DO-IT - Universal Design

Deaf kids Code: A Promising Practice in Introducing Computer Programming

lylac — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 22:44:49 +0000

People who are deaf or hard of hearing experience a higher level of unemployment and under employment. In today's world, many products have been created to support interaction between deaf and non-deaf individuals. Work in accessible technology and other computing fields is a lucrative career opportunity, potentially for everyone. Having strong computing skills is essential because of the role of computers in almost every field.

According to their website, Deaf Kids Code promotes, inspires, empowers, and sparks the innovative spirit for students who are deaf and hard of hearing through the world of programming. It also helps pave a path that is encouraging greater social and economic participation of individuals in this group and society becomes the greatest beneficiary of their talents and skills.

Deaf Kids Code’s vision is to bridge economic and social gaps that exist among the deaf and hard of hearing through the cultivation of computing and technology skills. Its leaders believe that incorporating computing topics into education has the potential to give participating students a new level of global participation. Through the universal language of computing, they can become a vital asset in filling the many opportunities awaiting them now and into the future.

Deaf Kids Code is a promising practice because of its efforts to bring computing experiences to individuals underrepresented in computing fields and its overall role as a catalyst for change.

For more information about other programs that support students with disabilities consult Are there organizations that support students with disabilities interested in computer science?

How can workplaces be more inclusive of colleagues who are deaf or hard of hearing?

lylac — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 17:36:14 +0000

Much can be done to make a workspace more accessible to and inclusive of colleagues who are deaf or hard of hearing. Universal design can provide a framework for doing so by underpinning practices that can be applied proactively to make a welcoming and environment and to ensure that appropriate accommodations are available specific individuals. Aspects of the work environment to consider are in-person, remote, and hybrid presentations and professional development; in-person and remote meetings and discussions; and conversations and networking.

The Mind Hears offers guidance to employers for making their workplaces more accessible to and inclusive of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. For a comprehensive list of ideas consult What can you do to improve the academic workplace for your deaf and hard-of-hearing colleagues?

The Neurodiversity Initiative: A Promising Practice for Promoting Disability Awareness in Higher Education

swb3 — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 17:59:31 +0000

The Neurodiversity Initiative at the College of William and Mary seeks to educate the campus about the positive aspects of embracing neurodiversity, and ultimately to be a model for other campuses. As stated on their website, "The Neurodiversity Initiative is an innovative program that is raising awareness on our campus of the vast array of brain differences and cultivating an appreciation of the many kinds of talents we can nurture at our historic institution. We seek both to serve our campus community and to be a model for other campuses with regard to how to engage this issue and support these students." The program has two goals. The first goal is for "Neurodivergent students of all types to be comfortable and successful" through enhanced supports on campus, including the counseling center and residence halls. Their second goal is to make the campus community "aware of both the unique strengths and unique needs of neurodiverse people." The Initiative explicitly states that neurological diversity joins racial and cultural diversity as essential elements at the university.

The Neurodiversity Working Group—composed of administrators, alumni, community partners, faculty, staff, and students—organizes campus events and programs in support of the Neurodiversity Initiative.

The Neurodiversity Initiative is viewed as a Promising Practice for its enthusiastic work to promote disability awareness at an institute of higher education, and its involvement of high-level administrators among broad membership.

For more information about neurodiversity, visit Across Campus and Beyond: A Promising Practice to Increase Conversations about Neurodiversity in the Engineering Classroom, California Academy of Sciences: A Promising Practice in Planning for Visitors who are Neurodiverse, and the Neuroscience for Neurodiverse Learners website.

What is neuroethics and how does it relate to people with disabilities?

swb3 — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 17:17:47 +0000

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) Brain Initiative website, neuroethics is “a field that studies the ethical, legal, and societal implications of neuroscience.” The strategic plan for the NIH BRAIN Initiative, BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision, emphasizes “Although brain research entails ethical issues that are common to other areas of biomedical science, it entails special ethical considerations as well. Because the brain gives rise to consciousness, our innermost thoughts, and our most basic human needs, mechanistic studies of the brain have already resulted in new social and ethical questions.”

The questions that neuroethicists explore have vast implications for people with disabilities, who may adopt technology and drug treatments created in the field of neuroscience.

The concept of “nothing about us without us” suggests that people with disabilities should be involved in the field of neuroethics, as well as neuroscience itself, to ensure that their voices are included in critical conversations and decisions that impact people with disabilities. Including people with disabilities in neuroethics and neuroscience will also help ensure that principles of universal design (UD) are adopted as new technology is designed and developed. Through the promotion and implementation of UD, they can help ensure that neuroscience products are accessible to people with varying characteristics and abilities. For examples, view the publication Equal Access: Universal Design of Neuroscience Education and Research.

To learn more about neuroethics and how it involves people with disabilities, visit the Brain Initiative’s website about the Neuroethics Working Group, or explore postsecondary institutions to see if they have programming, such as the ��ԭ��’s Neuroethics program. View the perspective of students with disabilities as they discuss emerging technology that can enhance the human body and mind in the video presentation Technology Advancements and Disability Identity.

