice in open research across all disciplines at York. Supported by UKRI Research England.

The York Open Research Awards are back for 2026! 🎉

The call for submissions is open until Monday 27 April 📆

We are keen to recognise and reward a diverse range of projects, and this year we are offering additional prizes to ensure that all researchers at York have the opportunity to participate...

Pomeranian dog wearing a massive pair of glasses, apparently working at an ipad at a desk

UoY teaching staff, join us for an online accessibility session tomorrow Tues 3 Feb, 11-12 noon. We'll be there with colleagues from the VLE and @uoylibrary.bsky.social reading lists teams to answer all your queries. Book a place via the DET training page vle-support.york.ac.uk/training/#si...

RNIB Bookshare is a fabulous resource and underpins so much accessible text provision in UK higher education.

At the bottom left, an illustration shows three students working together: one student using a wheelchair, another sitting at a table with a laptop, and a third student standing beside them. At the bottom, a blue button-shaped graphic reads: “The Annual Disabled Student Survey.” In the top right corner is the Disabled Students UK and Snowdon Trust logo.

Another promotional poster then shows in a white and blue colour scheme for The Annual Disabled Student Survey Report 2025. At the top left, a dark blue rounded rectangle contains white text reading “The Annual Disabled Student Survey Report 2025.” On the top right is the Disabled Students UK logo in white on a dark blue background, with the Snowdon Trust logo beneath it in white text on two red rectangles. The main text says: “Come join us as we share our findings from the Annual Disabled Student Survey 2025.” Event details are shown in blue text: “Thursday 29th January 2026,” “12:30pm – 2pm,” and “Online via Zoom.” Below are four circular headshot photos on a light background. From left to right: Helen Saelensminde (CEO of Snowdon Trust), Prof Deborah Johnston (Deputy Vice Chancellor of LSBU), Suzanne Carrie (Head of Student Equality and Welfare at Office for Students) and Jim Dickinson (Associate Editor Student Unions at Wonkhe). The bottom of the poster features a curved dark purpley-blue shape with a small rounded label reading “The Annual Disabled Student Survey” in white text.

It’s here! 📣

The Annual Disabled Student Survey Report 2025 is now LIVE, delivered in
partnership with the Snowdon Trust!

Thank you to everyone who took part!

and supportive education system.
Read & download the report on our website!

#DisabledStudentsUK #DisabledStudents #AccessInsights

Make sure web pages appear and operate in predictable ways. Things like the header, navigation, and footer should be the same on each page. Navigation links should be the same on every page and always in the same order. Things should be labeled consistently.

Open Research and Digital Accessibility: Guest Blog Post As a small team working to spread accessible digital practice far and wide, we’re always collaborating with colleagues across the university (and beyond!). We’re delighted to share a po…

Our latest blog post is up - and it's a guest post from @katievernon.bsky.social for @uoyopenres.bsky.social, looking at the shared goals of digital accessibility and open research in trying to make research more accessible to everyone:
blogs.york.ac.uk/digital-acce...

@york.ac.uk teaching staff, join us for an online accessibility session next week, on Tues 3 Feb, 11-12 noon. Whether it's about the VLE, your handouts or assigned reading, we're there to answer your accessibility queries. Book a place via the DET training page vle-support.york.ac.uk/training/#si...

Cognitive load refers to how much working memory or short-term memory someone is using at a time. Minimizing the cognitive load it takes to use your site makes it more accessible for people with cognitive disabilities. Limit what you're asking users to remember to use your site.