Texas student wins battle over accessible dorm room

A recent article on the
Campus Progress
Web site Titled
Separate but Unequal Dorms
tells about the victory of a Texas State University student who uses a wheelchair after she had to pay higher costs than other first-year students just so she could live in an accessible dorm room.

Bailey Gosda is a sophomore at TSU who uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. She has been in a nearly two-year fight with the university, in which she has contended that the university overcharged her several thousands of dollars so that she could live in a dorm room with wheelchair access. This would be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities ACT (ADA).

In 2005, Ms. Gosda visited the campus and Residence Life told her they did not know where to house her. She asked to live in Smith Building, the traditional and most affordable dorm, but there were no rooms in the building that were wheelchair accessible. The university moved her to a single room in a more expensive dorm, explaining that she and her equipment would foreclude the possibility of having a roommate. The result was that she paid more than twice what most first-year students did.

With the assistance of an attorney from
Advocacy Inc.,
a non-profit disability rights organization based in Austin, Ms. Gosda began to take on the university.

In the article, her attorney stated that, “under the ADA, Gosda should only have to pay for what she requested—a dormitory room in a traditional building with a roommate—even if there was not a wheelchair accessible room available that fit that description.” Her attorney asked the school to repay Ms. Gosda the difference.”

This seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? It was not that simple, though, as Texas State officials drug out their opposition. Read the article linked above to understand the battles this young lady had to undertake to be proven right.

Last month, Ms. Gosda was vindicated in her battle when the euniversity offered to refund the $6,000 it had overcharged her.

Hopefully, the university administration has learned a legal lesson on providing access. That was a cheap way out for them. Had she taken this matter to court and been successful, the university could have faced more severe financial penalties.

We often sit back and naively believe we are living in enlightened times when cases such as this are no longer taking place. It is a reflection of attitude towards the law and that is as subjective as any individual. The case of Ms. Gosda could have happened at any college or university. All it takes is the right situation, such as the lack of accessible rooms in the traditional dorm, and the subsequent boneheaded ignorance taken by somebody withing the university to not see the right thing to do, in this case it was to give her the accessible room at the rate of the traditional dorm room.

It is the responsibility of all DSS professionals to educate and enlighten. I would hope that the university consulted their ADA coordinator for an opinion before taking such a foolish and indefensible stance. It doesn't sound like they did, though.

Library site aware of need to address accessible web content

On a blog named
Library Stories,
Which is targeted towards library professionals, there was a recent post about
Web content and meeting the needs of students with disabilities,
particularly pointing out the need for compliance to Section 508.

The author of that post had the insight to point out that students needing consideration in web content are not only blind, but that list includes students whose disabilities are:

• Blindness / low vision
• Dyslexia
• Deaf / hard of hearing
• Limited Mobility
• Epilepsy
• Cognitive impairments

Whatever trends develop over the course of the coming years, one constant will remain-- students with disabilities will continue to go to college and need accommodations at their school’s library. Accessible texts and web sites are two of the primary concerns that will continue to need to be addressed.

Second part of Marcus Engel interview is now posted

Okay, so you went to the
Disability 411
Site a couple of weeks ago and downloaded the interview I did with
Marcus Engel,
Or at least downloaded the transcript to see what Marcus is all about. Then, you felt like you were left hanging on a cliff because it suddenly ended, all due to the interviewer, namely me, running long on the interview.

Never fear. Beth Case has been busily working and you can now go to the
Disability 411
Site and get the second part of that interview.

Now that you see how easy it is to conduct and submit an interview or product review, why don’t you take Beth up on her offer and submit one to Disability 411 yourself. I think she would appreciate a variety of topics and is giving a lot of latitude for submissions. Besides, it is your shot at getting your moment in the sun. And, who knows, you might tap into an interest that you didn’t know you were good at until you did that submission.

Medicare and power wheelchairs

There is an interesting article posted on
AlterNet.org
About
Medicare keeping the door shut on the disabled.

The gist of the article concerns Medicare and its policy to either pay or not pay for power wheelchairs. The answer lies in the results of a strict checklist. The bone of contention is that “it boils down to one question: Does the patient need a wheelchair inside the home?”

According to the article, “If you can limp 10 feet to the bathroom, or move from the refrigerator to the sink to make dinner, then Medicare will not cover a power wheelchair, even if you can't walk down the block to the grocery store for the food in the first place.”

This approach seems almost like a silly argument, one that makes no sense in the broader scope of individual needs. If a person is barely functional in their home, but can manage just a little bit, then Medicare says, “Well then…you certainly don’t need a power wheelchair,” even though providing such an assistive device may enable the person to get out of the house and get a job.

Compound this with individual pride and the innate quality of people trying to show they can do as much as they can, demonstrating their will to be strong in light of a disabling condition, even when this demonstration of will is at the reviewing athority who will report their findings of the individual's ability/disability to Medicare? When showing they can walk ten feet, no matter how much is done with a limp or the level of pain they endure when doing this, will be the very deciding factor that will shoot that person in their all-------too-able foot.

Wouldn’t it make sense to empower a person by providing the tool that would give him the potential to go to work and have private employer-provided health insurance, getting him off of Medicare as a result?

I don’t consider myself a liberal, nor a bleeding heart, but I am a passionate defender of rights of people with disabilities. However, I am also a tax-paying citizen and also understand the need for Medicare to protect its budgetary constraints, carefully scrutinizing the criteria for incidents when they will pay for a person’s expensive piece of assistive technology. However, there should be a more common sense review to consider when Medicare will fund these items.

The article illustrates clearly that items such as this which Medicare reigns over with a tight fist often goes unnoticed by legislators, as it is not a big hit on the political radar screen. In time, though, I believe this will change with the graying boomer population and the effects of this aging bringing on a variety of disabling conditions. Medicare’s ability to be so stringent in its governance for power wheelchairs may change as does the age of our population.

Resources for accessible, alternative texts

I want to share a gathering of sources for accessible, alternative texts.

For a broad catalog of texts in the public domain, there is always,
Project Gutenberg,
The “first producer of free electronic books (ebooks).”

Did you know that Project Gutenberg has 20,000 books in its on-line book catalog?

Did you know that more than two million electronic books are downloaded each month from the Project Gutenberg web site?

If you don’t want to download the books individually from Project Gutenberg, you can always do like the New York Times reporter did and pay to get a
CD of more than 10,000 books.
(Of course, you are very likely to wind up like the reporter and have a lot more books than the ones you originally wanted, and many in languages other than that which you speak.)

Additionally, there is also the
Internet Archive,
A web-based warehouse of multi-media internet information, including offerings from several libraries that includes more than 100,000 books.

As an alternative to accessible text, there is also,
LibriVox,
A web site providing free audio books from the public domain.

Whichever method you get them, just know that these resources are available for finding accessible, alternative format texts.

A brief discussion of the role of DSS professionals

There’s an old saying, “Nothing succeeds like success,” which can be aptly applied to the profession of disability support services. Sure this applies to the particular accommodations, but there is more that DSS professionals can provide their students. The students can find the skills to manage their disabilities through on-going dialogue with DSS staff and a comfortable place to discuss the challenges they face.

Take for instance, the recent success story about the
CSUN’s Center on Disabilities.

This article illustrates very clearly that a student’s disability is not a sole entity. There are conpounding elements that accompany many disabilities, such as the case of the woman first mentioned in the article with a bipolar disability.

I particularly like that the article pointed out that the center “guides disabled students into finding a cohesive, effective and comfortable style for managing the difficulties that can grow out of a disability.”

While some may argue that the job of DSS staff is to provide only those accommodations needed to meet the students' needs, I disagree. There are some students who have not learned to manage their disability or their lifestyle with consideration for the demands the disability places on it. As the primary point of contact for a student who has very often just begun life out on his/her own, does it not make some sense for the DSS staff to help provide guidance and education to help the students be more successful in their day-to-day lives when they leave your school?

This is clearly the case for DSS professionals at community colleges, where students who graduate from there will often need to go onto an upper level institution to earn a marketable degree. When those students move up, shouldn’t they have the skills in place to successfully manage their lifestyles outside of the classroom? Who better to aid in providing that foundation than the DSS staff?

I know this is a bit of a tangent, but I truly believe that success breeds success. That was the point of the article and it sparked this train of thought from me. If you agree or disagree, please feel free to let me know by leaving a comment.

Landmark College,specifically serving students with learning disabilities and AD/HD

For a long time, I have only known of one postsecondary school dedicated to serving a distinct population of students with a particular disability—
Gallaudet University,
The reknowned liberal arts university serving deaf and hard of hearing students.