How can I utilize student interns to promote accessible informal STEM learning?

swb3 — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 18:55:39 +0000

Informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning (ISL) refers to learning outside the traditional classroom setting in places such as museums, science centers, and summer camps. The AccessISL project at the ��ԭ�� has developed creative methods to engage student interns to help ensure ISL is welcoming and accessible to everyone.

The resource Replication Package: Facilitating Student Internships to Promote Accessible Informal STEM Learning shares information about the implementation of AccessISL internships. The resource describes how students were recruited and selected, their level of participation, lessons learned, and student activities to help increase accessibility within ISL programs. It also shares products that were created, co-developed, or enhanced by interns. Examples include:

a 3-minute video called Access to Informal STEM Learning that was featured in the 2021 NSF STEM for All Video Showcase and
a publication called Equal Access: Universal Design of Informal STEM Learning, designed to help make ISL facilities, information resources, and informal learning activities universally accessible

For more information about accessible ISL, visit the AccessISL website and/or view the Knowledge Base articles: Where can I learn more about accessibility and UD of informal STEM learning programs?, Intrepid Museum: A Promising Practice in Providing Accessibility Information, or How can informal STEM learning programs support individuals with vision impairments?

How do I include information about universal design in curriculum related to informal STEM learning?

swb3 — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 18:26:35 +0000

DO-IT’s Access to Informal STEM Learning (AccessISL) project has developed resources to help educators include information about universal design in curriculum related to informal STEM Learning. The document Pedagogical and Content Design Practices that Support Accessibility and Inclusion in Museology Courses shares information about the following:

A framework for thinking about universal design of instruction
Steps to incorporate universal design of instruction in courses or classes
Tips for museology and other informal STEM learning training programs
Accessible technology and how students use it
The creation of accessible documents
Communication tips for interacting with individuals with disabilities

Other useful resources related to accessible informal STEM learning include these resources:

Individuals interested in this topic are encouraged to join the online AccessISL Community of Practice, where key stakeholder groups help make informal STEM learning environments accessible and usable by everyone (e.g., faculty, students, disability service units, informal science learning programs, teaching and learning centers, diversity programs, and professional organizations). This program allows anyone to share ideas and assist in the creation and dissemination of resources, which will encourage others to help a broader range of students and patrons learn about universal design and accessibility in informal science settings.

For more information, visit the AccessISL resources page.

How can I use my learning management system to make my course more accessible to everyone?

eol — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 03:13:05 +0000

Steps to making an online course accessible include

Structuring content using headings,
Creating alt text for images,
Create meaningful hyperlinks,
Created structured lists,
Include table headers,
Captioning and audio-describing videos,
Uploading accessibly-formatted content, and
Using accessibility checkers to find barriers to accessibility.

Options in Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and other learning management systems (LMSs) for making courses are described below.

Heading Structure (e.g., H1, H2, …)

This feature is made available by the rich-text editor on the content creator toolbar in your LMS to indicate the levels of all headings. Taking this step makes it possible for screen readers to share the semantic structure to a blind user who wishes to skim through the content to understand how it is organized.

Alt Text

A screen reader can’t interpret an image, but it can announce alternative text, or alt text, that a creator has provided for the image.
Alt text should be limited to 120 characters and describe content presented within the image. Decorative images should be marked as such. Within your LMS, you can use the rich-text editor for each page of content to select an image and provide alt text.

Smart Links

Include text that is meaningful for hyperlinks as screen readers allow a person who is blind to skim through a page and hear where the hyperlinks link to.
For all users, it is helpful to know where the link will take them without having to select the link.
Avoid using link text such as “click here” as this is vague and can become redundant.

Listing Tools

When authoring lists, using the correct tool in the rich-text editor to create structured bulleted or numerical lists will ensure lists are announced accurately by screen readers, with the number of items announced in the list.

Table Editing Tools

There are also special ways a table can be marked up to make it accessible to screen reader users. When including a table, be sure to use the table editing tools to identify the table header, this establishes a meaningful relationship between the heading cells and the data cells and will allow the screen reader to accurately announce the content.

Captioning

Captions in video presentations provide textual information for those who cannot access audio due to a disability, a noisy or noiseless environment, or other reasons.
YouTube and other video platforms often provide automatically generated captions, but these usually need to be edited to make them accurate.

Accessibility checkers in LMSs can identify some accessibility issues with attached documents used in a course; these include files formatted as PDFs, Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint documents. Although an accessibility checker may identify a lack of heading structure, missing alt text, and other inaccessible formatting, most accessibility issues need to be addressed by a human editor.

For more information about IT accessibility, consult the UW Accessibility website.

How does the American Alliance of Museums promote accessibility?

lylac — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 07:47:07 +0000

Date Updated:

05/23/22

American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is an organization representing over 35,000 museums, “from art and history museums to science centers and zoos.” AAM supports museums by providing resources and a professional network for those who want to move the field forward in terms of innovation, equity, and inclusion.

As shared in AAM’s 2022-2025 Strategic Framework, the Alliance recognizes the essential roles of museums “in sustaining strong, inclusive, and resilient communities by enriching education systems, bolstering economies, strengthening the social fabric of communities, improving peoples’ well-being, and beyond.” They can only do so if they are inclusive of everyone in their communities, including those with disabilities.

