This page features all the articles from the AccessComputing News - June 2024 newsletter. This newsletter can also be viewed article by article on the AccessComputing News - June 2024 page.

New Book, Teach Accessible Computing, Available for Free

Author: 
Amy Ko, AccessComputing Senior Personnel

A person reads text on a tablet.

We are pleased to announce the inaugural edition of Teaching Accessible Computing, a community-sourced book aimed at assisting educators with integrating accessibility topics into their courses edited by Alannah Oleson, Amy J. Ko, and Richard Ladner.

Without learning about accessibility, the next generation of accessibility professionals can’t design accessible technology. And, yet, we hear from faculty that they need better resources to teach about accessibility in their courses. Teaching Accessible Computing is designed to fill this gap. It includes basic accessibility information and strategies for integrating accessibility into computer science courses.

Because the book is a living document, we invite you to sign up to be alerted when content is updated or share suggestions for improvement.

This book is thanks to the hard work of many outstanding accessible computing researchers and educators, including Jeff Bigham, William Bares, Mine Dogucum, Yasmine Elglaly, Paula Gabbert, Shaun Kane, Richard Ladner, Jennifer Mankoff, Catie Baker, Kristen Shinohara, Elena Kalodner-Martin, Kelly Mack, Lauren Milne, Vivian Genaro Motti, Joslenne Peña, Thomas Pickering, Annie Ross, JooYoung Seo, Elaine Short, and Annuska Zolyomi.

A special thanks also to our amazing lead editor, Alannah Oleson, whose dedicated efforts were instrumental in the compilation of this book throughout the past year. Your ongoing support and contributions were indispensable to the realization of this project.

Welcome to New AccessComputing Partners

Author: 
Brianna Blaser, AccessComputing Co-PI

Logos for all the partners listed in the article.
In recent months, AccessComputing has welcomed several new partners. AccessComputing Partners are a critical part of our work to influence systemic change related to the participation of people with disabilities in computing education and careers. In addition to committing to our project goals, partners participate in a community of practice and online meetings for professional development and relationship building.

Below we list our new partners:

Are you interested in engaging more with AccessComputing?  To learn more about becoming an AccessComputing partner email accesscomp@uw.edu.

Richard Ladner and The Impact of AccessComputing

Author: 
Eric Trekell, AccessComputing Staff

Richard LadnerThe winter and spring of 2024 has been a time of transition for AccessComputing, as long-time PI Richard Ladner stepped down. Richard has been a PI for AccessComputing since it's inception in 2006. That’s the year that the National Science Foundation established the Broadening Participation in Computing program and the year that Richard partnered with the DO-IT Center to create AccessComputing, which has now successfully won five (thus far) NSF grants to establish and continue AccessComputing.

On Wednesday, May 9, family, friends, colleagues, and students gathered in the Amazon Auditorium of the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science and Engineering for Richard’s departing colloquium The Impact of AccessComputing. In setting the stage for AccessComputing, Richard spoke about his initial involvement with Seattle-area resources for members of the Deaf community, and his motivation for that involvement, having been born to Deaf parents and raised in Deaf culture. He shared how he became involved with the DO-IT Center, expanding his experience and understanding of disability by working with DO-IT Scholars and then, starting in 2007, with both AccessComputing for students with all disabilities, and the Summer Academy, which ran from 2007-2013, which brought groups of 10-17 Deaf high school and college students to the UW campus for several weeks of intensive computing immersion. Many of the Summer Academy students went on to join the AccessComputing Team, which now counts several thousand student and alumni.

After setting the stage with this history, Richard spoke movingly about the impact that nearly 18 years of AccessComputing have had in both academia and computing industry. He talked about the effect that AccessComputing has had on the expansion of teaching accessibility in computing science and engineering courses, the networks developed by and in collaboration with AccessComputing that have helped to expand the work, and the institutional and industry changes that have occurred as a result of these partnerships as well as student successes. Like every good scientist, Richard wrapped up with discussion of limitations and implications for future work, noting the challenges that remain to be addressed in ensuring that people with disabilities are included in the ever-changing computing fields.

