Accessibility Stars
Accessibility is part of our core values at NIU, and accessible spaces (physical and virtual) benefit everyone who uses them. It is our shared responsibility as Huskies to provide equitable access to the resources we provide, including offices, events, digital documents, websites and purchasing practices.
Our Accessibility Stars badge program is a way to recognize and celebrate those who help promote accessibility across campus. By completing a quick certification process, your workplace can earn a gold, silver or bronze accessibility star to show your dedication. You can include your badge in your email signature, and offices with stars will be listed on this website.
We appreciate your partnership and efforts to make NIU a more equitable place to work, live and learn.
How to Get Your Star
Any NIU office is eligible to apply, as well as recognized student organizations. Offices are defined as workspaces that share a common area or staff members who work together but are located in separate spaces (including remote employees).
Follow these steps to apply:
- Download and fill out our Accessibility Stars Tool (.XLSX), which includes multiple areas of evaluation with individual criteria. Three points are possible for each criterion.
- Rate your compliance with each criterion or select "N/A or Unknown" (which will not count against you in the point tally).
- Check your point total, which will automatically display on the “Final Tally” worksheet.
- Return your completed application to accessibility@niu.edu.
We’ll award gold, silver and bronze badges based on the percentage of total points earned.
Our Accessibility Stars
Accolades
If you’ve noticed a colleague or department go the extra mile for accessibility – through an event, resource, document, webpage, etc. – we’d love to highlight their efforts. Share their name using our form, and we’ll feature them here.