That all changed this past week, when I learned about
Landmark College,
In Putney, Vermont, which bills itself as, “The premier college for students with learning disabilities and AD/HD.”

According to the college’s “About” page:
“While many colleges offer special programs for students with learning difficulties, Landmark College is one of the only accredited colleges in the United States designed exclusively for students with dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), or other specific learning disabilities. “

“Why does Landmark's approach succeed? Because we take a different path. We teach the skills and strategies necessary for success in college and the workforce.”


In addition to the on-line databases, DVD and CD recordings, plus the more than 30,000 printed texts, the Landmark College library also boasts more than 550 course texts formatted for Kurzweil. The library also possesses a learning disability and AD/HD research collection chock full of books, videos, and journals, which the web site claims is one of the most extensive in the nation.

Take some time to check out the Landmark College web site linked above and explore the information on the various pages. (I especially like the informational resources one can glean from the library’s page.) Their web site should serve well as an additional resource for providing services to your LD and AD/HD students.

Good Resource for selecting the right hearing aid

For the uninitiated, or just for a real good primer on hearing aids,
HealtyWorld
offers a
Guide to Selecting the Right Hearing Aid.

While the site is a bit cluttered, once you skip through the headings and links, the article is really quite informative about the different aspects of the various types of hearing aids that are available.

Utah State showcasing features of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.0

There is an interesting article in The Utah Statesman, the newspaper of Utah State University, about an upcoming series showcasing the
Functional applications of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.0.

The purpose of this event, sponsored by the university’s Assistive Learning Technology Center, is to demonstrate how the speech-to-text application can be used by people with a broad range of disabilities, but won’t stop at just that. Jacob Miller, the coordinator of the center is promoting it as software that can be used by anybody. He claims that Dragon has helped him improve his typing speed by 430%, although he considered himself a decent typist even before using it.

The article goes on to give some pretty strong endorsements from other users of the assisstive technology software, emphasizing different features of the program that one might not know about unless he were a regular user of it. This also serves to demonstrate the applicability of the software across a wide range of disabilities.

One point Miller makes about the broader use of this specific program is that the state of Iowa now requires high school students to learn how to use it. Hmmm. Interesting concept there, mandating use of assistive technology by all students.

Miller also discusses a possible alternative use of Dragon in that article which my former colleague and I had begun to explore last year----------- using Dragon to provide real-time captioning of a professor's lecture on a deaf student’s laptop.

Aside from providing a good informational article about Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.0, the concept of having an open series of events where all students are encouraged to stop by to see what this powerful software can do is a fresh idea for an innovative outreach program. In a world where good ideas are often sought out and emulated, I think this is one definitely worth a repeat.

Good work, Mr. Miller.

IBM develops Accessibility Browser

To further enhance accessibility for people who are visually impaired, IBM will soon release
The Accessibility Browser.

The multimedia browser, also called the “A-Browser,” is set on giving people with visual impairments the same control over their browser’s content as their sighted counterparts, and will do so without interfering with the functionality of talking screen readers. There is a specific concentration on content compatible with the Real player and Windows Media Player.

Information from the BBC news article linked above states:
“By using the A-Browser, the visually-impaired person can control media content by using preset shortcut keys instead of having to seek the control buttons using a mouse. The browser also allows the users to slow down or increase the speed of the video. The volume controls let user adjust the sound of various sources in parallel. Frances West, director of IBM’s Human Ability and Accessibility Centre said.”

“IBM says it should be available later this year and hopes that it will be free.”

The A-Browser’s developer, Dr. Chieko Asakawa,is a blind employee of IBM who designed the browser in response to the growing amount of web content she was unable to access.

Now, if somebody would only do something similar with that darn, embedded Flash content.

Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities seeks better Section 508 enforcement

On March 14, the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities sent a
letter to United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,
asking for better enforcement of Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act.

The heart of their complaint reads as follows:
“While specific federal agency compliance with the procurement and Internet accessibility requirements of Sec. 508 is enforced through the complaint and procurement processes particular to each agency in question, the Justice Department has the responsibility to issue periodic reports on compliance with these requirements across agencies generally (29 USC 794d(d)(2)). This reporting function, which is to occur biennially, has consistently fallen behind schedule and, as of this writing, is well over four years past due. We note that, at least with respect to the need to monitor federal agency compliance with Sec. 508's Internet accessibility requirements, the data collection has already been completed by the General Services Administration and simply awaits evaluation. Surely the Department can, at a minimum, muster the relatively modest resources required to complete analysis and publication of findings during this calendar year.”


This letter emphasizes a simple point: No matter how well they are written, regulations are only as good as their enforcement.

The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities is a Coalition of more than 100 national consumer, advocacy, provider and professional organizations headquartered in Washington, D.C. (A list of members is available at
www.c-c-d.org.)
Since 1973, the CCD has advocated on behalf of people of all ages with physical and mental disabilities and their families. CCD has worked to achieve federal legislation and regulations that assure that the 54 million children and adults with disabilities are fully integrated into the mainstream of society.


If you are not already familiar with the CCD, check out their web page and book mark it. It may serve you well later as a very qualified resource.

New bar codes could offer assistive technology promise

An interesting advent in cell phone technology looms promisingly on the horizon for people with disabilities.

In this New York Times news article , read how
New bar codes can talk with your cell phone.
(The article includes a link for watching a demonstration of this software.)

According to the Times article:
“It sounds like something straight out of a futuristic film: House hunters, driving past a for-sale sign, stop and point their cellphone at the sign. With a click, their cellphone screen displays the asking price, the number of bedrooms and baths and lots of other details about the house. “

“Media experts say that cellphones, the Swiss Army knives of technology, are quickly heading in this direction. New technology, already in use in parts of Asia but still in development in the United States, allows the phones to connect everyday objects with the Internet.”

“In their new incarnation, cellphones become a sort of digital remote control, as one CBS executive put it. With a wave, the phone can read encoded information on everyday objects and translate that into videos, pictures or text files on its screen.”


So you wonder what this has to do with Access Ability and providing disability support services. Read on and allow me to explain.

The trick for making this venture work on a broad scope, of course, will be companies seeing value in incorporating this technology into their products. If enough companies do this, then the use of these new bar codes will spread. I’m predicting that this is a foregone conclusion and we will soon be seeing more and more of these bar codes. Remember, you read that here first!

That same thought about manufacturers finding value to make it worth their while goes for incorporating this feature into the field of assistive technology. They have to see the practical value in it.

Right off the top of my head, I can think of one aspect where a student buys the hard copy of a text book, uses her cell phone to gather the new bar code, and is instantly given the authorization for downloading the electronic version of the text. The accessible version can then be downloaded onto the phone and, with further innovation in cell phone technology, the book might also be read right there on the phone.

To ensure that it is actually a student with a disability who is accessing this material, this might be incorporated into a two-step process where, after entering the bar code from the book, the user is required to do the same with a publisher-issued identification card given to users of their accessible material.

This entire process can save much time for the publishers and, as time is money, the company can see profit by expediting the whole process of obtaining accessible material from a publisher. The student can also save time and have instant access to the material, an almost incomprehensible thought in many previous situations. Granted, it is a little pipe dreamy as we all know how tight the publishers hang onto their copyrighted material.

However, that proposed scenario is not too far off from being able to be realized today. There are a growing number of software applications that will run on cell phones, which already allow users to play audio files. The audio version of text material is great for some students with learning disabilities and the phone makes an ideal utilitarian tool. Additionally, two software models of screen readers already exist that allow blind people to access many features that appear on the visual display of many phones.

What is to prevent the actualization of making the cell phone progress even further, grabbing the informational leaps enabled by the new bar codes, complementing them with additional features that the assistive technology can make accessible to students with disabilities, and allowing a never before seen level of usability of information on a cell phone?

The only answer to that question may be limited thinking on behalf of the companies that have the technology and materials. If they do not think of the innovations like the one I proposed with the e-text authorization, then it is up to DSS professionals to share these ideas. If the tech companies won’t think outside of the mainstream box, we may have to pull them out.

April is Autism Awareness Month

The
Autism in Connecticut
Blog site reminds us that April is autism awareness month.

This blog makes a good autism resource and is sponsored by the Autism Society of Connecticut. It offers a good assortment of news and information for issues dealing with autism, including grants, training opportunities, and other available resources.

