HISTORY
Leaders from Yahoo and Facebook founded Teach Access with the goal to be the changemakers addressing the Accessibility Technology Skills Gap. Other companies experiencing the same concerns quickly joined the initiative including Adobe, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Intuit, Walmart, Apple, and more. A core group of dedicated thought leaders began meeting regularly and reached out to colleges and universities to enlist the help of faculty to drive critical curriculum changes. Georgia Institute of Technology, Michigan State University, Olin College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Towson University, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, University of Southern California, and University of Washington were some of the first institutions to join Teach Access efforts.
In the spring of 2016, Teach Access held a Kickstart Workshop at Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, California that was attended by practitioners from industry, academia, and disability advocacy organizations. The group developed a set of high-priority principles and goals including the efforts to add the teaching of accessibility as a requirement for accreditation in Computer Science and Design, which is how Teach Access evolved into our current initiatives within higher education. Additionally, an early win included partner companies adding simple and straightforward language to job postings: “Knowledge of accessible design and development preferred (or required).”
Today, many corporations, universities, and advocacy partners have joined the Teach Access effort helping guide our vision of reaching 1 million students by 2030 and creating a more accessible future for all.
