The County of San Diego is advancing accessibility and inclusion through its Neurodivergent Excellence Program, which champions Universal Design as a pathway to more accessible and welcoming spaces. This session will demonstrate how Universal Design for Digital Content can break down barriers, enhance usability, and ensure equitable access to services for all community members—including neurodivergent individuals.

Accessible digital environments are key to providing equitable access to public services. Barriers like confusing navigation, poor readability, and inconsistent design can prevent community members from fully engaging with critical information. To address this, County teams are implementing changes such as simplified navigation, enhanced readability, and consistent digital experiences across platforms. These improvements are grounded in the core principles of Simplicity, Readability, Consistency, and Flexibility, which align with the POUR principles of Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.

Attendees will learn practical steps to integrate these principles into their own digital content, ensuring it is clear, navigable, and accessible to everyone—whether that content is on a webpage, an internal portal, or a digital communication platform. The session will also spotlight the role of the Neurodivergent Excellence Program in leading this charge—not as an added piece, but as a core driver of the County's inclusive design strategy. By informing and advising departments on how to remove digital barriers, the program is expanding access and enhancing community engagement.

Participants will leave equipped with tools, templates, and real-world examples to transform their digital content—not just for compliance, but to build truly inclusive environments where everyone belongs.

Learning Objectives

1. Apply Universal Design Principles: Understand how to integrate Simplicity, Readability, Consistency, and Flexibility into everyday web content.

2. Identify Accessibility Barriers: Learn to spot design issues that affect neurodivergent users and practical ways to address them.

3. Implement Real-World Solutions: Discover tools and strategies to create web experiences that are Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR).