State of Colorado Accessibility Newsletter - October 2025
Accessibility News
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month
This year is the 80th anniversary of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), which recognizes the contributions of workers with disabilities. NDEAM emphasizes the importance of expanding opportunities for people with disabilities, including those with mental health conditions and other “invisible” disabilities. Colorado is committed to providing equal and successful employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
As we celebrate NDEAM and the contributions of those with disabilities, there are many things you can do to ensure your colleagues are supported.
- Review your agency's policies for commitment to an accessible workplace. Does your website have a comprehensive accessibility statement page?
- Train supervisors to foster a disability-friendly workplace, including the process for providing reasonable accommodations.
- Ensure digital resources are accessible from the start. Can screen readers read documents? Are videos captioned? Is the webpage layout clear?
New ASL On-Demand Pilot Launches in Colorado
OIT has a new, innovative accommodation tool for Deaf or hard-of-hearing Coloradans. Visitors to History Colorado museums and historic sites can now access free, on-demand American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting services through a new state partnership with the Aira ASL mobile app. Aira ASL connects users to a professional human interpreter instantly. Check out this new video to see how easy it is to download, connect and communicate.
Accessibility Panel at the SIPA User Conference
The Technology Accessibility Program (TAP) recently partnered with Aurora Public Schools to present on the Accessibility Continuum during the 2025 Statewide Internet Portal Authority (SIPA) User Conference. Attendees from various state agencies, local governments, special districts and schools around the state had their questions about digital accessibility addressed.
The presentation and panel discussion topics included how to use the digital accessibility rules and apply the digital accessibility technical standards, tips for partnering with other government entities, suggestions for strategizing to make the most of limited resources, and more.
OIT will continue to support Colorado government entities in integrating digital accessibility into their work.
Accessibility and You
Productivity Tips for Mental Sluggishness
By Beckie Bean, TAP Accessibility Consultant
Before you say, “I don’t need help being productive!” I’m going to say, “I know, and I see you.” In 2023, I had a ten-month bout of long COVID symptoms. I had good days and not-so-good days but I never once felt like I was not being productive.
Some productivity “hacks” that I learned prior to having COVID helped me feel more organized and proficient. Leveraging these hacks helped me navigate brain fog and forgetfulness. While the fog has mostly lifted, my forgetfulness remains. I’ve integrated these tricks into my everyday life, both at work and at home.
One of my favorite hacks is Google Tasks—it’s easy and free, and available in Google Workspace. If you need help using Google Tasks, be sure to check out their Help Articles. But before you add every last thing to your task list, let me share how I use it so that my tasks show up in Gmail and my calendar.
How to use Google Tasks
To get started, open Gmail and click the circle with a check mark next to it on the right side of the window.
Next, click the three-dot List options menu and change the default “Sort by” setting to “Date.” Now you can add your first task.
How to add a “task”
- To add a task, click “Add a task.”
- Give the task a descriptive title.
- Give the task a due date! This ensures the task will populate in your calendar. You can always change the date if you need more time.
- Optional: Add any details you need to ensure you remember what you need to remember. I like adding links to documents here so I can easily find them again.
- Once you’ve completed the task, click the circle next to the task. Then bask in the rush of dopamine hit from getting something done.
To ensure the tasks show up in your calendar, go to Google Calendar, under “My calendars” (on the left side) make sure the checkbox for “Tasks” is checked. Now you can see your to-do list for the day.
I hope this tip was helpful! Check back for more tips on better productivity if you’re experiencing forgetfulness or brain fog – or this condition known as being a human.
Why Autism is Not a Superpower
By Aster Clark, Community Steering Committee member
You may have heard the phrase, “autism is a superpower,” used in discussions about autism awareness. Unfortunately, as is the case with a surprising number of autism awareness campaigns, it only acts to further the stigmatization and misunderstanding of autistic people. Calling autism a superpower can invalidate our struggles, foster unrealistic expectations and propagate the idea that autism is not a disability.
For many, this is an attempt at highlighting positive aspects of being on the spectrum, which is undoubtedly a vital part of any consideration of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, when autism is compared to a superpower, the struggles of autistic people are overlooked, minimized and invalidated. Many people assume that all autistic people have savant skills, due to media portrayals of characters with extraordinary abilities in their fields of expertise. (Examples include characters such as Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory, Shaun Murphy from The Good Doctor, and Raymond Babbitt from Rain Man.) Media representations of disability often lack accurate, diverse experiences of autistic individuals. Focusing only on the 37% of autistic individuals with savant skills and highlighting their only positive traits overlooks many others within the autism spectrum.
While ASD does come with unique and valuable skills and perspectives, it also comes with many challenges: difficulty interacting with people, sensory processing issues, executive dysfunction and struggles with receptive and expressive language, to name a few. These challenges are what make autism a disability. Strengths and challenges must be appropriately weighted in all discussions about ASD.
So what can you say to accurately and respectfully express your support? The best way to support and spread acceptance is by listening. Listening to autistic individuals and amplifying their voices is undoubtedly the most important part of being an ally for the community. Sharing autistic perspectives can help cultivate appreciation of different experiences and paint a more accurate picture of what autism really is. Try repeating one famous autism advocate’s words: “[Autistic people are] different, not less,” or “The world needs all kinds of minds.”
Encouraging research into the neurodiversity movement can help spread positivity around autism while recognizing the challenges people with non-typical minds face. This may seem like a small concern, but our words shape how we think so it’s important to choose words that better represent autism.
Notable & Quotable
“The only thing worse than not having an accessibility statement on your website is having one and not acting on its promises.”
- Sheri Byrne-Haber