Members of the University of Colorado (CU) community are eligible for discounted registration at the 2025 Accessing Higher Ground: Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference. The event will take place from November 17 to 21 at the Hilton Denver City Center.
The conference will feature more than 42 virtual sessions and over 110 onsite sessions. Topics covered include accessible documents, PDFs, video content, Canvas pages, and alternative formats. Legal and policy issues such as ADA and Section 508 compliance will also be addressed. Other subjects include campus accommodation, universal design, and curriculum accessibility. The event is intended for IT professionals, media specialists, course designers, and faculty members.
Keynote speaker Mia Ives-Rublee serves as senior director for the Disability Justice Initiative at American Progress. She has advocated for disability justice across nonprofit organizations and businesses in the United States. Ives-Rublee has worked with Women’s March, Families Belong Together, DC Action Lab, among other organizations. According to organizers: “She will talk about Title II of the ADA regulations, taking effect in 2026, and the attitude of the current administration toward disability and accessibility.”
Session topics range from hands-on workshops to main conference presentations. Workshops include “One-day Accessibility Testing Workshop (2025 update)” led by Karl Groves of AFixt; “Create accessible documents in Office 365: Word, PowerPoint and Excel (2025)” with George Joeckel from Utah State University / WebAIM; and “Introduction to the Screen Reader Ropes Course” by Deneb Pulsipher of SeaMonster Studios.
Main conference sessions cover areas such as accessibility testing basics with Becky Gibson from UKG; planning accessible digital materials by Craig Boassaly of Eliquo Training & Development Incorporated; AI’s role in digital accessibility with Aaron Arvig from the State of Minnesota; inclusive classroom practices discussed by Deanna Ferrante from Macmillan Learning; and advancing digital accessibility plans in higher education led by Binky Lush from Penn State University Libraries.
Early registration ends September 27. CU affiliates using their campus email address receive a five percent discount on registration fees. Members of CU Boulder receive a ten percent discount due to its institutional membership in AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disability).
The full agenda is available at https://accessinghigherground.org/, where attendees can also register for the event.
For questions regarding registration or programming details contact Howard Kramer at 720-351-8668 or hkramer@ahead.org.