Over his years of work, Richard has become known as “the conscience of computing," reflecting the fact that he’s earned the many awards he’s received for his work with AccessComputing and accessibility research. Included among them are the 2020 National Science Board Public Service Award, the 2016 SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility, the 2014 SIGCHI Social Impact Award, and the 2008 Computing Research Association A. Nico Habermann Award. He is a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE, and AAAS.

Viewers can find a captioned version of The Impact of AccessComputing, as well as a signed and captioned version, on the University of Washington Paul G. Allen YouTube channel.

Recent Awards and Honors in the AccessComputing

Author: 
Brianna Blaser, AccessComputing Co-PI

Please join me in congratulating members of our community who have received awards or otherwise been honored in recent months.

We love to celebrate the successes of our community members.  If you’ve won a recent award, please let us know by emailing accesscomp@uw.edu.

Disability Community Successfully Fights Changes in U.S. Census American Community Survey

Author: 
Richard Ladner, AccessComputing Founding PI

US Census Bureau's American Community Survey logoEvery year the U.S. Census Bureau does the American Community Survey (ACS)--a survey that is much more detailed than the regular census but only samples a large subset of the population, rather than the entire population. Until 2008, the disability question focused on blindness, deafness, mobility, and other conditions. The change in 2008 was to move to a functional definition of disability by asking a yes/no question about functional limitations in any one of six activities: hearing, seeing, moving, self-care, cognitive, and independent living. Disability was determined by whether the activity was “difficult or very difficult” to do.

In October 2023, A new proposed change came out, aimed at capturing disability in a more nuanced way by putting the functional limitation into one of four categories: “no difficulty,” “some difficulty,” “a lot of difficulty,” and “cannot do at all.” These categories were deemed to be in alignment with an international standard adopted by many other countries. This change would go into effect in the 2025 ACS. 

A study was done to see how the new way of asking about disability would make a difference. The study demonstrated that the difference between the two definitions was dramatic. In the 2008 scale, any "yes" is counted as disabled. This worked out to about 13.9% in the US population. In the new proposed scale,  "a lot of difficulty" or "cannot do at all" is counted as disabled, which would work out to about 8.1% of the population. Yet, if "some difficulty," "a lot of difficulty," or "cannot do at all" is counted as disabled, the result would be about 31.7% of the population. The October 2023 proposal would adopt the new scale that reduced the percentage of disabled persons from 13.9% to 8.1%, effectively removing about 20 million people from identifying as disabled.

The disability community, including allies, submitted over 12,000 comments objecting to the change and discussing other needs to disability identity. The objections fell into several categories including that the new scale would deviate wildly from the prior scale no matter where you put the cut-off for disability and would open up the idea that “someone is not disabled enough.” Another objection category, which I commented on, had to do with whether the six categories listed cover all disabilities and whether a functional definition of disability alone is enough.

CRA-WP Grad Cohort Workshops

Author: 
Richard Ladner, AccessComputing Founding PI

AccessComputing staff, partners, students, and friends in a foyer at CRA-WPFor the first time, the two CRA-WP Grad Cohort career development workshops were held simultaneously in Minneapolis, Minnesota from April 11 to 13, 2024. The first and the oldest is the CRA-WP Grad Cohort for Women that began in 2004 while the second is the CRA-WP Grad Cohort for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Leadership Skills (IDEALS) that began in 2018. AccessComputing is a bronze sponsor for both events. A total of 238 graduate students and 41 mentors attended both workshops combined. Some of the sessions were plenary with both groups combined and some were separate and held simultaneously. A total of 34 graduate students in the combined workshops identified as disabled, some of them AccessComputing Team members. Among the mentors were the new AccessComputing PI, Maya Cakmak, former PI Richard Ladner, Co-PI Raja Kushalnagar, partner from Duke, Susan Rodger, and former partner from Colorado, Shaun Kane. Ather Sharif, who is an AccessComputing student who will soon graduate with a PhD from the University of Washington, served as a mentor. He has attended all the Grad Cohort for IDEALS since 2018, first as a graduate student, eventually moving to being a fantastic mentor.