In a related bit of news, I wrote a post several weeks ago about Amanda Baggs, a woman with autism, and her
Ballastexistenz
Blog.
If you haven’t been following her web site, she has more to say. Her most recent posting is an interesting passage about describing autism to others. She discusses what autism is like for her as it pertains to interacting with people versus objects. Check it out for an enlightened perspective of what life is like for a person with autism.

Also, you might want to check out Ms. Baggs' March 31 posting about the real barriers in communication. In it, she discusses using text-to-speech software on a laptop (and other assistive technology) as a means for communicating with others. This concept is actually not too far-fetched. Think about it. She is unable to communicate in a method that most people understand, but by typing her thoughts on a computer, it can speak via the text-to-speech software and act as a translator, enabling all to communicate. That type of thinking is a good idea to keep in mind when facing a problematic situation where additional resources are needed.

As a reminder, Ms. Baggs Describes herself as a “non-speaking physically disabled and autistic woman. Again, I proclaim that for someone who is “non-speaking,” she sure has a lot to say and says it most eloquently.

CSUN assistive technology update

Okay, This is more like it.

Over the course of the past several days, Ranger1138 has posted a good bit of information on
The Ranger Station
about his trip to CSUN last week.

One of the most interesting items he posted relates to the Juliet Pro braille embosser. If you happen to have one of these embossers in your home or office, then you know what a noise maker this machine can be. You may want to pay particular attention to what Ranger1138 had to say about his best of show selection, a case for the Juliet Pro by Enabling Technologies, which cuts out a lot of the machine’s noise.

Aside from that recognition, Ranger 1138 provides a good collection of links for additional information on a variety of products that were displayed. Check out what this “dude in the assistive technology industry” has to say...he's worth listening to.

Flash animation and assistive technology

Is it just me, or has there been a recent explosion by web designers to incorporate Flash plug ins on their websites?

Perhaps Macromedia, the makers of the Flash animation product, have put on a full court press to promote a broader use of their application.

Whatever the reason, Flash seems to be flourishing on the web in the past several weeks. On top of that, in most cases, the controls for the Flash features are just the generic buttons with no description to what their functions are, leaving blind users of screen readers wondering what in the heck those buttons do. So, not only is Flash spreading like wildfire, the ignorance about accessibility is being incorporated in the fold as it does so.

I don’t think that most web designers have any idea that Flash is a difficult speedbump for users of screen readers. It is so much of a problem that Freedom Scientific’s JAWS screen reader includes a function to disable Flash animation when using the web browser.

Speaking purely anecdotally, I have noticed a large number of websites in just the past month that have begun embedding Flash animation as a means to spiff up their sites. I notice it because it makes it difficult for me to read their site’s content. On one newspaper’s site, if I had not been reading the site for the years that I have, I would have not known how the site was laid out and, as a result, when they employed Flash animation about three weeks ago, I would not have been able to read the news without taking a slow and time-consuming method of reading one line at a time with the down arrow. Even then, I don’t know how well the Flash animation would have interfered with JAWS.

Don’t misunderstand my complaint. I’m not a new JAWS user who might be unfamiliar with the program’s operation. I’ve been using this product for more than 10 years and am using the latest version. Also, I’m not a rookie in understanding how to maximize the efficiency of JAWS. I have often been called upon by friends who are also JAWS users for technical assistance.

I’m just noticing a glut of embedded Flash animation that is making my life difficult. I can’t speak for users of other assistive technology software such as screen magnifiers or other brands of screen readers, but I would think that this is affecting their access to web sites as well.

I just read an interesting post related to this subject on a new blog called ,
Aspirants.
It is only the second post on the blog, but seems well written and offers good insight to understanding web design.

Hopefully, future web designers will initiate some insight and think about the users of their products as somebody besides the typical, sighted consumer. Universal design would make their web pages readable by a broader audience. Isn’t more traffic what most creators of web content want? There are methods for creating accessible Flash animation. I’ve posted about some training on this specific subject here on previous occasions.

Finally, so you don’t think this post is purely a personal vent, look at your school’s web pages. Are they employing Flash as part of their effort to have the latest in whiz-bang technology? Is it accessible? Does it meet Section 508 standards?

Pardon any self indulgence on this subject, but it is a concern that I see as a growing trend and not dissipating in the near future.

My hope is that the understanding that Flash can be used successfully and also be accessible will begin to spread as fast as the use of Flash has been on the web.

Interview with Marcus Engel

As hoped, I have an announcement to make.

My interview with Marcus Engel is now posted on the
Disability 411 blog.

Well, sort of. The interviewer got a little chatty and the interview ran long, so Show 38 is the first half of my interview with Marcus, a dynamic and interesting professional speaker and author.

So, what are you doing reading this? Go on over and check out Beth Case’s blog and download the interview. Also, make sure to come back to her site later for part 2!

More CSUN information

Here are a couple more notes about the CSUN conference.

On the SpeEdChange blog, Ira Socol shares an interesting understanding of one conference session attended about the
Accessible Technology Initiative
That exists within the California State University system.

In the blog post, Ira said that it was, “rough to listen to - university administrators being so fond of acronyms that most of their speech is incomprehensible to anyone outside the system - but it was well worth listening to because every school, at every level, in every nation, will need to perform similar tasks very soon.”

These tasks include “web Accessibility, instructional Materials, technology Procurement, and library Materials, with the goal of a Universal Design-based system fully in place and operating by 2012.”

Universal design integrated as part of an education system’s mission. Now, that’s a great idea!

Ira also has other postings from CSUN on the
SpeEdChange blog Home page
That you might want to check out.

Also, if you want more information about what is going on at CSUN right now, perhaps the best thing to do is visit the
CSUN conference site,
produced by Lets Go Expo. Here, you can find the latest, most up to date CSUN information, names of featured presenters, and sessions being presented. There is even a link that will allow you to view webcasts from the event. So, if you couldn’t make it to CSUN, you may still be able to take in the happenings from the privacy of your home or office.

Its just a thought, but wouldn’t it be nice if these webcasts were archived for future access?

Watch for more posts here about CSUN as it is available.

News article illustrates need for colleges to have service animal policy

Here is an interesting news article about a
Tenessee man’s experience with his service dog ,
including the challenges he encountered when attempting to go to class.

On the surface, the news article appears to be a human interest feature demonstrating the man’s adaptation to changing life situations. However, it is ultimately an illustration of the difficulties all sides face when a university does not have a service animal policy in place. The student faced hardships and barriers that should not have to be encountered in this enlightened 21st century where we have the Americans with Disabilities Act as a guide. Additionally, due to lack of foresight and proactive policies, the university looked Ill-prepared to manage a situation that had a common sense response.

Although this man trained his service dog himself, the article reports that she is registered with the
Service Animal Registry of America,
SARA, an apparently respectable and qualified resource for this type of information. The organization’s web site could serve well as a resource one might want to bookmark for future reference.

This story very clearly points out the fact that service animals are not always those used by blind people.

A few paragraphs from that story:
“With attending a public university that has no service animal policy, Michleski was met with hesitation and some disapproval from those who had never encountered a four-legged addition to a student that was not a pet. “

“Michleski explained how he was confronted by certain university officials concerning the use of Maggie and initially was escorted off of campus by safety and security until the matter could be resolved.”

“After deliberation between the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Michleski and UTM, the student was eventually allowed back on campus with a temporary policy in place exclusively for Michleski's situation. “

Again, this paints a very ugly picture of what can happen for everybody when a college isn’t prepared.

So, how about your school? Does it have a service animal policy?

CSUN conference on Technology and People with Disabilities

If you haven’t noticed, it is time for the 22nd annual CSUN Conference on Technology and People with Disabilities.

Maybe you know all too well that the conference is going on, but due to some scheduling or funding conflict, you aren’t able to attend the highly-anticipated California State University event.

Fear not, as there are a variety of resources to keep you up on the happenings at what is often simply referred to as "CSUN."

As I’ve reported here before,
EASI,
The website for Equal Access to Software and Information, is going to upload podcasts on the
EASI podcast conference page.
Bookmark that site and check back regularly or subscribe to the feed to keep up to date on the latest postings from CSUN. Also, you might want to check out the previously posted podcasts from last year’s CSUN for some good informational resources, including Learning Disabilities and Postsecondary Education.)

Two credible bloggers are also reporting with current posts from the conference as well.

Jeff Bishop, from the Main Menu program On the American Council of the Blind’s ACBRadio, is posting his CSUN observations on his blog
The Desert Skies.
As a matter of fact, he has already posted his first CSUN entry.
Additionally, if you’re interested in podcasts, Jeff has also posted information about how to subscribe to his podcast feed for more in depth discussion about what he takes in at the conference.

