NEWS: Judy Thai, first generation college graduate and UC Berkeley alum, talks digital accessibility during her career at UC Office of the President

Judy Thai, director of Application Engineering, UC Office of the President, recently met with members of the Information Technology Services (ITS) department to discuss her career in Information Technology (IT) and her dedication to the field of digital accessibility at the University of California. She has worked to develop an accessibility-minded culture within the UC Office of the President, and that includes ensuring the accessibility of the websites that her team maintains for the UC community. Sushant Prasad, solutions architect AWS Cloud, UC Office of the President, interviewed Thai during a UC Office of the President ITS department staff engagement committee meeting on leadership. They kindly shared insights about the meeting, which covers the topics of career, accessibility and more, to provide visibility to all members of the UC Tech community.

With a 28-year long career at UC, and an equally long track record of web development at UC Office of the President, Thai’s work has an enormous reach and importance. She has worked on over 60 applications and maintained over 300 websites for the UC. Notably, her team maintains the Apply UC website, where hundreds of thousands of students apply to the nine undergraduate UC campuses each year.

Thai began her UC career as a first-generation college student at UC Berkeley, where she had a work-study job as a part-time administrative assistant. At her first web-development job at UC Office of the President, Thai discovered an interest in accessibility because of its natural relationship to web design. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 16% of the world experiences some form of disability. Thai remembers wondering, “Why shouldn’t you allow access to whatever information you’re posting to everybody? It just made sense to me, and, at the time, we didn’t have an accessibility policy.”

Overcoming continual resistance to change

Years later, there is a UC systemwide accessibility policy. However, the larger effort remains, as Thai described it, a grassroots movement, meaning a movement realized by passionate individuals, but without the institutional funding that other initiatives receive. At the UC-wide level, there is no mandate for digital accessibility, nor specifically allocated funding. As a result, advancement occurs thanks to accessibility-minded people like Thai, “out of necessity” for those affected by these initiatives.

Resistance is a habitual part of Thai’s work. Some resistance is as innocent as overwhelmed employees within the UC, who benefit from persistent reminders from Thai’s team. In working with vendors, Thai noted that vendors must also account for accessibility. If Thai experiences resistance from a vendor to accessibility measures, she may have to reference the vendor’s agreements with the UC or loop in the legal team. Thai emphasized that disability accommodations and accessibility are federal law.

Four ways to advance digital accessibility to support people with disabilities

Thai provided four aspects to cultural change which she has successfully used to move the needle in the field of digital accessibility at the University of California.

1. Culture shift

Thai highlighted the increasing adoption of best practices in digital accessibility at the UC. She emphasized that professional development initiatives, events, and workplace culture have collectively contributed to a heightened awareness of digital accessibility issues across the institution.

Central to these efforts is the attentiveness to seeking and offering accessibility-related accommodations for documents and content. Routine tasks such as sending mass emails, now incorporate more accessibility considerations. It is considered proper etiquette to provide contact information in case an email recipient requires an accommodation to access the content and to promptly provide those accommodations as needed.

2. Annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) visibility and webinars

Beyond a growing culture of best practices, overall, accessibility awareness is growing at the UC through events. On May 16th, 2024, the UC celebrated Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) with a webinar attended by over 300 participants, where accessibility leaders across the UC offered insight about making UC digital spaces accessible for all.

3. Professional development in accessibility

At the UC, accessibility has made strides thanks to professional development programs and resources. On July 26th, 2024, the UC will celebrate Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Day, marking the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990. On that day, the UC Tech community will host a discussion about a 90-minute digital accessibility LinkedIn Learning course, Accessibility for Managers and Non-Designers. Judy Thai will discuss the course and the field of digital accessibility during a brief Q&A session (see details, below).

Beyond ADA Day, UC employees have access to LinkedIn Learning, a series of online professional development courses, and Thai also recommends a 5-hour LinkedIn Learning course, Creating Accessible PDFs to those interested in an in-depth learning opportunity.

4. AI enhances accessibility compliance

Throughout Thai’s career, the IT industry has undergone huge changes – some more impactful than others. When asked about AI’s contribution to digital accessibility compliance, Thai explained that AI algorithms serve as tools for performing automated accessibility checks on websites. However, Thai cautioned that these automated algorithms can reliably identify only about 25% of accessibility issues; the remaining 75% of accessibility issues can only be identified with manual testing.

Life and work at the UC

In her career at the UC, Thai reflects that no two days have been the same, but that, like for many UC employees, her connection to the UC mission has been a north star. She says, “We’re here for the mission. We’re here because it speaks to us somehow. I think that’s where the UC leads. We are able to retain our folks because they’re dedicated, talented individuals who want to make a difference.”

When asked what she values about her team, Thai stated, “They’re all very dedicated to the greater mission of what we’re doing. It’s amazing that we just all come together to create this series of applications and websites to provide information and opportunities to the broadest swath of people possible. As a first generation college student that is huge to me, because higher education has been a game changer for me.”

For Thai and her team, the end-result of advancing the UC mission makes digital accessibility worth the fight. Thai spoke of cases in the past where a small mistake related to accessibility became more expensive than developers could imagine. In this sense, preventative measures like digital accessibility checks on websites and applications can save the institution money. Still, a misstep or failed accessibility check is more than a compliance issue; it is a failure of the UC mission.

In her tenure at UC, from a first-generation student to a director at the UC Office of the President, Thai says, “Perseverance is very important, and whether you’re a student or an employee, you will face obstacles. A little at a time is how you make progress here.”

Join Judy Thai for National Disability Day on July 26

On July 26th, 2024, join Judy Thai and the UC Tech community to honor Americans with Disabilities Act Day. The UC Office of the President will host the following discussion group. Please join us.

ADA Day discussion on an important LinkedIn Learning course – July 26 [Zoom Registration Link]

Friday, Jul 26, 2024, 11:30 a.m. -12 p.m.
Featured guests: Judy Thai: director, Application Engineering at Information Technology Services, UC Office of the President; Beena Albert: Business Intelligence Technical Lead, Information Technology Services, UC Office of the President
Event preparation: We recommend taking this LinkedIn learning course prior to the event: “Accessibility for Managers and Non-Designers” (1hour, 52 minutes)

About Judy Thai

Judy Thai is a director in Information Technology Services at the University of California Office of the President. In her 28 years with the University of California, she has gained experience in many areas of web development, but she is especially passionate about making websites accessible so the content is available to everyone, including people with disabilities. She currently manages a team who creates and maintains web applications to meet the UC’s diverse needs, including applyUC, which 250,000 high school students use every year to apply to the University, and the Graduate Degree Search, which lets students learn about UC’s graduate programs before they apply. In her free time, Judy either has her nose in a book, her boots on a hiking trail or her hands on a video game controller.

Resources

Contacts

Interviewee: Judy Thai: judy.thai@ucop.edu
Interviewer: Sushant Prasad: sushant.prasad@ucop.edu
Author: Violet Taylor: violet.taylor@ucop.edu