One of the highlights of the Grad Cohort for IDEALS was a panel titled “Empowerment of People with Disabilities.”  Richard Ladner moderated the panel with panelists Raja Kushalnagar, Susan Rodger, and Ather Sharif. Each told their own stories about their road to empowerment and also answered questions about what empowerment means to graduate students with disabilities generally. There were many questions from the audience of about 35 students and mentors. Another interesting panel session was titled “Navigating Micro-aggressions & Finding Your Voice.”  The panel was moderated by Hakeem Weatherspoon, with panelists Alicia Nicki Washington from Duke, Monica Anderson from the University of Alabama, and Ather Sharif from the University of Washington who replaced another panelist that couldn’t attend. A micro-aggression is a small and often unintentional act that is discriminatory or belittling by a person toward another person who is in a marginalized group. One example brought up by Ather, who uses a motorized wheelchair, is when someone attempts to talk to him by addressing the person standing next to him, e.g. “Can you ask him if he would like a glass of water.” Ather called it the “infantilization” of a disabled person. It was fascinating, and sometimes unnerving, to hear from both the panelists and members of the audience of examples of microaggressions. There was also a lot of good advice from the panelists on how to respond to these microaggressions when they occur and what to say when you are called out for doing one yourself. 

Other sessions in the Grad Cohort workshops included topics on how to find and work with a research advisor, building resilience and overcoming failure, preparing a thesis proposal, school-life balance, comparing academic and industry jobs. Students also gave lightning talks and presented posters about their research. At the end of the prepared sessions, students could meet with mentors one-on-one for individual mentoring.

An Accessible Accessibility Course that Centers Disabled Voices

Author: 
Maya Cakmak, AccessComputing PI

A screenshot of Jen Mankoff's Blog.AccessComputing partner Jennifer Mankoff (Richard E. Ladner Professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering) has been a long-time accessibility researcher and an advocate for inclusion of people with disabilities in research communities. Her passion for accessibility and inclusion extends to her teaching as well. Mankoff is one of the authors of the foundational Teaching Inclusively chapter of the new book Teaching Accessible Computing. Last fall, she taught the first undergraduate-level accessibility course that centers disabled voices at the Allen School. Mankoff placed accessibility of the course itself on equal footing with the goal of educating students about accessibility. The course adopts many evidence-based inclusive teaching practices, such as competency-based grading and flexible due dates with regrades, while experimenting with new methods, such as “discuss-summarize-post,”  which extends commonly used active learning techniques (“think-pair-share”) to asynchronous learners. It also incorporates disability justice topics into the curriculum while taking a service learning approach to practicing accessibility-related skills. You can read more about her reflection on the course, with quotes from participating students, on the Make4All Lab's blog.

GitHub-CSUN

Author: 
Eric Trekell, AccessComputing Staff

AccessComputing regularly supports team members in attending conferences like the Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing and the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. However, over the last few months, several AccessComputing team members received support to attend two conferences that we don’t always have an opportunity to support: GitHub Universe and the 2024 CSUN Assistive Technology Conference.

Last November, several AccessComputing team members were able to attend GitHub Universe in San Francisco. This was made possible by the support of Ed Summers, Head of Accessibility at GitHub, and Jesse Dugas, Senior Accessibly Program Manager at GitHub, who facilitated a grant from GitHub to cover some of the costs. Team members attending included Amelia Dogan, Pranav Adiga, Jason Allen, Avi Knotts, Amina Kobenova, Kate, Glazko and Anushka Narvekar.

We asked team members to share some thoughts on their GitHub experience. Undergraduate team members noted a difference between attending GitHub and some of the other conferences they’ve attended. One undergrad noted a difference as GitHub is an industry-focused (rather than an academic) conference, sharing "I'm glad I had the opportunity to attend and definitely think this would be a great thing for other students (even though there were basically no students). I was able to network, and it was very educational and technical (some things I didn't quite understand, but it was nice to be introduced to it)."

Another undergrad was thrilled at being offered an opportunity to connect with women in the tech industry. "…I was invited to GitHub’s Women in Tech dinner, and it was amazing! Great conversations were held, and GitHub executives were in attendance," she said.

One of the PhD-level team members noted that it was their first industry conference, and they found it to be a valuable experience. "I really enjoyed the accessibility meetup. It was my first industry conference and I got a lot of important networking. It was nice exposure to understanding where the industry is now."

More recently, several other team members joined two of the AccessComputing Co-PIs, Stacy Branham of UC-Irvine and Raja Kushalnagar of Gallaudet University, as well as faculty partner Jen Mankoff of the UW, in traveling to Anaheim CA to attend the 39th CSUN Conference.

Team members attending were Kate Glazko, Aziz Zeidieh, Sarah Olson, Michelle Olson, Dinh Pham, Alison Nana, and Christine Mendoza. Four staff from Accessible Technology Services (ATS, the parent organization of the DO-IT Center/AccessComputing) also attended CSUN: Mary Mulvihill, Terrill Thompson, Gaby de Jongh, and Hadi Rangin. While at the conference, the group gathered for a breakfast meet and greet on Thursday, March 24, which Terrill reported as “a great breakfast! Amazing networking opportunity for everyone and nice to learn about students’ research interests.”

We collected a few thoughts from AccessComputing team members on their CSUN experience as well. One of the undergraduate team members commented that "the sessions I attended covered a wide range of topics, from web accessibility standards to cutting-edge assistive technologies. I was particularly inspired by the keynote address on creating a more inclusive digital world. The connections I made and the knowledge I gained will be invaluable as I continue my studies and future career."

One of the masters-level team members thought that CSUN was, “overall, probably the most eye-opening conference I have been to!” She noted that, in academic courses, the topic of accessibility is “brushed on,” while at CSUN she learned about real-life challenges, such as a presenter who “talked about how his visual impairment made it almost impossible to renew his Costco membership, because the link to renew was embedded in an image that was practically invisible to the screen reader.”

A PhD-level team member noted that CSUN 2024 was the first conference he’d attended since 2018 and that the experience was valuable enough that he plans to make CSUN an annual tradition. He added that the “folks at CSUN were beyond helpful, available at every corner of the conference grounds to assist in any way they can. The sessions met and exceeded my expectations, and I just wish I had brought my notetaker with me to take notes.” He added that he has a goal for next year, however: "I, unfortunately, did not get to explore the exhibit hall much given I’m just not very comfortable at this time with traversing such an environment as a blind person; however, I plan next year to set aside at least one or two days to visit the exhibit hall."

As AccessComputing Team member comments make clear, there are many benefits to having an opportunity to attend conferences as a student. Conferences provide an opportunity to network with other students, people in industry, and academic researchers. Attending a conference also exposes students to new trends, ideas, and information beyond what they learn in classes. As important, it’s also an opportunity to have fun and connect with others on accessibility.

Seattle Disability Connect Event Sparks Community in the Local Tech Community

Author: 
Richard Ladner, AccessComputing Founding PI

A flyer for Seattle Disability Connect, showing the speakers.

I had the pleasure of attending the first Seattle Disability Connect event that was held at Microsoft on May 2. It was the brainchild of Christopher Caulfield, who was an AccessComputing Team member when he was in graduate school at Cornell.  He is now a program manager at Microsoft. The event brought together about 130 disabled tech workers and allies from different companies.

The event had four featured speakers, all disabled, including Margaux Joffe (Minds of All Kinds), Leah Katz-Hernandez (Linkedin), Jared Mace (OneCourt), and Amos Miller (Glidance). Minds of All Kinds is a company that supports neurodiverse people and helps businesses do better with hiring and retaining neurodiverse employees. OneCourt is a start-up that creates an audio-tactile experience for blind sports fans. Glidance, also a start-up, has developed a robotic guiding device for blind people to navigate the environment.  Leah Katz-Hernandez, a Gallaudet University graduate, worked in the Obama administration and now leads Social Impact at Linkedin.

