Summary
The November 2025 Issue of The Latest: Adapting the Work, Reframing Accessibility, and Heading to ASHE.
Welcome to the November issue of The Latest! Where we’re finding focus in the middle of change.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to learn from students.
As I prepare to head to Denver for the ASHE Annual Conference, I’m reminded that every major shift in my work started with students in mind.
When AI Enters the Chat
Earlier this year, I wrote My Cheat Code to Writing with AI about my early hesitation and how curiosity changed that. I didn’t want AI to replace creativity; I wanted it to refine it.
That same theme showed up in the National Disability Center for Student Success research. In Exploring AI, Bot, and Human Interference in Online Surveys, the Center uncovered automated responses hidden in the National Report on Disabled College Student Experiences.
At first, it felt discouraging. The study was built to amplify authentic student perspectives, and suddenly the data didn’t reflect that. But the challenge pushed the team to create better safeguards and share what they learned with others.
It reminded me that adapting isn’t a weakness, it’s how we protect the integrity of our work.
Building an Accessibility Mindset
Adapting also means taking a step back to understand where we are now. That perspective shaped The Current Status of Accessibility in American Higher Education, the Center’s chapter in The New Accessibility in Higher Education from Oxford University Press.
The pandemic forced every institution to rethink access. Suddenly, accessibility wasn’t just compliance. It was the foundation for how we teach, communicate, and connect.
We call that shift an accessibility mindset — the practice of designing access from the beginning, not as a fix later.
Whether it’s using AI tools or building courses, that same mindset keeps me grounded. It asks us to start with people, not platforms.
Heading to ASHE
This month, I’ll join students and colleagues from the Center at the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Conference to share what these lessons have taught us.
The Center’s featured presentation, “You Always Have to Advocate for Yourself”: Administrative Burdens and the Experiences of College Students with Disabilities, draws from interviews with students across the country.
Their stories reveal both the barriers they face and the creativity they bring to navigating them. Every time I revisit these conversations, I learn something new about persistence, courage, and what real accessibility means.
Later that day, I’ll take part in the panel discussion, Reimagining Accessibility in Higher Education, where we’ll explore two key topics: how institutions can move from compliance to culture, and the ideas presented in Chapter 2, The Current Status of Accessibility in American Higher Education.
Both sessions reflect the same lesson I’ve learned again and again this year: when we pay attention closely, students will tell us what accessibility really means.
To learn more read my ASHE blog!