And, finally, Ranger1138, another favorite blogger of mine on the subject of assistive technology, is also at the event and posting to his blog,
The Ranger Station.
Sorry, Ranger, you’re running behind. Jeff’s already posting from CSUN. Better hurry up and log on.

So, if you’re not at CSUN, check out these resources for updates. And, if you have others to share, please leave a reply and share them.

COAT, The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology

All you outlaws, take note; there is a new sherrif in town.

COAT, the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, is a newly united gathering of established disability organizations working as a single entity to persuade the “powers that be” of the information technology sector, that providing accessibility is the right thing to do.

(I just learned about this worthy endeavor through Teri Adams’
Crip Chronicles,
An intelligent, thought-provoking blog written from her unique and interesting perspective on the world. I came across the Crip Chronicles through a news alert, but have found it compelling enough reading that I’ve included it in my regular RSS feeds. Check it out, I think you’ll find Teri’s writing interesting and worth your while.)

While the
official COAT press release
is dated December 17, 2007, I'm guessing that the year is a typo and it was probably issued this past December. Even if you find this to be a bit of old news, it is nonetheless an interesting gathering of some of the major disability rights organizations gathered for a single cause. You can see this list at the end of the press release.

The press release reads as follows:

Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology Launched For Full Disability Access in the 21st Century
WASHINGTON, March 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Get your COAT! Today, a new coalition of disability organizations was launched to advocate for legislative and regulatory safeguards that will ensure full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed broadband, wireless and other Internet protocol (IP) technologies. The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, or "COAT," consists of over 45 national, regional, and community-based organizations dedicated to making sure that as our nation migrates from legacy public switched-based telecommunications to more versatile and innovative IP-based and other communication technologies, people with disabilities will not be left behind. Emerging digital and Internet-based technologies can provide people with disabilities with new opportunities for greater independence,integration, and privacy, but only if these are designed to be accessible.
The guiding principle of this Coalition will be to ensure the full inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of daily living through accessible, affordable and usable communication technologies as these continue to evolve. To this end, and in order to achieve equal access in the 21st century, COAT has identified the following initial broad objectives:
* Extend current disability protections under Sections 255 and 710 of the Communications Act to IP technologies with improved accountability and enforcement measures, to ensure more accessibility, usability and interoperability for all persons with disabilities, including persons who are aging.
* Expand the scope of devices that must transmit and display closed captions under the Decoder Circuitry Act from the present requirement of television sets with screens that are 13 inches or larger to video devices of all sizes, including recording and playback devices, that are designed to receive or display digital and Internet programming.
* Apply existing captioning obligations under Section 713 of the Communications Act to IPTV and other types of multi-channel video programming services that are commercially distributed over the Internet.
* Restore the video description rules originally promulgated by the FCC in 2000 (overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit) and ensure that this access continues in the transition to digital television programming.
* Extend existing relay service obligations under Section 225 of the Communications Act to VoIP providers (i.e., extend the obligation to contribute to the interstate relay fund that supports these services), including obligations for greater outreach to consumers.
* Require accessible interfaces on video programming and playback devices, such as televisions, VCRs, and DVD players.
* Ensure that people with disabilities have equivalent access to emergency information through identification of barriers and implementation of solutions in current and new technologies, including solutions for achieving access by people with disabilities to 911 emergency PSAPs through the receipt of text and video.
* Ensure universal service fund availability for persons with disabilities (e.g., Lifeline/Link-up programs), to increase the number of people with disabilities as broadband users.
The above objectives were recommended in a report released by the National Council on Disability: The Need for Federal Legislation and Regulation Prohibiting Telecommunications and Information Services Discrimination, available at
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2006/discrimination.htm
(released
December 16, 2007).
COAT MEMBERS*

National organizations
1. Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
2. Alliance for Technology Access
3. American Association of People with Disabilities
4. American Association of the Deaf-Blind
5. American Council of the Blind
6. American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association
7. American Foundation for the Blind
8. American Society for Deaf Children
9. Assistive Technology Industry Association
10. Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs
11. Association of Late-Deafened Adults
12. Communication Service for the Deaf
13. Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf
14. Deafness Research Foundation
15. Deaf Seniors of America
16. Gallaudet University
17. Gallaudet University Alumni Association
18. Hearing Loss Association of America
19. Helen Keller National Center
20. Inclusive Technologies
21. International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet
22. National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments
23. National Association of the Deaf
24. National Black Deaf Advocates
25. National Catholic Office of the Deaf
26. National Court Reporters Association
27. National Cued Speech Association
28. Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
29. Speech Communication Assistance by Telephone, Inc.
30. Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc.
31. USA Deaf Sports Federation
32. WGBH Media Access Group
33. World Institute on Disability

Regional and Community-Based Organizations
1. Association of Late Deafened Adults, East Bay - Northern California
2. Center on Deafness - Inland Empire
3. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Service Center, Inc. Fresno
4. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Service Center, Inc. Roanoke, Virginia
5. Deaf Community Services of San Diego, Inc.
6. Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency, San Leandro
7. Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness
8. Hearing Loss of Northwest Indiana Support Group for Hoosiers
9. Northern California Center on Deafness
10. North Carolina Governor's Advocacy Council for Persons with Disabilities
11. Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons
12. Orange County Deaf Equal Access Foundation
13. Roanoke Valley Club of the Deaf
14. San Diego - Hearing Loss Network
15. Tri-County GLAD

New game device may be promising as assistive technology

There is interesting news in computer gaming that may have broader future applications as an assistive technology peripheral device.

At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Emotiv Systems introduced a breakthrough brain-computer interface system that allows the game player to interact using only their thoughts and facial expressions with the computer via a helmet wired to the pc.
The Project Epoch
Reflects the user’s facial expressions and excitement/calmness level, and also allows the person to move computer objects with their thoughts.

According to the article linked above:
“Sensors in the helmet pick up on electric signals in the brain. The system software analyzes the signals emitted by the brain and then wirelessly relays what it detects to a receiver. The receiver is plugged into the USB port of a game console or PC, according to Randy Breen, Emotiv's chief product officer.”
“As with handwriting or voice recognition, the machine itself has a learning curve, improving as it better understands what the player is thinking, but there is also a skill level involving visualization on the part of the gamer.”


Can you imagine the potential of this system if it were applied to a situation where the person were quadraplegic or missing a limb? I’m sure there are other uses that can be realized, but these are the ones that immediately came to my mind when I read this news. By Joining the functionality that the Project Epoch employs with the latest innovations in robotics, a person with some particular disabilities can see a quality of life that could only be dreamed about in previous times.

Early anecdotal feedback of the Project Epoch System reports that children do better using this device than adults. Might this be due to the ability of children to imagine possibilities beyond their normal limitations? If this feedback is correct, and this system can be used in the situations I’ve described above, then it would be essential to instill the belief in the person with a disability that he/she can do things that were previously impossible. Come to think of it, that's not necessarily a bad state of mind for any of us to have.

Assistive technology roundup-- lots of news

I’ve discovered a lot of information about assistive technology in the news of late. Instead of writing individual posts about each item, I thought I’d do a more comprehensive AT round up. So, head ‘em up and move ‘em out, here we go!

Some of the more innovative uses of assistive technology are its applications at the
Center for the Intrepid,
the newly opened, state of the art rehab facility for severely burned and injured soldiers, located near San Antonio, Texas.

In what other setting might one find a firing range simulator as an application of assistive technology to aid in physical rehabilitation?

Although this isn’t exactly postsecondary DSS, these novel applications of AT are landmarks and are assisting a most worthy audience. These soldiers have sacrificed for our freedom and liberty, so let’s give them the best that we can for their recovery.

Voice of America
has been a mainstay on the airwaves of many countries across the globe for several decades. I only knew of this pro-democracy radio network through reading about it in books and history class. I’ve never actually tuned my radio in to a VOA broadcast. However, in this modern internet age, one doesn’t need a radio to listen to VOA. They provide on-line webcasts and podcasts, including accessible transcripts of these shows.

NO, Access Ability has not been commandeered as a shill for the U.S. government.

My reason for writing about VOA is that they recently aired a broadcast on
Assistive technology.
This was actually the third in a four-part series on people with disabilities. The first part aired in January and was on education, while February’s was about employment. If you missed these prior broadcasts and want to check them out, VOA has them archived at
voaspecialenglish.com.