Christopher, Meena, and NabaAfter the presentations ended, we had open time for networking. I met up with Meena Das and Naba Rizvi, both AccessComputing Team members, to talk about what they have been doing and their plans for the future. Meena is now a Program Manager at Microsoft and Naba is finishing up her dissertation at the University of California, San Diego. It was great to see all the former AccessComputing students.

After the event, I realized how powerful it was bringing together so many disabled tech workers and their allies. The whole event had a joyous feeling.

New Center for Computing, Learning, and Imagination Led by Amy Ko, Ben Shapiro, and Kevin Lin

Author: 
Kayla Brown, AccessComputing Staff

Amy Ko, Ben Shapiro, and Kevin Lin from the University of WashingtonProfessors Amy Ko, Ben Shapiro, and Kevin Lin from the University of Washington have spearheaded the launch of the UW Center for Learning, Computing, and Imagination (LCI). The unique initiative aims to envision creative learning with and about computing technologies, through research, community building, and the creation of pathways for computing educators in K-12 and higher education. This collaborative platform, pronounced 'lacy,' is a response to the alarming fact that nearly half of the public or state-tribal schools in the United States do not offer a single computer science class. The shortage of computer science teachers and training programs further exacerbates this issue, especially when many school districts are grappling with funding challenges.

LCI wants to foster collaboration among faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, K-12 teachers, policymakers, and private sector stakeholders. With the involvement of prominent programs like the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, the College of Education, Human Centered Design and Engineering, the eScience Institute, and the Department of Communication, LCI wants to become a catalyst for change.

The low number of teachers does not reflect a disinterest in offering a computer science curriculum but rather the lack of training opportunities for educators and other access issues. LCI is paving the way for a future where every student has the opportunity to engage with and excel in computer science and related fields.

Read the GeekWire article for more information on the center and interviews with LCI leaders.

SIGCSE Report

Author: 
Eric Trekell, AccessComputing Staff

ACM TOCE board members and authors meet for lunch between sessions.

Four years ago, AccessComputing co-PI Amy Ko, along with other SIGCSE convention-goers, arrived in Portland to the news that the conference had been canceled, as the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything nearly overnight. Last month, SIGCSE returned to Portland and Amy noted how much, including herself, had changed in those four years. On both trips to Portland (her hometown), Amy took the same train and walked into the same hotel lobby. But she’s changed in those four years; far more engaged in equity and access work rather than adhering to a strict focus on presenting research papers. Over the course of the conference, Amy noted ways in which SIGCSE, and computing, have changed too.

Quite a few AccessComputing-affiliated people attended SIGCSE this year and accessibility content featured in many sessions and workshops, including some led by AccessComputing leadership and partners. In addition, accessibility was featured in two best paper awards:

  • Beyond HCI: The Need for Accessibility Across the CS Curriculum" was written by AccessComputing partners Yasmine Elglaly (Western Washington University), Catherine Baker (Creighton University), Anne Ross (Bucknell University), and Kristen Shinohara (Rochester Institute of Technology).
  • "Accessible to Whom? Bringing Accessibility to Blocks" was led by AccessComputing partner and AccessCSforAll PI, Andreas Stefik (University of Nevada at Las Vegas).

AccessComputing is also a participant in the National Science Foundation & Computing Research Association (CRA) LEVEL UP initiative, which brings together a number of the NSF’s Broadening Participation in Computing alliances and other entities to increase diversity in computing fields. LEVEL UP had held a series of regional workshops over the last year, sharing strategies and evidence-based practices for broadening participation, hosting their last workshop at SIGCSE in Portland last month. As an AccessComputing co-PI, Brianna Blaser sits on the LEVEL UP leadership team and led the breakout session “Making Departments and Programs More Accessible for Students with Disabilities.” 

Thursday afternoon, the AccessComputing-organized Birds of a Feather (BoF) session on disability attracted more than 60 participants. The range of topics discussed at the BoF included discussions about the impact and accessibility of AI, teaching accessibility concepts in K-12 computing science courses and accessible programmable media. Amy noted that this too was a change; a refreshing one, as they “used to attract people with only general questions about disability, but conversations have moved beyond to the concrete issues of making more accessible computing.”

