Accessibility Minute - October 2025

Welcome to our October issue of the Accessibility Minute Newsletter! This newsletter is produced by the CU Boulder Digital Accessibility Office (DAO) and covers one accessibility skill or topic per month. Please visit the DAO website to access past newsletters. As always, thank you for taking a minute (or two) to read.

Disability Awareness Month 2025

Each October, we honor and celebrate Disability Awareness Month, as well as National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). Led by the US Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), NDEAM is an annual recognition of the positive impact of people with disabilities in the US workforce.

Although disability rights activists have driven significant and impactful progress, many communities still face barriers to equitable access and representation. In this month’s newsletter, we invite you to utilize the resources provided to broaden your understanding of disability and accessibility, as well as explore ways you can support, get involved, and engage in creating a more inclusive environment for individuals with disabilities.

CU Boulder campus resources

• Disability Services: provides academic course and housing accommodations for students.
• ADA Coordinator’s Office: provides workplace and campus accommodations for staff, faculty, and visitors.
• Digital Accessibility Office: provides digital accessibility strategy planning, assessment, and usability testing, training, and captioning services for all of CU Boulder.
• Faculty and Staff Assistance Program: dedicated to serving the emotional and psychological needs of the campus staff and faculty community.
• Digital Accessibility Buff Award: recognize staff and faculty for their efforts toward creating a more inclusive digital environment for our campus community.
• Complete the asynchronous Digital Accessibility Fundamentals Canvas course (available to CU Boulder staff, faculty, and students).
• Complete the asynchronous Accessibility Fundamentals for Digital Communicators (available to all CU system affiliates).

Local (Boulder and Colorado) community resources

• Center for People with Disabilities: provides resources, information and advocacy to assist people with disabilities in overcoming barriers to independent living in the greater Boulder-Denver area.
• Sensory-Friendly Sundays at Fiske Planetarium (through December 2025).
• Experience a play at Phamaly Theater Company show.
• Spoke N Motion Dance: integrated dance company to unite the talents of dancers with and without disabilities.
• Ignite Adaptive Sports: provides snowsport opportunities to people with disabilities in the Front Range of Colorado.
• Visit the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum.
• Visit Brewability: an inclusive brewery & pizzeria that employs adults with disabilities to brew craft beer.
• Achilles Boulder: Achilles International transforms the lives of people with disabilities through athletic programs and social connections.

Educational reading and media resources

• Understanding Disability Frameworks in Higher Education
• Models of Disability - An Overview: Familiarize yourself with some of the ways in which disability has been framed throughout history, from outdated models to the current model upheld by disability rights activists.
• Watch Crip Camp on Netflix
• Watch DeafU on Netflix
• Watch Deaf President Now! On Apple TV+
• Read True Biz by Sara Nović (book)
• Read A Disability History of the United States by Kim Nielson (book)
• Disability Visibility podcast
• Four Bad Eyes podcast
• Disability Visibility book list
• Follow Powerfully Isa on Instagram
• Follow Catarina Rivera on Instagram
• W3C Foundations free online course
• Molly Burke YouTube Channel
• Haben Girma’s Website (book, newsletter, etc.)