The Intrepid Museum is an excellent example of an informal STEM learning program providing information about accessibility to the community. Through their Accessibility Resources website, information is structured into four categories: Online resources, on-site resources, specialized programs, and the Community Advisors program.
Highlighting efforts at the Royal Ontario Museum, the video Making Museums Accessible promotes the full inclusion of individuals on the autism spectrum in museum offerings through focused efforts such as community partnerships, custom tours, and staff training.
The Visitor Voices session at the 2015 American Alliance of Museums Annual Expo highlighted the practice of listening to perspectives and access stories from museum visitors who have disabilities such as vision impairments, hearing loss, and autism.
There are many ways that informal STEM learning programs can support individuals with mobility impairments. Staff should consider adopting universal design (UD) principles. Universal design means that rather than designing for the average user, you design for people with differing native languages, genders, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and abilities. For more information, visit Equal Access: Universal Design of Your Informal STEM Learning Project.
There are many ways that informal STEM learning programs can support individuals with vision impairments. Ensuring that websites are accessible, that videos are captioned and, ideally, audio described, and that other electronic media is provided in accessible formats will help patrons with vision impairments feel welcome.
The Alliance for Access to Computing Careers (AccessComputing) leads activities to increase the participation of people with disabilities, including veterans, in computing and information technology (IT) postsecondary education and career fields. Activities for educators and employers are designed to build awareness of universal design and accommodation strategies, and to aid in recruiting and supporting students with disabilities through the development of inclusive programs and education on promising practices.
Changes to curriculum don’t just happen out of nowhere – they come from faculty members thinking about what to teach and searching for new and innovative ways to engage students in the learning process. Instructors often encounter barriers to curricular change, including:
Completion of a Web Accessibility course is required to earn a Web Design Certificate at Bellevue College in Washington State. In the original curriculum, a large portion of course content focused on legal cases related to web accessibility. Although it is important to understand the role that laws and regulations play, this is not critical to ensure that web designers and developers can actually develop accessible websites.
In a study by Erickson, W. A., Schrader, S. von, Bruyère, S. M., & VanLooy, S. A., best practices reported to increase hiring people with disabilities included:
Employers may encounter a variety of barriers to recruiting interns with disabilities. These include: