Initiative Description
Maine CITE partnered with the Maine IT Accessibility Committee (ITAC) to provide accessibility training to employees of the state of Maine. While Maine has adopted the idea of accessibility, it has not fully put it into practice. Through the ITAC committee we are working to provide training to more state employees. State agencies work with the general population and need to ensure their communications are accessible. Thus far, we have provided two trainings and they were well attended. Our long term goal is to show the benefits of the training and push for this to be a required training for all employees. The State of Maine provided the time, equipment, etc. for the training.
Lessons Learned/Replication
The trainings have been well received, but additional support and buy-in is needed. In order for this initiative to fully take hold, upper management need to get on board. The ITAC plans to create a training repository for individuals to access trainings at their convenience. Maine CITE will contribute to this repository. This will be an ongoing collaboration as we investigate how to get more traction in upper management.