A Study Away Summer Program Addressing Accessibility

Accessibility is an important part of designing and building products, yet many computer science students are not receiving any instruction on how to design for accessibility. Teach Access was founded in 2015 as a joint endeavor between industry and academia to address this issue. As part of this larger initiative to include accessibility topics within the field of computer science, we discuss our experiences organizing and participating in a summer study away program that brought together faculty and students from seven universities to spend a week visiting and learning from accessibility experts at a variety of technology companies within Silicon Valley. This second annual offering of this study away program allowed the participating students to learn more about accessibility, participate in accessibility design challenges, and increase discussion and awareness about disabilities and accessibility. We believe this program to be transformational for the students who participate; and are exploring ways to expand the program offerings to reach even more students.