There has been renewed interest in making academic content more accessible in recent years, in line with new legislation like the European Accessibility Act, but it’s important that this content accessibility is matched by increased equity for disabled people working in the industry.
The Toolkit for Disability Equity aims to fill this gap, by addressing the needs of people working in the scholarly communications industry. Modelled on prior C4DISC Toolkits for Equity projects, the Disability Toolkit is something different: an interactive, easy-to-update online hub providing access to high-quality and accurate resources, curated and vetted by knowledgeable people, that both people with disabilities and those wanting to successfully recruit, hire, and retain them can use to help achieve those goals. Like other C4DISC Toolkits, the Disability Toolkit is openly available and offers good search capabilities, topic and format filtering, and a variety of resource types (text, video, audio) with accessibility affordances.
We will present and discuss the Toolkit’s first iteration, which includes resources, an FAQ, and personal stories. Attendees will also learn about the current work underway to expand the Toolkit. Participants will come away with a better idea of how they can help make the scholarly communications industry more disability-confident, as individuals, teams, and organizations.
