As part of our new Advisor Spotlight series, we are excited to highlight the voices and experiences of our board members, sharing their unique accessibility journeys and the impact of their work. We are delighted to begin this series by introducing you to Samm Nelson.
Please tell us about yourself.
My name is Samm Nelson, I use she/they pronouns, and I have been the Digital Accessibility Coordinator at Mount Holyoke College since March 2025. Prior to my role at Mount Holyoke, I ran the Assistive Technology Center at UMass Amherst and had worked in IT at UMass since 2014. I am currently getting my Master’s Degree in Disability Studies from the CUNY School of Professional Studies. I serve on the Board of Directors of the Stavros Center for Independent Living. I live in Massachusetts with my two children and a seemingly endless number of animals. I spend my free time rock climbing and volunteering with an adaptive equine program.
Can you share more about your background and what led you to work in accessibility in higher education?
I started my journey to web accessibility as a Drupal developer at UMass Amherst. When I was learning HTML and CSS, I remember proudly announcing to my coworker sitting next to me that I had learned how to open a link in a new window. She kindly told me that it was not accessible to open links in new windows, and my journey to understanding web accessibility began. I love recounting that story to those who are intimidated by web accessibility because we are all learning and growing. The digital landscape has changed dramatically in the last 11 years, in a lot of ways becoming much more accessible, and when we learn in community with others, we are able to create a much more equitable web.
What changes have you seen in campus culture or policy around accessibility over the past few years?
I have been seeing a lot more social movements around disability as identity and an identity in which we can have pride. This is not always as simple as pride movements try to make out. Sometimes my own disabilities are incredibly painful. This year, I have personally struggled a lot with my disabilities, AND I am incredibly proud of my community and the work we do to stand up for each other when we can’t stand alone.
What’s one thing you wish more faculty or administrators understood about accessibility?
Accessibility is everyone’s responsibility. Not everyone needs to be an expert in all aspects of accessibility, but the onus of making things accessible can’t be one person’s or one team’s. It is work that needs to be shared. Everyone is a stakeholder in making our world equitable for disabled people.
Are there any tools, trainings, or resources you’ve found especially helpful in your work?
Deque University offers amazing technical accessibility courses that I highly recommend. Additionally, they offer scholarships for disabled folks to take these courses at no cost! I also love to follow disabled creators on social media because it helps me better understand the lived experiences of people with disabilities that are different from my own.
I love Annie Elainey on YouTube, who was my first introduction to ambulatory wheelchair user content, and who has given me the ability to understand my friends who are ambulatory wheelchair users better without having to put pressure on my disabled friends to educate me. I follow Lainey Feingold on LinkedIn to get updates about the legal landscape of disability. Feingold does an amazing job of taking complicated legal decisions that impact the disabled community and making them understandable to me. I follow Algo de Jaime on Instagram because I both love his art and empowering the small businesses of autistic artists. I also just started my own Instagram documenting the process and challenges navigating medical interventions for my ADHD, it is called Samm.On.Adderall.
Are there any accessibility phrases or one-liners you often find yourself repeating?
I think it is really important to keep in mind that if you’ve met one person with a disability, you’ve met one person with a disability. Everyone’s needs, preferences, and lifestyles will look dramatically different, and we are not defined by our disabilities. When I am helping someone with assistive technology, I don’t ask about what that person’s disability is, but what problems they are trying to solve. The tools someone uses, or how they navigate the world, are not defined by their disability, but by their preferences.
We are deeply grateful to Samm for sharing their journey and for the expertise they bring to our Accessibility Advisory Board. Their work is helping us—and the broader higher education community—move closer to a future where every learner has the opportunity to succeed.
The Advisor Spotlight series is just one way we celebrate the important work of accessibility advocates across higher education. Stay tuned as we highlight more of our advisors’ experiences and perspectives.
If you are interested in learning more about the Accessibility Advisory Board or have questions about the accessibility of our products, please reach out to WebAccessibility@macmillan.com.