Through accessibility articles within their Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion blog, AAM promotes the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities in museums, science centers, and other informal learning spaces. Examples of article titles include the following:

For more information about accessible informal learning, visit the AccessISL website. Consider joining the AccessISL Community of Practice to participate in discussions and learn about opportunities to promote the increased participation of people with disabilities in informal science education offerings, training programs, and careers.

How does Art Beyond Sight promote equal access to art?

lylac — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 07:44:22 +0000

Date Updated:

05/23/22

The goal of Art Beyond Sight is to “empower cultural institutions to provide accessible and inclusive environments for all of their patrons, including people with disabilities and their families.” The Art Beyond Sight website shares relevant resources—including text, images, audio, and video—for classroom teachers, museum educators, and the general public. Provided they follow user guidelines, site visitors are encouraged to utilize materials and adapt them for their own non-commercial use.

Examples of web resources include a Guide to Evaluation of Accessible Programming; resources to learn about verbal description of art and art exhibits; disability and inclusion resources for museum studies programs; and online and print publications for museum professionals, educators, students, and others. The website also houses searchable databases, an interactive timeline, and downloadable PowerPoint presentations.

For more information about accessible art, museums, and informal learning environments, visit the AccessISL website. Consider joining the AccessISL Community of Practice to participate in discussions and learn about opportunities to promote the increased participation of people with disabilities in informal science education offerings, training programs, and careers.

How can STEM academic departments be more accessible to and inclusive of faculty with disabilities?

lylac — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 18:13:24 +0000

Date Updated:

05/23/22

As institutions seek to leverage the benefits of diversity, application pools for faculty positions have become increasingly diverse, inclusive of faculty with disabilities who bring unique and valuable perspectives and talents to the workplace. However, the inaccessible design of the employment application process, as well as many campus facilities, software tools, services, and online resources, continue to erect barriers to some applicants and employees with disabilities, including those who are also members of other marginalized groups. Keep in mind that many individuals with disabilities who are applicants or employees with disabilities do not disclose their disabilities to an institution.

Matters unique to faculty positions and academic workplaces call for approaches that incorporate disability perspectives. Examples include identifying the essential functions of faculty positions (which vary depending on the academic field and/or unit); developing equitable promotion, tenure, and evaluation policy and practices; and providing early career mentoring opportunities. Additionally, faculty members with disabilities face the same stereotypes and accessibility concerns that affect all people with disabilities; to make greater changes towards creating a more inclusive and accessible institution, campus-wide equity efforts need to include disability perspectives.

The AccessADVANCE project, led by the ��ԭ�� and North Dakota State University, is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to promote systemic changes that will increase the successful participation and advancement of women with disabilities in STEM faculty careers. Project staff, along with collaborators, created the checklist Equal Access: Making STEM Departments More Accessible to and Inclusive of Women with Disabilities to provide guidance to campus leaders. Below we feature the subheadings, descriptions, and a main example question featured in the checklist. For a more-indepth review and list of questions for each section, view the full checklist online or download a copy to print and address at your own pace.

Recruitment

Recruit to attract a diverse applicant pool, including people with disabilities, and employ accessible technology and recruitment practices.

Do you share how to request disability-related accommodations in correspondence about available positions, the application process, and scheduling job interviews?

Policies and Evaluation

Ensure that diversity, including disability, considerations are addressed in all policies and evaluations regarding your offerings.

Do policies and procedures require that accessibility be considered in design, development, and procurement processes (e.g., regarding facilities, IT, and services)?

Department/Campus Culture

Consider disability perspectives as you plan and evaluate your facilities and offerings.

Do campus or departmental diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives address matters relevant to faculty members with disabilities?

Physical Environments

Ensure physical access, comfort, and safety within an environment that is welcoming to visitors with a variety of abilities, racial and ethnic backgrounds, genders, and ages.

Are all levels of departmental facilities connected via wheelchair-accessible routes of travel? Are accessible routes of travel easy to find? Do all commonly used exterior and restroom doors have sensors or buttons for automatic opening? Are they regularly inspected to ensure functionality?

Support Services

Make sure support staff are prepared to work with all faculty, including those with disabilities.

Do staff members know how to respond to requests for disability-related accommodations such as sign language interpreters?

Information Resources and IT

Ensure that publications and websites welcome a diverse group and that information is accessible to everyone. Make sure accessible technology is available to faculty with disabilities.

Do departmental and campus web pages adhere to accessibility guidelines or standards adopted by your institution or your department? For information about designing accessible websites, consult W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Accommodations

Put systems in place to ensure reasonable accommodations are available to faculty.

Does a simple, transparent procedure to ensure a timely response to requests for disability-related accommodations exist and are faculty made aware of these services (e.g., in a faculty manual, in faculty and staff orientations, and other meetings?)

For the complete list of suggestions, consult Equal Access: Making STEM Departments More Accessible to and Inclusive of Women with Disabilities.

Additional tips for getting started can be found in the article 6 Ways to Dismantle Barriers for Disabled Faculty on Campus.