Accessibility with Dr. Denise Maduli-Williams

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Learn how to improve accessibility for students and the campus community. 

In this episode, I interview Dr. Denise Maduli-Williams, English & ELAC Faculty & Accessibility Mentor at San Diego Miramar College.

(Scroll down to access the transcript.)

We cover the following key topics:

8:42:25: Humanities inquiry & action team project

Example inquiry & action teams:
Miramar College
Santa Barbara City College
Irvine Valley College

12:09:25: Journey to being more intentional about accessibility

18:55:50: The importance of alt-text and consistency in captioning

30:54:25: Why we need to pay attention to color and ensure meaningful links

40:11:50: How to teach faculty about accessibility strategies

Resources mentioned: 
- 10-Day Accessibility Challenge (Foothill College) 
- @ONE Self-Paced Accessibility Course 
"Why is Everyone Watching TV with the Subtitles on?" (Atlantic article)

Select Dr. Denise Maduli-Williams episode quotes:

"Accessibility supports all students."

"One big thing I realized was that I was really thinking of students with disabilities as this separate population, when really disability is part of the human condition. Disability can be temporary and/or situational for anyone."

"There's this idea that we think there's just a small portion of students with disabilities, but what I learned was that over half of students with a disability are under or not reported because of either the stigma or the hoops that they have to jump through to get the correct paperwork. Administratively, we want to make that easier for students, but we also want to be aware just because someone doesn't come into our course with the paperwork, it doesn't mean that a good portion of our students won't benefit from accessibility and that they really do need our support in many different ways."
 

About Dr. Denise Maduli-Williams 
Denise is an Associate Professor of English and ELAC (English Language Acquisition) at San Diego Miramar College teaching online, hybrid, and in-person. She earned her M.A. in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership through the Joint Doctoral Program at the University of California San Diego and California State University San Marcos, where her research focused on factors of connection and social presence for students of color in online community college courses. Denise taught English and ESOL for over two decades in various settings including a California prison, a village in Botswana as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and New York City public high schools. She finally found her home in community colleges, teaching at Harold Washington College in Chicago and the City College of San Francisco. In addition to her faculty position, she has also served as the Online Faculty Mentor, Online Accessibility Mentor, and Faculty Evaluations Coordinator. A soon-to-be empty-nester, she loves the beach, spoils her Jack Russell Terrier, Bella, to bits, and has recently become addicted to Zumba!

About Dr. Al Solano
Al is Founder & Coach at the Continuous Learning Institute. A big believer in kindness, he helps institutions of higher education to plan and implement homegrown practices to improve student success and equity by coaching them through a process based on what he calls the "Three Cs": Clarity, Coherence, Consensus. In addition, his bite-sized, practitioner-based articles on student success strategies, institutional planning & implementation, and educational leadership are implemented at institutions across the country. He has worked directly with over 50 colleges and universities and has trained well over 5,000 educators. He has coached colleges for over a decade, worked at two community colleges, and began his education career in K12. He earned a doctorate in education from UCLA, and is a proud community college student who transferred to Cornell University.

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