If you don’t like the voice of America, then you might like to go to Japan where
The sidewalks talk.

The Associated Press article linked above reports that Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district has embedded 1,200 computer chips, transmitting information to receivers in portable media players that shoppers carry around their necks. The Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology Project, one of several applications of this AT across Japan, sends information about the shops that the users are strolling near to the media devices that also feature a small video screen.

“In front of Mitsukoshi Department Store, a voice explained how a statue of a lion has long been the store's trademark. Cross the street to Nissan Motor Co.'s showroom, and the gadget automatically switched to a chip at the showroom. "Welcome to Nissan Ginza gallery," a woman who appears on the video screen says. By pushing buttons on the device, the user can see additional information, such as a map or a historical photo.”

The use of technology such as this presents itself as an accessible , guided tour for the user, even if they are visually impaired. It has been previously employed in a similar fashion at national blindness conferences by
Talking Signs Inc.,
And is also akin to those already in place at some museums and national landmarks such as the Franklin D. Roosevelt monument in Washington DC.

The final piece of AT news that I want to share is about
Dadnab - Transit at your fingertips.
This is a melding of information technology that brings transit schedules to a user via text message. The assistive technology is brought about when it is information gathered by a blind user needing to know his/her bus or train route and has a cell phone with either the Talks or Mobile Speak screen readers.

This last application of AT was gained via
Wayne’s blog,
the personal blog of Wayne Merritt, a technology trainer at the Criss Cole Blind rehabilitation Center in Austin. Read Wayne’s post on Dadnab to fully understand and appreciate how this tech fusion can bring quick information access to a blind commuter relying on a city’s metro service for transportation.

That 'bout wraps up today's assistive technology roundup, pardner. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

Kidney Early Evaluation Program offering free screenings

Until I read a recent letter in
Dear Abby
about the National Kidney Foundation sponsoring the
Kidney Early Evaluation Program,
or KEEP, I was unaware that such a program even existed.

However, now that I am aware of it, I can work to pass along the news of this great screening program in hopes that the news gets disseminated even further.

March 8 is World Kidney Day and it is the day that the NKF is offering these free screenings.

According to the author of the letter in Dear Abby, 20 million, or 1 out of every 9, adults in America have chronic kidney disease and another 20 million are at risk of it.

KEEP is offering free evaluations to people at high risk of kidney disease and has been doing this since the year 2000. Those at high risk include those with diabetes and high blood pressure, two of the leading causes of kidney disease, as well as a family history of kidney disease. The screening is able to find symptoms of kidney disease that might otherwise go undetected with traditional screenings and tests most patients undergo.

To locate the nearest center offering screenings,, check out
www.keeponline.org
or call 800-622-9010.

Awareness is preventative medicine at its best, so please share the news of this screening to those you know that may be at high risk of kidney disease.

Interview submitted to Disability 411

I spent Friday morning conducting an interview for submission to the
Disability 411 podcast.
Beth had recently sent out a call for guest submissions to help her manage recent time crunches on Disability 411. With that opening, I figured I’d take my first crack at the world of podcasting and called up a good friend,
Marcus Engel,
To be the interviewee for my freshman introduction.

I have known Marcus for twelve years and find him to be an interesting and fascinating man. He is a 31-year old professional speaker and author of two books. He was blinded at age 18 in 1993 as the result of an auto accident when the car he was riding in was hit by a drunk driver. After more than 300 hours of surgery, most of it above the neck, Mark redirected his life with a positive attitude and a personal motivation for success.

I don’t know if Beth will select this interview for inclusion in her podcast, but I certainly hope she will. Granted the interviewer sort of stumbles a bit in his questioning, but give him a break. It is his first podcast effort. As for Marcus, his replies are interesting and thought provoking.

Whether she uses the interview in her podcast or not, Marcus is donating signed copies of both his books for Beth to give away to listeners of Disability 411. He is also offering a computer file of his manuscripts to those with a disability that keeps them from reading printed material. They can get this by simply emailing him through his website. Now, that’s accessibility!

To learn more about Marcus, click the link above for his official home page. On that site, you can also subscribe to the monthly newsletter that he writes. As if the speaking schedule, book and newsletter writing weren’t enough, Marcus also writes
Engel’s Ensights,
His personal blog with updates on a regular basis.

LearnOutLoud.com appears promising, but has accessibility concerns

I recently learned of an interesting clearinghouse for audio and video learning resources.

LearnOutLoud.com
Claims to have more than 10,000 educational audio books, podcasts, mp3 downloads, as well as videos at its disposal. They boast to have the internet’s largest collection of these items. Of this vast collection, they have more than 500 audio and video titles which are free. It does have a searchable database that appears to have strong potential.
The site also hawks an e-magazine and a “Free resource of the day” email.

This all sounds good and promising, but I have not personally delved any deeper into their offerings beyond the home page. I find the web site to be very cluttered and several of the links in dire need of alt tags. It is not very screen reader friendly and that’s both sad and ironic. It would be to the advantage of the site’s owners if they would realize that their project could be of great service to the population of students with disabilities, but to serve this population, they will need to address the accessibility of the overall site.

Senator Harkin: Congress may be restoring ADA

Hark, hark, Senator Harkin!

If you missed it, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) remarked in a Feb. 27 presentation that the new Congress may push for
restoring the Americans with Disabilities ACT.
He commented that the ADA has been defined narrower than Congress had originally intended.
He also dogged the current Medicare policy restricting wheelchair purchases to only those appropriate around the home, giving no regard to people with disabilities being mobile and activbe in the communities within which they live.

Breast cancer drug trial results appear biased

In research and statistics classes, one idea is often repeated—be skeptical of statistics. It is not meant to degrade the value of statistical information, but more as a guide to pursue the purpose of the provided statistical information. The professors want students to evaluate the source of the research, usually by examining who provided the funding for the research. To be objective, research should be free of bias.

Unfortunately, bias seems to be the case being reflected in a world where advances and growing awareness are regularly reported—breast cancer research. In a Mcclatchy Newspapers article, it is noted that
Funding seems to affect breast cancer drug trial results.

According to the article:
“Some 84 percent of company-supported drug studies published in 10 major medical journals in 2003 reported positive results about the breast cancer drugs they investigated, according to an analysis by Dr. Jeffrey Peppercorn, a cancer physician and researcher at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's School of Medicine, and colleagues at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.”

“Non-industry supported studies were far less likely to be upbeat, publishing favorable results just 54 percent of the time.”

Compare and digest those numbers: 84% favorable when it is company funded research versus 54% favorable when studies were independent.

It doesn’t take a statistics major to figure that this equals a 30% differential when the drug companies are not funding the research.

If the statistical research being submitted is as skewed as this article reports, then This is truly sad. Breast cancer is a dangerous killer and honest research needs to be conducted to maintain a vigilant battle to defeat this beast.

We are taught that statistics are just numbers. We are also taught that just because the difference exists, this does not infer any causal relationship. However, recognizing this difference does make my eyebrows raise, oh, about 100% of the time.

Assistive technology allows "low functioning autistic" to function beautifully

I usually use the forum of Access Ability to provide links to web sites that provide qualified and worthy resources or news that is of interest to DSS professionals. As a result, I limit links to any personal blogs, as many are only personal soapboxes and do not usually provide credible, professional information. However, I have discovered one that is definitely worthy of the attention of DSS professionals. Let me direct you to
Ballastexistenz,
The blog site of Amanda Baggs, a woman with autism.

Her doctors describe Ms. Baggs as “a low-functioning autistic.” However, when you read her blog, you will see that this label is very misleading. What this misnomer fails to grasp is the stimulating intellect that Ms. Baggs’ possesses. The mind which hides behind her disabling condition can totally flourish when provided the proper assistive technology.

Ms. Baggs is a video blogger with a demonstrative video posted under her on-line name of
SilentMiaow
posted on Youtube. Her video
in my language
was shot, edited, and posted by Ms. Baggs herself.

On the link of her blog marked “About,” Ms. Baggs explains the insightful and thought-provoking source of the name of her blog and further discloses:
I am a non-speaking physically disabled and autistic woman who’s lived in institutions, whose income comes from a disability check, and whose services are funded by the state.”

“This blog is about assorted ideas, but most will have something to do with human rights, autistic liberation, disability rights, and so forth.”

Check out her blog and see what I’m talking about. For somebody who classifies herself as “non-speaking,” she sure has a lot to say…and she says a lot that is worthwhile. Her video is a strong statement of this fact.

