The publication Roadmaps & Rampways chronicles the journeys of three dozen students from childhood to higher education in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics and on through their early career decisions. Each had a significant disability. When they were born or acquired a disability, few of their doctors, educators, or neighbors could have imagined that their journeys would be so successful.
It is important to design the facility for users with a wide range of abilities and disabilities (e.g., visual, mobility, and hearing impairments; learning disabilities). Getting input from students with various disabilities about how to set up the computer lab can help ensure that specific student needs are met. Make sure that the computer lab offers access to equipment and software and to electronic resources. It is also important that staff are trained to work with students who have disabilities and understand how to use adaptive technology within the lab.
The Described and Captioned Media Program freely loans over 4,000 educational and general-interest open-captioned titles (on videotapes, CD-ROMs, and DVDs) to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, teachers, parents, and other individuals. In addition, several hundred titles are available for viewing online. No rental, registration, or postage fees are charged.
My name is Maria and I am a distance learning instructor at a community college. A student who is blind enrolled in my course and told me that some of the content was inaccessible.
Specifically, the student pointed out that some course content was embedded in graphics images that she could not access using her text-to-speech system.
I added text descriptions for all of the graphics images in my course.
This case demonstrates the following:
Yes, there are electronic mentoring programs that connect people with disabilities to peers and mentors via the Internet. Before joining an e-mentoring community, young people should obtain permission from their parents or guardians, who should check out the community and sponsor before allowing their children to participate. Apply Internet safety guidelines, such as those at SafeKids.Com.
Yes. There are many tutorials on how to create accessible websites. A few popular free web-based tutorials are listed below.
I am a computer science major, and my name is Sean. I have a psychiatric condition called Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I was first diagnosed in grade school by a child psychiatrist. I also have some social phobias and physical tics, but the OCD is what most affects my academic work. I take medication that controls some of my symptoms.
Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) were created to allow people who have difficulty hearing or speaking on the telephone to communicate with voice telephone users. Under Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) [1], each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and all of the U.S. territories must provide free relay services.
Interactions with your peers can reinforce your classroom learning, help you persist to graduation, and make your college experience more satisfying (Pascarella, E.T., & Terenzini, P. T. 2005. How College Affects Students: A Third Decade of Research. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco). A group of students working together to advocate for increased accessibility on campus can also be more effective than a student advocating alone.
The World Institute on Disability (WID) is an international nonprofit center on public policy that focuses on researching disability issues and overcoming barriers to independent living for people with disabilities.