Are you familiar with the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities? Buried in Chapter II of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide, is information about the supplements. They were also highlighted in the 2021 Dear Colleague Letter: Persons with Disabilities – STEM Engagement and Access. A FASED supplement can be requested to alleviate barriers to participation in research or training for disabled personnel on a grant, including PIs, other senior personnel, graduate students, and undergraduates.
Funding must be spent on equipment or services that will ameliorate a barrier that is particular to the project rather than equipment or assistance that the disabled person would use in a more general way. Examples given in the PAPPG include: prosthetic devices to manipulate a particular apparatus; equipment to convert sound to visual signals for a particular experiment; access to a special site or to a mode of transportation; or a reader or interpreter with special technical competence related to the project. A wheelchair, hearing aid, or more general purpose device would not be funded.
Requests for FASED supplements can either be included with a proposal when it is submitted or submitted as a supplement to an already existing award and should include information about the specific nature, purchase, and need for the equipment or services requested.
AccessComputing is interested in learning more about how members of our community have used FASED supplements. Have you requested a FASED supplement? Was it funded? What was the funding used for? If it was not funded, why wasn’t it? Email us at accesscomp@uw.edu and tell us more. We hope to use the information we learn to benefit our larger community.