I was introduced to the notion of creating Accessible content when learning CSS3 back in the early twenty-first century. The item that stands out was the practice of, when using images as "buttons" for navigation elements, having the proper link text remain in the structure, visually hidden. "That's so cool!" I thought, and the fact that it made life a little easier for folks who already had a full stack of challenges (to this sighted person, anyway) was icing on the cake.

As I became a Drupal developer, I appreciated how the community behind it "baked in" a lot of accessible structure to the platform, and tried to continue and further those efforts. When I arrived here at Princeton, I was pleased to find a similar mindset among my peers.

And then the University seriously stepped up its efforts, and created what is now the UX group, and hired this Damian Sian fellow, who impressed me as a total whiz at all things accessible. And I thought this was just great.

So when given the opportunity to become even more knowledgeable about accessibility practices, in an "official" and structured manner (and not just by reading a bunch of blog posts), I eagerly jumped at the chance. This was a really great program put on by Mary, Damian and the rest of the group. For anyone considering enrolling, I can't recommend it enough.

I chose to become CPACC certified so that I can be part of a more inclusive environment. To do so, I have chosen to increase my knowledge of accessibility and ways we can implement them whether on the web or in my own department. I know what I have learned in this class, will always be helpful information not just for those with disabilities but for me and my colleagues and the work we do.

"Having seen individuals struggle through inaccessible but otherwise good looking websites, accessibility to me is a minimum requirement to be a competent provider of information. We must always remember to make accessibility a core part of our work."