Teach Access Inc

Over the next three years, Teach Access will focus across four priority areas to execute on our vision, mission, and theory of change:

Strengthen and scale our programs and our partnerships with students, education institutions, and bootcamps;
Curate a broad range of corporate partners and build strategic alliances to bolster organizational resources including domain knowledge, accreditation influence, and funding.
Develop an advocacy strategy to secure federal resources; and
Build a sustainable organization.

Teach Access’ membership model, ongoing partner engagement, and flagship programs, such as the Faculty Grants and Study Away, are essential to growing and strengthening a network of individuals and institutions committed to building an accessible world. Further, the programs are crucial to educating and equipping the next generation of technology workers with the skills and knowledge to close the accessibility skills gap in the technology industry. Currently, there are nearly 1,300 universities and bootcamps in the United States offering full-time computer science, computer engineering, user design, coding, and related programs. There are nearly 250,000 students graduating from these programs annually.

Investing in our work with faculty and higher education directly contributes to our effort to reach one million students over the next ten years. To accelerate our impact, we will invest in strengthening and scaling our programs over the next three years.

In 2015, individuals representing several technology companies and academic institutions founded Teach Access with the goal of making sure that the next generation of technology is born accessible. Teach Access envisions a fully accessible future in which students enter the workforce with knowledge of the needs of people with disabilities and skills in the principles of accessible design and development, such that technology products and services are born accessible.

Teach Access is an active collaboration among education, industry, and disability advocacy organizations to address the critical need to enhance students’ understanding of digital accessibility as they learn to design, develop, and build new technologies with the needs of people with disabilities in mind. Students in fields such as design, computer science, and human computer interaction can and must be better prepared when entering the workforce to create technologies that are truly inclusive—meeting the demands of technology users of all ages and abilities as well as meeting regulatory requirements. Only then will technology achieve its true potential for connecting and enabling everyone in the world.

To date, Teach Access has pursued this work through four key initiatives: 1) a faculty grants program, 2) an immersive student Study Away program, 3) the Teach Access tutorial: a set of best practices and basic training for accessibility, and 4) partnership with industry to influence hiring practices to include accessibility requirements.

Over the first five years, these initiatives provided proof of concept. Through targeting education institutions to provide opportunities for learners to gain accessibility skills, more candidates considering careers in technology are doing so with knowledge and commitment to designing and developing accessibly technology.

Looking to the future, it is clear that higher education and bootcamps will produce even greater numbers of graduates from technology disciplines. Similarly, industry will experience increasing demand for a workforce with accessibility skills and knowledge. These two trends suggest that the existing accessibility skills gap will only grow without intentional intervention. Teach Access is uniquely positioned to meaningfully address this market need and the following three- year strategic plan reflects the goals, strategies, and tactics Teach Access will pursue to accelerate progress toward its envisioned future, where everyone is aware and has the requisite skills to integrate accessibility and disability inclusion into technology design and development so that it is born accessible.

Relevant and visible industry partners
Involvement from technology leaders such as Facebook, Google, Verizon, LinkedIn, Apple, Intuit, Oracle, Microsoft, and Walmart cultivates greater interest and support for Teach Access’ work. It lends credibility to Teach Access’ efforts as a whole and draws student and faculty attention to accessibility issues and programs such as Study Away. Prioritization of accessibility efforts across industry leaders provides additional incentive for educational institutions to teach accessibility and for students to engage in the material.

Clear mission
Teach Access has a well-defined and clearly articulated mission. Teach Access fulfills a critical need for the communities which it serves and there is not another organization like it operating in the technology or accessibility spaces. Stakeholders understand and connect to the organization’s mission.

Productive and effective Executive Director
Teach Access has advanced its programming and internal operations in part through the hire of a part-time Executive Director. Having someone with dedicated time for this work has allowed for much-needed structural and internal process development. More than just adding the role, stakeholders consistently shared that Kate is a strong fit for the role, easy to work with, and a well-balanced leader.

Committed leadership team
The formalization of a committed group of leaders to serve as Teach Access’ executive committee was a significant step for the organization. The executive committee has been able to meaningfully move forward organizational initiatives while simultaneously navigating challenges and making bold plans for Teach Access’ future.

Highly respected subject matter experts
Many leading and influential voices in technology accessibility are involved and their knowledge helps shape Teach Access’ future impact. The involvement of these “all stars in the industry” brings additional highly specialized expertise and credibility from across the technology field to Teach Access’ work.

Unique student experience
Study Away provides a one-of-a-kind and profound experience for students, allowing them to connect with core issues in technology and accessibility, one another, and industry partners. Students identified that part of the strength of Study Away is the opportunity to spend time on the campuses of top tech companies, learn from experts, and build connections with individuals in the field. Teach Access is offering a unique value to those able to participate.

Meaningful cross-sector collaboration
Teach Access creates space for different players in accessibility to come together and collaborate. Teach Access allows accessibility advocates from academia, industry, and non-profits to meet and engage around a common goal with others with whom they may not have connected otherwise. Participating in Teach Access removes traditional barriers across sectors and allows for richer perspective and problem solving on multi-fa