I originally came across this post through another blogger’s writing about Ms. Baggs via a news alert for the terms “assistive technology.” I think her Ballastexistenz blog demonstrates a hallmark example of what strides people with disabilities can gain via AT.

NAD celebrating Read Captions Across America

On March 2, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is launching its 2nd
Read Captions Across America Campaign.
This event is in conjunction with the National Education Association’s (NEA) Read Across America celebration.

In the press release on its web site, the NAD explains this observance as:
“Read Captions Across America puts emphasis on the importance of captioned media (DVD, CD-ROM and Internet streaming) as a reading tool for deaf and hearing children alike.”

“The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP), administered by the NAD and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is organizing and promoting Read Captions Across America and loaning captioned media for the event as well. “We are pleased to be joining the NEA in celebrating the joy of reading,” says Nancy J. Bloch, NAD Chief Executive Officer. ‘Teachers and parents of young children are fast discovering the benefits of captioned media in fostering literacy development.’”

“Captions are text forms of the spoken word and often convey sound effects. Captions and subtitles can be carried on DVD, videotape, broadcast TV and cable TV. Also, an increasing amount of content on the Internet has sound, with some of it being captioned. While captions were originally developed for deaf and hard of hearing persons, they are increasingly used by others to develop reading skills.”

Please share the news of this great awareness campaign. While they are marking this observance during the week of March 2, and the week following, both Read Captions Across America and Read Across America are year-long campaigns.

New E-Journal from Access Technologists Higher Education Network

I have previously posted about the
Access Technologist Higher Education Network,
or ATHEN, so their name should not be new to those who have been reading this blog for a while.

However, what is new is that this proactive assistive technology group has just published their second issue of
The ATHEN E-Journal.

This issue’s focus is on web accessibility and higher education, strongly emphasizing providing future support and training. The articles listed in the journal include:
* Welcome to the ATHEN E-Journal Issue #2
* Accessible Electronic & Information Technology: Legal Obligations of Higher Education and Section 508
* Cultivating and Maintaining Web Accessibility Expertise and Institutional Support in Higher Education
* Accessibility Training for Distance Learning Personnel
* Case Studies in Training and Professional Development for Web Accessibility
* Contributors

Take the time to check it out. The E-journal has some good information and resources. While you’re at it, also bookmark the ATHEN site as an on-going resource to turn to for updated information in the access technology newsfront.

Two assistive technology resources

Today, I present two leads for assistive technology, one I discovered on my own and the other is a user review describing his adaptation of a gaming keyboard, turning it into an assistive technology device.

After a recent hard drive crash on my old computer, I was forced into looking at getting a new pc. In doing this, the one thing that I knew I wanted to avoid was getting a computer with the new Microsoft Vista operating system. I use JAWS as my screen reader and the newness that is Vista was something JAWS wasn’t quite up to handling just yet. I had no problem finding a pc with Windows XP and was soon back in the digital world.

One thing I took for granted on my old computer was the CD burning program, Record Now. That program had come installed as part of the manufacturer’s package and I was happily surprised when first using it because I found it was designed with accessibility in mind. There was even an accessibility heading under the help menu which told how the manufacturer wanted the software to work with screen readers.

When I first attempted to burn some files onto a CD on the new machine, I had to look around the programs to find the one to use. There are actually three applications on here that can do the job, but, unfortunately, none of them are very accessible, nor are they designed to be intuitive in their operation. This brought me to search for an accessible CD burning program.

Fortunately, this search didn’t take too long. I quickly found the Premiere CD/DVD Creator manufactured by
Premiere Assistive Software.
The program was easy to locate and download and, best of all, it was free. More than that, though, is that it was designed to be accessible to screen readers.

I instantly recognized the Premiere Assistive Software name, as it was the manufacturer of some software programs we used in providing DSS to students at my last position. The main draw of their software for our job was that they did the tasks we needed very well and were affordable. The link above will take you to a page listing all the available titles. Some, like the CD/DVD Creator and talking calculator, are free.

The other item I want to share is how somebody took a
Logitech G11 gaming keyboard
that was not intended as assistive technology, but after he saw the device’s abilities, quickly understood how it could be made to meet his AT needs. The focus is the keyboard’s additional, programmable function and mode keys. Instead of assigning game functions to these keys, the user assigned executable macros to them and made it function as AT to assist him in overcoming his physical limitations.

Again, technology not specifically designed to work as AT fits well into the DSS domain. This is the true beauty of designing products with universal access. If only the manufacturer’s could see this, they could open up new markets for their products.

Informative article about epilepsy

I want to tell you about an interesting article in today’s
New York Times.

Though the article focuses on the life experiences of a 12-year old girl with epilepsy and the impact on her family as well as herself, ,it provides a good overall understanding of the difficulties faced with this neurological disability. It discusses the trade-off of having the seizures versus the often impairing side effects of medication and also the role diet may play in the management of the disorder. It also explores the social stigma associated with epilepsy.

Some statistics in the article worth noting:
*50 million people worldwide have epilepsy
*2.7 million Americans have epilepsy
* There are more Americans with epilepsy than those with Parkinson’s disease, Multiple sclerosis, and Lou Gherig’s disease combined
* 30% of the people with epilepsy have seizures which are not controlled by existing treatments

I have had several close friendships over my lifetime with people who have epilepsy and thought I knew a lot about the disorder, yet still found the article very insightful and informative, learning things I had not previously known about epilepsy. Check it out— it is a good read. (Remember that the Times requires registration to read their articles, but it is free.)

Adaptech Research Network-- a great DSS resource

I have just recently learned about a Canadian web site that seems very promising in what it brings to the table for DSS. While it is from our northern neighbor, the information presents a strong parallel to U.S. colleges and universities.


The Adaptech Research Network
Has information that should be of interest to any DSS provider. It offers resources that would fit in with any program. They are also seeking input that DSS providers should have thoughts on.

On its website, ARN is seeking informational input about free or low-cost software programs that would be beneficial to students with disabilities. By low-cost, they mean under $200. If you have names of software titles you would like to share, email
catherine.fichten@mcgill.ca

She would also like the name of the companies that manufacture the software, if you have it.

The reason for this query is to expand the ARN’s
database of free and low-cost software.
They have recently updated their database, but are continuously seeking to expand the listings. They would also like any input you might offer on the usability of the library. If you have any comments, please email Catherine at the email address above.

Additionally, the ARN has recent data that is of interest to DSS professionals. They have conducted research into graduation/employment rates of students with disabilities, comparing these rates to the non-disabled student population.

Here is a synopsis of the study from their website:
“The Adaptech Research Network in collaboration with our partners recently completed three studies whose goal was to explore obstacles and facilitators to college studies and examine what happens to college graduates with and without disabilities a year after graduation. Participants were: 182 graduates with and 1304 without disabilities from three large junior/community colleges, 57 college based professionals providing disability-related services, and 300 students with disabilities who were registered to receive disability related services from their college. While current students with disabilities indicated that disability-related accommodations such as extended time on exams were important facilitators, for the most part these students, as well as graduates with disabilities, mentioned the same facilitators as their nondisabled peers. The same was generally true for obstacles. The main difference here was that students and graduates with disabilities cited disability-related issues, such as health, as a major obstacle. Graduates with and without disabilities continued their studies and obtained jobs at the same rate as nondisabled graduates.”

You can download the executive summary of their report in either MS-Word or PDF format from their web site linked above.

EASI offering podcasts, tips for creating accessible web seminar

I have previously posted information about
EASI,
the web site for Equal Access to Software and Information. These are usually about educational seminars teaching how to create accessible materials. Today, I will share two more resources from EASI, one that is a new feature and another web seminar they are offering.

Podcasts have grown in popularity as a timely and useful medium to get information to users. Many colleges are employing podcasts in some manner, either as part of information distribution of course material or as informational outreach. EASI is no different and is also making some of their information available with a
podcast page
recently added to their site.

The staff from EASI will report from next month’s CSUN Conference on Technology and People with Disabilities. This is the 22nd edition of this annual event and EASI is going to bring highlights of the event to you by means of their podcasts. So, if you’re not able to make it, but want to know the latest scoop in AT and what is cutting edge out there, watch the EASI podcast page for updates.

The other EASI tool that I want to share is an upcoming web seminar on
Making web seminars accessible.

This is a free seminar, but you need to register in advance to participate.

The seminar is being presented on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 2 pm Eastern.

If your school offers web seminars in any form, then it is imperative to have these accessible to all students. If it is not the DSS office teaching accessibility to the creators of your school’s seminars, then who is?