On Friday evening, AccessComputing hosted a social; team members, leaders, and partners were joined by numerous other friends and colleagues from the University of Washington and beyond to have what Amy called a “semi-public” social at Lil’ America’s Food Trucks, one of Portland’s iconic diverse and inclusive Food Cart Pods near the conference center. 

All-in-all, with variety of accessibility-related sessions, papers, posters, and workshops, SIGCSE 2024 demonstrated that the topic of accessibility has become an important part of the conversation regarding not only computing education, but the responsibility of computing professions to ensure accessibility in software and other products, as technology increasingly impacts everyday life. Broadening Participation in Computing initiatives like AccessComputing and the visibility of people with disabilities in computing have had a major impact in creating that awareness. 

You can read more about SIGCSE 2024 and get Amy Ko’s insightful take on the conference at her Medium journal, Bits and Behavior in: SIGCSE 2024 trip report: always hallways.

AccessComputing Student Profile: Katie Y

Author: 
Kayla Brown, AccessComputing Staff

Katie YurechkoKatie Yurechko, AccessComputing Team Member, is a distinguished scholar at Washington and Lee University, where she is pursuing a BS in computer Science and philosophy alongside a minor in poverty and human capability studies. Known for her groundbreaking research, Yurechko delved into the phenomenon of "algospeak" during her internship at Carnegie Mellon University’s Media, Interaction and Technology Lab, examining its implications for content moderation and marginalized communities on TikTok. Her work led to a co-authored publication in Sage Journals’ Social Media + Society Journal and garnered attention from outlets like Vox and MSN. Engaging in initiatives beyond the academic realm, Yurechko has participated in Google’s Computer Science Research Mentorship Program and contributed to the People + AI Research group, while also serving as a computer science teaching assistant at Washington and Lee.

Katie was recently chosen as Washington and Lee's inaugural Marshall Scholar. This Scholarship is a fellowship given to American undergraduates for graduate study in the United Kingdom. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious fellowships and considered to be on par with Fulbright fellowships for foreign study. Only about 50 are awarded annually across the US.

As a Marshall Scholar, Yurechko is poised to further her academic pursuits at the University of Oxford and University College London, focusing on a master of science in social science of the internet and computer science. Her passion for addressing algorithmic injustice and promoting equitable technological solutions underscores her commitment to fostering a more inclusive and just society. “I am eager to continue pursuing socially impactful research to combat algorithmic injustice alongside a community of diverse and compassionate individuals” said Yurechko.

Previous and Upcoming Webinars

Author: 
Kayla Brown, AccessComputing Staff

The DO-IT Webinars page offers recent webinar recordings on a variety of topics. Below are some of our newest webinars.

20% of Your Students Have Disabilities; Here’s How to Make Your Course Accessible to Them

In this webinar, Stacy Branham, Associate Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, shares practical examples of how to create a more accessible classroom experience, which, in addition to breaking down barriers for students with disabilities, ultimately improves the learning experience for all. Her research investigates how technologies operate in social settings where one or more people have a disability, yielding actionable design guidance and proof of concept prototypes.

Transparency In Teaching and Learning (TILT)

This webinar covers Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT). This teaching model clarifies to students the instructor's choices for lesson plans and specifies how those choices relate to course goals. Research demonstrates that students exposed to transparent assignments gain academic confidence and a sense of belonging. TILT moves away from the “what” of teaching to the “how” and “why” of teaching.

Q&A with Ashley Shew, author of Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement

DO-IT staff was pleased to have Ashley Shew, author of Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement, join us for a Q&A for our community. Against Technoableism explores what we think about disability and technology and how we can change the discourse surrounding technology.

Preparing for Graduation: Exploring Employment Resources

This webinar, hosted by Kirk Heynen, a Career Coach with the University of Washington Career and Internship Center, explores employment resources available on and off campus and strategies for preparing for a job search. Regardless of where you're at in your studies, it's never too early to start preparing for a job search!

