Hey Beavers! If you’re here, that means you’re reading our April print issue, mainly surrounded on the topic of accessibility. Accessibility comes in all different forms. We asked our Barometer reporters to pitch whatever story came to mind when they heard the word “accessibility.” When people think of accessibility they may think about disabilities.

While we have included stories on accessibility relating to disabilities in this issue, that is not the only subject the word encompasses. Accessibility encompasses overall access to information, finances, opportunities and opinion. With that, we used the language guide created by OSU Disability and Social Interaction lab, the lab featured on the cover of this issue, to ensure we are using appropriate language across stories.

On that note, we have also begun a program we are very excited to announce: narration recordings of stories. For sight impairments and blindness, it’s difficult to find applications that can truly read stories aloud. Sometimes applications read advertisements or sound robotic, which can further impair access to news. We believe news should be easy to access for everyone.

This issue contains the beginning of this project, where volunteers read aloud stories written by OSU students aloud, a partnership with our campus radio station, KBVR-FM (88.7). We are excited to start this new journey. Simply scan the QR code for a story and listen in. For future stories, you can visit thedailybarometer.com and listen in on select stories. As we continue to increase staff, we will have more stories recorded.

We invite you to let us know how we did in this issue through emailing [email protected] or [email protected].