The price is right for this seminar. Check it out and see what they have to teach.

Regenerating fingers and limbs

This is the first of several posts I want to write today. There is a lot of good stuff in the news of late and I want to give each subject it’s own post. Consider yourself warned!

Last week, I posted a short piece here about scientists discovering methods to make the spine regenerate in rats. In a related story, some other scientists are working on
digit and, in the future, limb regeneration.

An extract of pig’s bladder is marketed by a company named Acell Inc, which is used to regrow ligaments in horses, and is also now approved by the federal government for use on people. This compound has already been successfully used to regenerate the fingertip on a man who was involved in an accident with a table saw.

Further, there are anomalies in nature that defy human understanding. Salamenders can regrow limbs and a particular breed of mouse can heal itself. Scientists are studying these animals to learn the genetics involved and if these can be used in the future to help humans heal.

These medical advances offer potential that has before been unthinkable. They present hope for some restoration for people who have damaged or missing appendages or limbs. And, that is only the near future prospects. When examining the potential research that can branch off from these findings, the potential advances are even more encouraging.

According to the Associated Press article:
“The implications for regrowing fingers go beyond the cosmetic. People who are missing all or most of their fingers, as from an explosion or a fire, often can't pick things up, brush their teeth or button a button. If they could grow even a small stub, it could make a huge difference in their lives.”

“And the lessons learned from studying regrowth of fingers and limbs could aid the larger field of regenerative medicine, perhaps someday helping people replace damaged parts of their hearts and spinal cords, and heal wounds and burns with new skin instead of scar tissue.”


While this news may not be necessarily central to providing service to people with disabilities, it is, nonetheless, encouraging for a particular segment of the DSS population. I offer it here on Access Ability as an informational conduit for these people.

Unintended innovation becomes assistive technology

Every now and then, a product comes along that has an unintended feature that makes it a useful piece of assistive technology. Such is the case of two voicemail management programs.

The original pitch of these two products is to make getting access to one’s cell phone’s voicemail easier to manage without burning up precious minutes of your calling plan. If you’ve ever experienced the prolonged messages that begin most cell phone voicemail programs, they seem to take forever before allowing you to respond by pushing your desired action to retreive messages. Then, some programs also make you listen to the entire length of each voicemail message before allowing you to decide to keep or delete each one. All of these tasks take away some of those precious minutes of your call plan, which is what both
Simulscribe
and
Spinbox
Are initially targeting in their offered services.

However, when you understand what they are offering is voice-to-text transcription service for voicemail messages that are then sent to the user as either an email or a text message which can be read on the subscriber’s mobile phone or PDA, it seems clear that this might very well be useful to people who are deaf.

The primary difference in what the two companies are offering is price-- Spinbox is free and Simulscribe costs$10 monthly for 40 messages. However, the idea is an innovative way to quickly get audio messages to people who wouldn’t otherwise hear them.

To read a more in-depth review of these two offerings, check out the article in today’s
New York Times.
(The Times requires on-line readers to register, but it is free.)

Some informational notes from that article:

“SimulScribe is available right now. It costs $10 a month, which covers 40 messages; each additional transcription costs 25 cents. This can become very expensive if you get a lot of messages. The company plans to offer better deals for frequent phoners — including an unlimited plan — in the coming months.”

“SpinVox, on the other hand, has been operating in Britain for some time. It will be free during its year of testing in the United States. To sign up for the free year, send an e-mail inquiry to gamma@spinvox.com. (Ignore the “seven-day trial” offered at spinvox.com; that’s just for British customers.) Eventually — in the second half of this year, SpinVox says — the service will be available in the United States only through cellular carriers; pricing hasn’t been set. That’s right: you’ll be able to spend more money with your carrier to spend less time on its voice mail system.”

“When you sign up for either service, an e-mail message gives you instructions for reprogramming your phone. For most carriers, that involves dialing a string of numbers with * and # characters; for Sprint, you have to call customer service. Either way, this process reroutes incoming messages to the SpinVox or SimulScribe service. (Until you re-record the greeting, callers hear a generic “Welcome to SimulScribe” or “Welcome to SpinVox” message.)”

News: Scooter giveaway, Spinal breakthrough

In my daily scanning of news for anything worth posting here, I came across two items today that caught my attention.

First, The Scooter Store—yes, the same one that you see repeatedly on television promoting mobility—is sponsoring a national concert tour raising funds to fight Multiple Sclerosis. Additionally, The Scooter Store will
give away a scooter
at each of the 53 cities that the tour plays.

The series is the Roger Neal and Friends Sing for MS Concert Tour, a Southern Gospel show.

I figure that I’d mention it here as an informative service. Besides, if you have a student who could benefit from a new scooter, please share this with him or her.

The second bit of news I have today is to pass along something that is pretty groundbreaking. In a recent study, researchers at Johns Hopkins have proven that
the spine can repair itself.
This study has disproven the long-held idea that the spine was incapable of repairing itself. The results of this study are based on clinical trials with rats, but the results offer promise and hope for the many people who have suffered a spinal injury. Only time will tell where this leads.

Class teaches students about disability

Every now and then, an innovative program pops up on a college curriculum that makes me sit up and take notice.

Such is the case of the new course being offered at the University of California Santa Cruz. The new
Course teaches UCSC students about disability.
This credit course offers students much more understanding than the typical disability awareness day or, at best, week usually offered up at colleges and universities.

According to the official UCSC web site:
“The University of California, Santa Cruz, is offering a new general education course on universal access and assistive technology, enabling students from all majors to learn more about disability and the issues that surround it.”

Did you notice "universal access" is part of the objective. Hooray for this great insight!

The professor for the class is Roberto Manduchi, an associate professor in computer engineering. Manduchi’s research has included work on assistive technology. The class will also feature guest lecturers in various aspects of the field: experts who study disability; professionals who work with people with disabilities; and some people who have disabilities themselves.

There is a quote from Manduchi on the site that really makes the course sound intriguing:
"There is some technology involved, because this is an engineering course. But mostly the emphasis is on understanding the physiology, psychology, and sociology of disability."

In addition to the class work, there will also be a project required of the students. This might include learning some American Sign Language or spending 24 hours with somebody with a disability.

It sounds like this is a computer engineering course on the surface, but in a deeper sense, this is a broader study of understanding disabilities.

Good work, UCSC!

Disability rights: It is not one world

While the following is not particularly about DSS at a postsecondary institution, it is, nonetheless, a brief discussion about the rights appreciated by people with disabilities here in the United States.

Reknowned radio commentator and newsman Paul Harvey invokes a phrase when discussing subjects that reflect situations in other countries that play out differently than they might have here in the good old U.S. of A. He usually closes these narratives by highlighting, “It is not one world.”

The same might be said when discussing disability law and the rights of people with disabilities. Remember that the ADA is the “Americans” with Disabilities Act. These rights do not go beyond our border, not even to our closest neighbor to the south, Mexico.

A recent Houston Chronicle article illustrates the
plight of Mexicans with disabilities
through Joaquin Alva, a man who was paralyzed from the chest down in an auto accident. He now uses a wheelchair and walks with the assistance of elbow crutches and leg braces. He is a 31-year old government worker and is also a stalwart disability advocate.

The article reports:
“When a Mexico City-based health-club chain barred him from using its facilities, the 31-year-old federal government worker decided to teach the company a lesson in disability rights.
He's achieved more than that. In a country where the disabled have long lived on the fringes of society, suffered discrimination or simply been ignored, Alva has made their plight headline news. And in the process, he's shamed the government into enforcing, in his case, its much-touted new laws protecting disabled rights.
It took five months. But faced with a lawsuit, government fines and a public relations nightmare, Sports World agreed to make its 10 health clubs disabled-accessible within three months.
It also has accepted Alva's proposal to provide 30 free memberships for the disabled, including 15 members of Mexico's Special Olympics squad.”

The article points out that even though Mexico has had disability rights laws since 1995, enforcement, the teeth that make legislation work, has been spotty at best. The implication is that without activism to bring about action, none will be taken.

Here in America, we have the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as well as various state laws to support the rights of those with disabilities. The laws allow for legal recourse and these may be pursued by the very people who find themselves discriminated against. While our system of laws isn’t always perfect, the rights of people with disabilities are given a good base to stand on. We may not always appreciate the rights we have until we look elsewhere to see what isn’t there.

Also, remember that, even if there are problems, Mexico does have laws protecting the rights of people with disabilities. With these in place and better enforcement, the situation for people with disabilities can only get better. There are other countries that have no laws protecting the rights of these people.