Our Ability Employment Information Session

John Robinson, founder of Our Ability, shares how to use employment sites such as Our Ability, which uses modern technology to help match people with disabilities with jobs that fit their skill sets.

 

AccessAdvice: How Can Advisors Support Their Students with Disabilities?

AccessAdvice with Elaine Schaertl Short

Dear Elaine,

As someone with invisible disabilities and who is neurodivergent, navigating accommodations in a Ph.D. program relied solely on conversations between my advisor and me, as university accommodations offices are typically suited to support undergraduate needs involving class assignments and exams (e.g., testing location, time allotment)—which are often irrelevant to Ph.D. students—or ergonomic needs (e.g., the university provided an ergonomic workbench-height chair to support my lower back injury). Fortunately, my advisor and I have a good relationship, and I was able to voice what I needed to be successful in my program.

I plan on pursuing a faculty position one day; what advice do you have for advisors to help signal to their students that you want to discuss and learn how best to support them? I know for the majority of my academic career, I wanted to "tough it out" because I was concerned about being treated differently or carrying the stigma associated with my situation, but I believe we can do better for the next generation of junior researchers and Ph.D. students.

- Future Advisor

Dear Future Advisor,

I started answering your question, and although I think this isn’t exactly what you were asking, almost everything I have to say on the subject is about setting and managing expectations with students. Partly, this is because navigating expectations is one of the things I see faculty advisors struggle with the most, in ways that have a disproportionate impact on disabled students; partly, it’s because the way that you talk with students about expectations can have a significant effect on how comfortable they are discussing their challenges with you.

Challenges and Expectations

I say “challenges” here intentionally: Students may also need accommodations for a variety of reasons that don’t count as "Official Disability Accommodations." They may be disabled but not eligible for accommodations due to a lack of diagnosis, or they may have caregiving responsibilities, be going through a personal crisis, have financial issues, or run into any of the myriad other things that make doing hard intellectual work difficult or impossible. It’s also not at all uncommon for students to not want to talk about the details of what they’re going through, whether from fears of stigma (as you experienced), out of a sense of it not being “bad enough,” or just because they value their privacy. Instead, while acknowledging the role that disability can play for students who do disclose, I think the most important things to do are listed here:

  1. Have clear expectations, not only for what it means to excel, but also what good-enough and unacceptable look like.
  2. Discuss those expectations kindly and without judgment on students’ moral character.
  3. Approach students’ performance, whether trying to troubleshoot problems or reach new levels of excellence, as a collaboration between you and the student.

Concretely, I suggest you think through and maybe even write down three kinds of expectations: “worst-case” or minimum expectations, including your own boundaries; “average-case” or just-good-enough expectations; and “best-case” or ideal expectations.

Worst-Case Expectations (The Minimum Standard)

Worst-case expectations are your boundaries or the minimum standard you have for your students’ behavior. This is whatever you need to be able to work with a student: things like adhering to your field’s code of conduct, or that you need their drafts a day in advance, or that they should not call your personal cell phone. It can also include minimum expectations for progress, like that they need to have submitted a paper by their fourth year, or that they need to have made some progress in 80% (or 50%, or 10%) of your meetings. While it can be tempting to relax these expectations when a student is going through a hard time to try to be understanding, if you don’t let yourself have any boundaries with your students, then you’re likely to become frustrated with them. Frustration in managers often happens when you forget that you’re actually in control of a situation or fail to exercise your authority (this idea comes from the AskAManager blog, which is also a great resource for learning how to manage people). I would add that frustration is particularly poison to advising relationships: advisors have a huge amount of power over their students, and forgetting that fact can result in behavior that is ultimately much more unkind than just enforcing your boundaries in the first place would have been. Additionally, having boundaries and modeling enforcing them kindly but firmly gives students a model of doing that for themselves (including with you!). Making your boundaries explicit can also help neurodivergent students understand what your “unwritten rules” are, whether they are Autistic and have trouble with indirect communication, or socially anxious and worry about accidentally upsetting you.

