Communities of Practice Pathways to Success for Students with Invisible Disabilities: an AccessComputing Capacity Building Institute at Landmark College 2013)

Among the strategies for meeting AccessComputing objectives are Communities of Practice (CoPs) for stakeholder groups. Communicating using email and other electronic tools, CoPs share perspectives and expertise and identify practices that promote the participation of people with disabilities in computing fields. Members in all CoPs

  • gain and share knowledge and help identify issues related to the under-representation of people with disabilities in computing fields;
  • help identify, field test, and validate Computing Department Accessibility Indicators to make computing departments more accessible to students with disabilities;
  • help plan, attend, and recruit others to attend AccessComputing Alliance activities;
  • recruit students, including veterans, with disabilities into AccessComputing Alliance e-mentoring, internships, academies, and workshops;
  • co-sponsor events and discuss potential new projects and funding possibilities;
  • disseminate information about their projects and results through the Knowledge Base; and
  • help AccessComputing Alliance staff target articles to publications.

Communities of Practice

  1. Computing Faculty, Administrator, and Employer CoP helps computing faculty and administrators, as well as representatives from industry and professional organizations, increase their knowledge about disabilities and make changes in computing departments that lead to more inclusive practices. Participants introduce Alliance staff to administrators of professional computing organizations so that staff can help these organizations
    • make their websites accessible, their conferences accessible to attendees with disabilities, and their conference programs inclusive of disability-related topics;
    • identify campus computing events to which students with disabilities might be invited;
    • discuss how to include accessibility topics in postsecondary computing curriculum;
    • discuss issues and help locate PhD graduates with disabilities to recruit as faculty;
    • provide connections with computing faculty and industry for internships; and
    • help Alliance staff target articles to computing publications.
  2. Broadening Participation CoP is populated with Alliance collaborators who administer alliances and projects that serve to broaden participation in computing fields. Members discuss how to recruit participants with disabilities and accommodate them in their programs and activities and how to, overall, make their offerings more accessible
  3. Disability Services CoP of disability service professionals from community/technical colleges, four-year colleges, and universities nationwide, together with their networks of postsecondary and K–12 schools (e.g., affiliates of AHEAD) and parent groups (e.g., affiliates of PACER). Members of this CoP
    • deliver presentations to computing faculty to share information about accommodations and campus services for students with disabilities;
    • work with computing professors and administrators to invite students with disabilities to career fairs, computing lectures, and other events; work with groups to make sure activities are accessible; and help bring speakers with disabilities and exhibits that focus on disability-related topics; and
    • develop transition and bridge workshops in computing and/or help other Community of Practice members develop such activities.
  4. Veterans CoP is populated by veterans with disabilities, service providers, and volunteer mentors. Members
    • interact regularly to improve service to veterans with disabilities and their families;
    • discuss how to recruit veterans with disabilities and accommodate them in their programs and activities;
    • devise solutions that increase the accessibility of their program offerings;
    • develop internships, academies, and workshops to complement their program activities;
    • identify, recruit, and accommodate eligible AccessComputing participants;
    • co-sponsor events, discuss potential projects, and share funding possibilities;
    • share common concerns in their practices;
    • identify problems, goals, and resources;
    • form collaborations.

You and your colleagues can join AccessComputing CoPs by indicating which of the CoPs you would like to join and sending the following information to accesscomp@uw.edu:

  • name
  • position/Title
  • institution
  • postal address
  • email address