Teenage brains aren’t broken, they’re ready to flourish
March 6, 2026
Northwestern has updated its policy to help foster a welcoming digital environment for community members and any individual engaging or conducting business with the University.
New requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act have changed the way online materials — such as web pages, social media, mobile apps or multimedia — at Northwestern are created, managed and distributed.
Northwestern Now asked the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance to explain the fundamentals, what’s new and how to access training and resources.
Why is this important?
Digital accessibility means people with disabilities can retrieve information online about Northwestern policies, programs, activities, events, news and more. The University is in the business of generating and disseminating knowledge and everyone should have access to that knowledge. While there are more than 2,400 students registered with AccessibleNU, the campus office for disability services, there are also many more who are not registered.
The University also needs to ensure accessibility to its digital content for members of the public, such as Wildcat fans purchasing tickets to games and music lovers planning to attend concerts.
What are the keys to accessible design?
The basics go a long way.
On the web, there are seven core accessibility elements. Alt text, color contrast, headings, links, lists, tables and audio/video all are key touchpoints for drawing in a user.
It is not difficult to address these core points in websites, documents and digital tools. And when done correctly, your materials become significantly more accessible to everyone.
According to Jim Stachowiak, accessible technology strategy and operations lead in Information Technology, the three most common issues seen in Northwestern Canvas and websites are:
- Insufficient color contrast: This occurs when foreground color and background color do not contrast enough, potentially impacting how someone with a visual impairment or colorblindness is able to access information.
- No or insufficient alternative text on images: Alternative text is a short description of an image attached to the image’s code, offering a description to screen reader users or when an image fails to load. When no alt text is present or a file name is used as default alt text, the content of that image is rendered inaccessible.
- Unclear link text: Hyperlink text should indicate where the link will take the user. Commonly used hyperlinked terms such as “Click here,” “More,” “Info” or “Read” cause screen reader users issues because they do not indicate where the link will take the user.
In Canvas, Northwestern uses the Pope Tech tool to identify and fix these issues with a couple of clicks. On websites, Northwestern uses Siteimprove to identify these issues on websites for content managers to address.
What’s new this time?
Northwestern’s updated policy adheres to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA, which provide a set of technical standards for content developers, producers and policymakers around the world. General accessibility requirements are much broader now, applying not only to websites, but also documents, course materials, digital tools — anything digital.
What steps can I take to comply?
- Review the new policy.
- Managers should designate a team member as the digital accessibility liaison to connect with others around the University and share critical accessibility updates and opportunities with the unit.
- Explore the accessibility website and use the Siteimprove content auditing tool to evaluate your own site.
- Content managers can make an accessibility checklist with best practices. Faculty should consult Canvas tips and Mission Accessible. And anyone handling software or app purchases should examine accessible purchasing.
- If needed, request focused training for your area.
- Begin incorporating accessibility into your workflow.
Share your thoughts: The Northwestern Digital Accessibility Steering Committee is gathering input on digital accessibility to better understand general awareness, current practices and where additional support or resources are needed. Complete the survey to help identify opportunities to improve accessibility training and resources across the University.
