Hello!
I’m Cherith Ferguson.
I’m an editor, and I work for ATLAS (Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems) at the University of Kansas.
One of our biggest programs at ATLAS involves creating and administering assessments in 22 states for students with severe cognitive disabilities. We also help create resources for their teachers. As an editor, I mostly work with documents for teachers, and I make documents accessible for our website.
Before I came to KU, I was a teacher for 13 years. I’ve also volunteered as a Girl Scout troop leader for the past 3 years; the girls have chosen to study STEM, art, and outdoor skills. I’ve taught students from ninth grade to the college level and volunteered with younger children ages 5 through 12, and I love helping students explore and engage in critical thinking, curiosity, creativity, and kindness. I’m passionate about equity in education and accessibility for all people.
If you would like to learn more about accessibility, check out the following resources.
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| KU’s Content Accessibility website | KU’s accessibility website includes information on making documents, videos, web pages, and Canvas courses accessible for all audiences. |
| Harvard University’s Digital Accessibility Services webpage on Writing helpful Alt Text to describe images | Alternative text is important for images in documents and on webpages, and this source is the gold standard for writing it. |
| WebAIM’s Color Contrast Checker | WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind) is a non-profit through Utah State University. This color contrast checker shows if text color contrast is visually accessible and even has an eyedropper too. |