DO-IT News May 2014: All Articles

Every year the Association of Computing Machinery's hosts the Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing (tapiaconference.cmd-it.org/). The conference brings together undergraduate and graduate students with educators and professionals in computing fields who are from diverse backgrounds. One of the conference's goals is building community among groups that are underrepresented, including individuals with disabilities.

An AccessComputing participant presented his study at the Tapia Conference. Photo provided by Christopher Bachman Photography.

AccessComputing was well represented at this year's event, held in Seattle on February 5-8. AccessComputing was a Bronze Sponsor of the conference and many AccessComputing student team members were awarded travel scholarships to attend.

For the first time, AccessComputing held a "Birds of a Feather" session to bring together attendees with disabilities. The session was well-attended—over twenty people came, including individuals with disabilities, educators, and other advocates. The discussion focused on raising awareness of AccessComputing's resources and activities, ways of creating more community among individuals with disabilities, and establishing greater visibility of disability at future Tapia Celebrations.

The Alliance for Access to Computing Careers (AccessComputing) helps students with disabilities successfully pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in computing fields, and works to increase the capacity of postsecondary institutions and other organizations to fully include students with disabilities in computing courses and programs. These activities are funded by NSF Grant #CNS-1042260. Find more information at www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/.

In collaboration with Code.org, AccessComputing worked with Audio Eyes, an audio description company, to make Code.org's signature inspirational video accessible to blind students.The video features a variety of celebrities—famous technology leaders, musicians, and professional athletes—talking about the importance of learning to write programming code. The video quickly went viral after its release in 2013, and for a while was the #1 video on YouTube with over ten million views.The original video includes on-screen text that identifies each speaker (for example, "Bill: Created Microsoft"). People who are unable to see the on-screen text don't necessarily know who's speaking, which is a key part of what makes the video so inspiring. In order to make this information accessible, the added audio description supplements the program audio with occasional brief narration that verbally announces essential visual content and identification of the speakers. 

Code.org's inspirational video now features audio descriptions of text and images for those who are visually impaired. Images provided by Code.org.

The described video is now available in three versions (9-minute, 5-minute, and 1-minute) at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdnOPI1iJNfVcl-HBqMAGyZBNIsTxz4V.

I wanted to share with you a question posed by a DO-IT Scholar in our Internet discussion forum and some of the responses so that you can get the flavor of the many rich conversations the DO-IT community has online. Featured responses are from DO-IT Ambassadors (those who have completed the DO-IT Scholars program), and DO-IT Mentors, who are academics and professionals who provide mentoring to DO-IT participants. Some forum posts are edited for clarity and brevity.

[My sister] recently broke her leg and has been transporting herself around in a lightweight folding wheelchair. For spring break she is taking a trip. The airline told her she can decide once she gets to the airport whether she wants to gate-check the wheelchair at the end of the jetbridge next to the plane, or check it like normal baggage at the ticket counter. The airline will use one of their wheelchairs to move her around the airport and onto the plane if she wants.

My question is, based on your experience, which should she choose—gate or baggage- Do you have any other advice or travel tips for her- She is staying in an accessible hotel room, but she is afraid of not being able to open and close the door to her room fast enough before the card key times out.

DO-IT Ambassador: If she wants to use her wheelchair in the airport she should do a gate check. In regards to the hotel room door, I have the same issue, and I travel a lot. On your way into the hotel, you can ask in the lobby if someone can come up to your room with you and hold the door. To get out, just call the front desk or bell stand and ask if they can come up and help with the door.

DO-IT students work together to solve problems
both over email listserv and in person.

DO-IT Mentor: I've traveled quite a bit by air myself. I can walk, but use a chair for long distances, so I feel like I have some similarities to your sister. I've used airport chairs and been pushed by staff, and it's usually not a big deal. There might be a better chance of her chair not getting lost or broken if she gate checks it. (I've received chairs in worse condition after a flight, but if her chair is your standard "hospital chair," there's less of an issue.)

DO-IT Ambassador: I am a permanent chair user so I have my chair gatechecked. In terms of damage risk: I think gatechecking or baggage checking has equal risk. The chair is put into cargo anyway so people handle it roughly. In your sister's situation, transferring to an airport chair at check-in would probably be most convenient.

DO-IT Ambassador: If she feels confident that she can navigate the airport in her chair, then she should gate check. I prefer that because I am more in control of how my chair is handled. I usually ask to talk to the people loading the luggage onto the plane before I give them my chair. I tell them how important it is that they be careful, and that they should not throw it. This might seem like common sense, but once they see me and understand the situation, they are much more respectful with my chair. I've had chairs break on several occasions, but not since I've started being more vocal.

As for the hotel room, ask for someone to walk up with you so that you can test it out. Usually it's fine for me, but you never know!

DO-IT Ambassador: If there is room on an airplane, a manual, collapsible wheelchair may be stowed within the cabin. If she does gate check, this would be ideal. Also, when bringing a chair through security, expect to spend ten extra minutes being swabbed for chemical residues.

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