Navigating the 2026 Accessibility Requirements: Higher Ed Strategies and Approaches
Community Webinar
November 2025
© 2025 Pressbooks. This work is openly licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Zoom Chat:
Introduce yourself
Share comments & questions for the group
Zoom Q&A:
Ask questions you would like panelists to address
Panelists
Moderated by
Julie Curtis
Pressbooks
Carla Ghanem
Instructional Designer
Maricopa Community Colleges
Lauren Ray
Open Education Librarian
University of Washington
Angela Hughes
Accessible Technology Analyst
Pima Community College
Michael Mace
IT Manager - Digital Accessibility
Indiana University
April 24, 2026
New U.S. Department of Justice rules take effect, mandating public educational institutions serving populations of 50,000+ to ensure all digital content meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards.
April 24, 2026
A11y is a common goal.
But we have different starting points, resources, leadership, know-how, experience, priorities, etc.
Photo by Mārtiņš Zemlickis on Unsplash
April 24, 2026
Photo by Kolleen Gladden on Unsplash
Is it a finish line or a milestone?
Photo by Thomas Galler on Unsplash
We need to stop thinking about accessibility as a burden or checklist. It’s an opportunity to improve the experience for all users.
Hadi Rangin
Information Technology Accessibility Specialist
University of Washington
Let’s hear from our panelists
Carla Ghanem
Instructional Designer
Maricopa Community Colleges
Lauren Ray
Open Education Librarian
University of Washington
Angela Hughes
Accessible Technology Analyst
Pima Community College
Michael Mace
IT Manager - Digital Accessibility
Indiana University
Panel Opening Remarks
Briefly introduce yourself, your role, and how it relates to accessibility efforts at your institution.
How would you characterize the overall readiness, strategy or approach your organization has taken to prepare for the 2026 requirements?
Tell us about yourself:
Zoom poll
Panel Discussion
For the Pressbooks community, content accessibility is a major area of focus.
What approach(es) have you taken to identify what needs attention, audit, and prioritize your efforts (including your work with Pressbooks)?
Panel Discussion
This work brings into focus the tensions between accessibility, affordability, and permissions associated with learning content, whether it is openly-licensed or all rights reserved.
What opportunities are you seeing to educate faculty and promote sustainable practices that result in better outcomes for students?
Panel Discussion
What tools, processes, frameworks, or partnerships have been particularly useful for your organization in this effort?
What questions would you like to pose to our panel and/or to the audience?
Panel + Audience Discussion
In Closing
What advice or wisdom would you share about how to help organizations navigate change and build a stronger culture and mindset around digital accessibility?
Keep the Conversation Going…
We’d love for this community to keep the conversation going, so we’ve opened a new thread on the Pressbook Forum specifically for this topic.��Please continue to ask questions, share resources, and support each other! https://pressbooks.community/t/2026-accessibility-requirements-discussion-and-resource-sharing/4470
Thank You
Carla Ghanam: carla.ghanem@domail.maricopa.edu
Michael Mace: mdmace@iu.edu
Lauren Ray: olray@uw.edu
Angela Hughes: ahughes20@pima.edu
Julie Curtis: julie@pressbooks.com