Digital Accessibility

Digital accessibility is about designing and building digital content and systems that can be accessed and used by everyone: people on different devices, in different environments and with differing needs and abilities​​. Improving the accessibility of our digital domain means that more users have equal access to content and services, making our community stronger, more inclusive, and more productive. 

Digital Accessibility Project 

Over the past few years, a series of projects have assessed the maturity of our digital accessibility and identified opportunities for improvement. The result has been the Digital Accessibility project. 

Key aims 

• Design the processes for embedding digital accessibility in everything we do 
• Build a team that sets the foundations for an institution-wide cultural shift 
• Baseline our compliance to give us data to drive future strategy, policy, and training 
• Start developing a framework to underpin delivery of digital accessibility best practice across the collegiate university 

Timeline 

• Phase 1 (Spring 24): Developing processes & building a team 
• Phase 2 (Summer 24): Collecting and analysing data & designing a framework  
• Phase 3 (Autumn 24): Delivering new resources and training & transitioning service 

Digital Accessibility Advocate 

The Chief Diversity Officer, Professor Tim Soutphommasane, will be spearheading our digital accessibility activities as our Digital Accessibility Advocate. 

Tim Soutphommasane is Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Oxford and Professor of Practice in Human Rights and Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Relations. Read more about Tim. 

The creation of this role is an endorsement of the importance the University places on prioritising digital accessibility and removing barriers to progress our digital accessibility maturity. 

I am delighted to support our efforts on digital accessibility.  All staff and students have a role to play in making our digital content more accessible, and we have an opportunity to strengthen our culture of inclusion at Oxford. 

With Tim’s leadership and sponsorship and the work of the Digital Accessibility project we will empower the University of Oxford to firmly deliver on its stated commitment to digital inclusion. 

For more information please contact digital.accessibility@it.ox.ac.uk