There is never a perfect moment to start a new habit. It is always tempting to wait: for the new semester, the new year, a quieter week. The habits behind inclusive design do not need a special starting point. They can start with the next item you create.
The Title II & Teaching Best Practices support site has a page called Small but Powerful Moves that highlights three such habits, each small, easy to start, and worth adopting today rather than someday. They also happen to build directly toward April 26, 2027, when the Department of Justice’s Title II rule takes effect, requiring public colleges and universities to make web content and digital course materials usable for everyone, including people with disabilities, from the start. The good news is that none of these habits require waiting for that launch date to begin. Below is a snapshot of what they are and why they are worth starting now.
Move 1: Make Your Links Say Something
The next time you share a link, anywhere, try describing where it goes instead of pasting a bare URL or writing “click here.”
The reasoning becomes clear once you hear it. A raw URL, read aloud by a screen reader, comes through as a string of characters with no meaning. The same problem shows up with “click here” links, since screen readers often pull links into a separate list, out of context, so all a listener hears is “click here” repeated, giving no way to tell one link from another without opening it.
Writing “Review the syllabus template” instead takes the same number of keystrokes as a vague link, and it works better for everyone, not just screen reader users. This is not something to go back and fix later. It is a one-second pause you can build into how you write links starting with your very next one.
Move 2: Give Your Images a Voice
Images carry meaning: a chart shows a trend, a screenshot shows exactly where to click, a photo sets a tone. Alternative text is what carries that meaning to someone using a screen reader, and it is also what shows up when an image fails to load or open. Without it, that meaning simply does not reach the reader either way.
The Small but Powerful Moves page includes an audio comparison worth listening to directly. Hearing the difference between an image with no alt text and one with a thoughtful description makes the stakes obvious in a way that reading about it does not.
Alt text is quick to add once it becomes part of your process, usually under a minute per image. The section includes helpful links to short how-to guides for Microsoft applications, Canvas, and Google Docs. Start with the next image you upload. There is no need to wait for a bigger project to make it a habit.
Move 3: Let Your Text Breathe
Dense paragraphs are tiring to read for everyone, but they create a real barrier for anyone using a screen reader, since headings and lists double as navigation tools. Without them, a screen reader user cannot jump around a page the way a sighted reader might skim it. They have to listen through the whole thing in order, every time.
The Chunking Blocks of Text section includes a great before-and-after example: Option 1 presents a set of instructions as one long paragraph, while Option 2 rewrites the same content with headings, short paragraphs, and numbered steps. Option 2 is genuinely easier to use, whether someone is listening to it, scanning it visually, or returning to find one specific step later.
The habit is simple to start: the next time you are writing more than a paragraph or two, break it into sections with headings, and turn any sequence of items or steps into a list.
Why Wait?
None of these three moves require new tools, extra training, or a big block of time. They are the kind of small, repeatable choices that are just as easy to start today as they would be to start next month, and starting now means they will already feel natural well before the 2027 launch date begins. There is no real advantage to waiting for a cleaner starting point. The next link you share, the next image you upload, the next page you write is already a good place to begin.
Visit the Small but Powerful Moves support page for the full comparisons, and reach out to TLi anytime you would like support building these into your everyday practice.