Average-Case Expectations

Average-case expectations are probably some of the most difficult to pin down but serve an equally-critical role. These expectations are the line between a student who is doing “fine” and a student who is not. They typically involve some amount of trading off between various things a student might be doing (doing research, teaching, taking classes, participating in service activities). For example, you might identify that you expect a student to complete one research project every 12-18 months during their PhD, and that you would be concerned if a student went 2 years without submitting a paper; or you might expect that students make it to 75% of their scheduled 1-1 times and that you would be concerned if a student was missing more meetings than that. Keep in mind that unlike your “worst-case” expectations, many (if not most) students will have a period of not meeting the “average-case” expectations. This serves as an early warning sign – that a student needs more support, that you need to change your advising strategy, or that something that a student is dealing with in their life is starting to spill over into research. Importantly, especially if you’ve done a good job with being honest with yourself about your boundaries, a student having a period where they’re not meeting your average-case expectations shouldn’t be something that involves moral judgment of the student or frustration on your part: we all have times when we’re not performing well. Sometimes, there can be complications with funding – both RAships and TAships have a minimum bar that students need to meet – but in my experience, it’s better to have a frank discussion with students about their options than to let it fester. This might include making use of leaves of absence, switching into a part-time program, leveraging supplemental funding (such as the NSF-APWD program), or using whatever other tools your university gives you. Generally, I aim for the average-case expectations to be what it would take for a student to be able to successfully defend their dissertation eventually, but not necessarily on the ideal five-year timeline.

Best-Case Expectations

Finally, you can identify your best-case expectations for students. These expectations are oriented towards what you would want from a student who is “doing well”, and are aligned with your big-picture educational goals for your students and their goals for their careers. I include an up-to-date statement in my students’ annual evaluations that describes what I’m looking for, and every year I highlight one thing that they’re doing well on and choose one key thing for them to focus on developing for the following year. Although I’m always adjusting as I learn more about advising, here is this year’s best-case expectation statement:

Your primary job as a PhD student is to publish high-quality papers (which means doing high-quality research). A post-quals PhD student should aim to complete a research project and submit a paper every 6-9 months, along with handling resubmissions and submitting occasional workshop papers. Pre-quals, each project will take closer to 9-12 months, depending on your course load and whether or not you TA.

In order to be successful at this, there are a variety of skills you need to develop, including those outlined below:

      • Software engineering & technical implementation
      • Writing, including grammar and presentation/organization
      • Presentations & public speaking skills
      • Independent idea generation; brainstorming research projects
      • Command of the literature; knowing the papers & people relevant to your work
      • Time management and workflow organization
      • Paper submission and project management
      • Critical evaluation of research, including both your own and others’
      • Leadership and service, such as organizing workshops and/or events
      • Building connections with our academic community

How Making Expectations Explicit Builds Trust

Explicitly delineating what skills lead to success provides another opportunity to collaborate with your students on the support that they need to develop in their focus area; even students who are overall functioning “well” might need additional support. By making your expectations explicit, you can have conversations with your students where you act as a team to figure out what they need. By approaching it this way, your students can let you know what they think they need, and you (and they) can try out different strategies and supports. For example, a student struggling with writing might need to be given access to a grammar-checking tool (an outside resource), to take their papers to the university writing center before submission (an action on the student’s part), and to have you set and check up on weekly writing goals so they can get their papers done sooner (an action on the advisor’s part).

I find that being open in this way about what I’m looking for from my students helps to build up a more collaborative relationship, and that in turn gives them space to let me know what kinds of support they need. Of course, beyond the direct student-advisor relationship, you can work to make your department as a whole more accessible to disabled students. This can include making sure that there are clear expectations for students, that Ph.D. student resources aren’t lost in the shuffle of taking care of undergraduate and masters students, advocating for physical accessibility on campus, and talking about how you manage your own access needs. We certainly need more of that, as much as we need more advisors who are understanding of individual students’ needs. You’re already well on your way, even just thinking about what kinds of support your future students might need.

I’m looking forward to having more folks like you in the academic ranks. Good luck on your journey!

– ESS

AccessComputing News - June 2024

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