CUDE

In October of 2004 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it would create a state-of-the-art program to ensure that electronic and information technology is accessible to employees and consumers with disabilities. As Chief Information Officer Steve Cooper explained, "Making electronic and information technology accessible for people with disabilities is a good business management strategy." He added that "complying with Section 508 ensures our information technology will be more capable of responding to technology changes in future years.

Examples of how you can adapt specific science activities from a general curriculum can be found in a joint project between DO-IT and MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement). For each activity of each book in the MESA series, DO-IT staff created a list of suggested accommodations for students with specific disabilities.

Many publishers can now provide students with disabilities with an electronic format of their textbooks. The following resource can assist you in finding publisher contact information. The list is an exhaustive list of all publishers, but rather a good place to start your search.

• AccessText allows postsecondary members to request files and permissions from leading publishers with one simple form. All post-secondary institutions in the United States and Canada are eligible to join at no cost.

ENTRY POINT!, directed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), is a summer internship program for college students with disabilities. This competitive program places students in internships at NASA, IBM, the National Science Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, the National Institutes of Health, and Texas Instruments. To qualify for an ENTRY POINT!

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 states:

No otherwise qualified person with a disability in the United States…shall, solely by reason of…disability, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

It is important that all staff in the financial aid office be familiar with accommodation options to assist students with special needs. It is best if online forms are fully accessible to individuals with disabilities. To explore ways to make forms directly accessible to students who have visual impairments, consult How can I develop accessible web-based forms?

Designing an accessible website is not difficult when accessibility is considered along with other design issues at the beginning of a project. To create resources that can be used by the widest spectrum of potential website visitors rather than an "average" person, webmasters can apply "universal design" principles. Designers should routinely think of the broad range of characteristics their site visitors might have and design their resources so that they are accessible to everyone.

There are many vendors who provide a wide range of captioning services. One of the best resources for selecting a vendor is the U.S. Department of Education, which, in collaboration with the Described and Captioned Media Program administered by the National Association of the Deaf, officially approves captioning service vendors. Approved vendors are listed in the document Captioning Service Vendors.

The U.S. Department of Education has funded demonstration projects at postsecondary institutions nationwide to help faculty make their courses accessible to students with disabilities. A list of the postsecondary institutions that received funding to develop these projects, the project descriptions, and contact information can be found under Demonstration Projects to Ensure Quality Higher Education for Students with Disabilities.

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.