Mr. Harvey, you are correct-- It is not one world.

Cerebral palsy resource web sites

At my most recent position, I was a little surprised at the number of students on my caseload whose disability was cerebral palsy. There were more people than I had anticipated who were managing the spectrum of impairments associated with this condition Hence, I had to study up on CP and learn more of what to expect so I could better serve my students. My prior experience was limited to knowing only one person who has cerebral palsy, an inspiring young lady and good friend, who was Ms Wheelchair Texas 2005.

If you are looking for a couple of good resources to increase your understanding of cerebral palsy, I offer the following two web sites.

First, the intuitive resource for CP would be the
United Cerebral Palsy
Home page.

The UCP site offers some very useful information for understanding CP and is also a good resource for disability advocacy/rights in general.

Secondly, you should also check out the
Cerebral palsy information
Site.

While this site is intended as a resource for K-12 educators, it is nonetheless useful for anybody seeking more understanding about the impairments that accompany cerebral palsy in the education setting.

While these two web sites are far from being everything one would need to have comprehensive cerebral palsy resources, they are definitely good additions to keep bookmarked.

Two more web resources

Today, I want to tell you about two websites that offer rich resources for disability support service. They are useful to bookmark and come back to when needed.

First, I offer

Accessibility Resources,
A virtual compendium of anything related to accessibility. The site is a blog created by the
Virtual Private Library.
There is more information here about accessibility resources than I’ve seen collected in any one location anywhere else.

Secondly, there is
Assistive Technology for hearing impaired students,
A pretty good compilation of resources specific to the needs of deaf and hearing impaired students. It is the latest post to Special Education and Technology, a fairly new blog that appears promising.

These are just more resources to be aware of. Information is power, so check these sites out and consider yourself recharged for the day.

Hackers exploit Vist'as voice recognition

Well, well, well. What do you know? It took until the release of Windows Vista, but they’re finally taking notice of assisstive technology.

Those involved in the world of AT would love for more people to take notice of what is out there and make use of it. Unfortunately, the “they” in this case is not good. The first reported exploit in the just-released Windows Vista operating system has been revealed –
Hackers exploit Vista’s voice recognition.

In the InfoWorld article linked above, the term “Shouthack” is used to identify the first reported break in the new premiere Microsoft operating system.

According to the article:
“Microsoft researchers are investigating the reports of a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to use the speech recognition feature to run malicious programs on Vista systems using prerecorded verbal commands, the company said in an e-mail statement.”

For the full details, read the entire InfoWorld article. It also gives insight on how to prevent execution of this malicious hack.

Voice Recognition has been a breakthrough that has provided great access to many for several years, most notably through Dragon’s top of the line program. It is actually sad that the first time such a useful feature is incorporated into the newest offering of the dominant operating system manufacturer and it is the first thing that gets exploited by hackers.

Hold on to your defenses and don’t panic. The first crack isn’t the end of voice recognition in Windows. It is just a new playground for the hackers to look at now that it is being deployed en mass. The developers must remain diligent in following the cracks and filling them in. As for the users, do your part and ensure that all steps are taken to alleviate the threats by keeping anti-virus programs current and not opening files from unknown sources.

Rich Resource for Bipolar Disorder

If you’re wantding to stay up on the latest information about Bipolar disorder, then check out the offerings on
Psychcentral.com.

The information on the site is extremely comprehensive, including descriptions of the disorder, its various phases and aspects, an abundance of resources, and the latest feeds of news pertaining to the illness.

Psych Central is a credible web resource offered by Dr. John Grohol and is regularly updated by he and several contributing editors. Psych Central states that it is in its 15th year and has been on the web for 12. According to the site’s “About” page, it has been listed among Forbes Magazine’s Best of the Web Directory and has been noted in the Washington Post, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, L.A.Times, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, USA Weekend, The Village Voice, Business Week, Forbes Magazine, and dozens of other publications.

More 508 news and a developer's guide

I’m back with another post about web site accessibility. This time I've got some news that may be of interest to you and a resource for web developers.

It was just announced that
Blackwell Publishing has redesigned its web offerings.

According to the

EContent.com
article:
“Blackwell Publishing, a society publisher, has announced its newly re-designed online delivery platform, Blackwell Synergy. Blackwell Synergy enables its users to search 1 million articles from over 850 scholarly journals across the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and medicine. The redesign is intended to provide easier navigation, faster loading times, and improved access to tools for researchers, as well as meeting the latest accessibility standards (ADA section 508 and W3C's WAI-AA). The new Blackwell Synergy website retains all the benefits that researchers, librarians, and authors value and uses the same URL structure. In addition to a new look and feel, features have been repositioned to highlight options more clearly to users and enable them to make best use of the suite of tools available such as most read and most cited articles, citation alerts, download to reference manager software, and the ability to email the article to a friend. Full-text online access to the journals on Blackwell Synergy is available at thousands of institutions worldwide.”

Kudos to Blackwell Publishing for being a database service that has the initiative to make their offerings accessible.

Also, for web developers interested in making their material accessible, another resource is Dan Hounshell’s book review of
Cascading Style Sheets 2.0: Programmer's Reference
By Eric Meyer.

mr. Hounshell says:
“More than just a CSS book, this book covers the gamut of web standards from CSS to HTML markup to Section 508 and WAIS accessibility. The author is a web standards pragmatist, the book could have easily been part of the Pragmatic Programmer series, rather than a strict zealot. He offers standards options explaining the benefits and detriments of each one, letting you decide how much or how little you'd like to travel down the web standards path, and telling you it's okay to take baby steps - "some is better than none". This alone makes implementing a site built on standards approachable and realistic.”

The next time you run up against a developer who gives you excuses why he couldn’t make the contents of his work accessible, refer him to this handy guide.

Forgive the Section 508-heavy posts of late, but if the law wasn’t worthwhile, then it wouldn’t keep making news.

Section 508: gripes and suggested alternative solutions

In my career as a correctional supervisor, I led with the philosophy of “I’m not perfect and my decisions are not always the best, but don’t gripe about my decisions unless you can propose a workable alternative.” It left the door open for good input of ideas and also demonstrated a reasonable allowance for critique. In this same vein, I offer today’s post about accessaibility.

Last week, I posted a couple of times about Section 508. The reason for those posts was by necessity, as too many web sites still exist that limit access to people with disabilities. Following my own advice, while I don’t think I was necessarily griping, I continue the 508 discussion and suggest some alternative solutions to inaccessible web sites.

Granted, Section 508 only requires that entities that receive federal funds make their web sites compliant with 508 standards for access, but according to the
ZoomNews
Newsletter, 18 states have already adopted the statutes set out in Section 508. Additionally, one private website, www.target.com, is being sued for having an inaccessible website. So, it is becoming obvious that the trend of requiring access is growing.

And, wouldn’t it be nice if people just did the right thing and made their web offerings accessible to all from inception?

With all that said, there are still 32 states that don’t require web access standards and, at this time, the private business sector is only required to provide access if the individual business deems it a nice goodwill gesture on their part.

It is understandable that businesses want to market their wares using the snazziest and latest whiz-bang marketing technology. This often means using Flash media on their web sites, which is a graphical interface and, in the method usually offered up, is very inaccessible to users of screen readers.

However, it doesn’t need to be inaccessible. Methods exist to make the graphical content accessible.
Layers Magazine
Offers a site where web developers can read the
Flash 8 Accessibility Design Guidelines.

According to the site:
“Whether using ActionScript or the Accessibility panel in Macromedia Flash, creating accessible Flash content can be quick and easy. Using text and text equivalents, designers and developers can create exciting content for users of screen readers and other assistive technologies.”

“At the same time, the screen reader environment poses new challenges. Just as designers and developers are mindful of the user experience in a browser or stand-alone environment, it is important to consider how users of assistive technologies such as screen readers will interact with Macromedia Flash content.”

The site clearly demonstrates that just because it is made accessible, web content doesn’t need to be boring. Web designers can still use whiz-bang technology like Flash media; they just need to think with a little forethought to make it accessible. The guidelines shows interested parties how to install a virtual curb cut that allows everybody to gain access to their on-ramp of the information superhighway.

If web developers aren’t going to make the effort to make inclusion a forethought, then at least they can incorporate offering a web page text-only translator, such as the
Lift Transcoder,
offered by the
University of Florida’s Disability Service Office
web site. This useful application allows the user to take any web page and translate it into a version that is text-only.

While this software tool has the potential to make any web site accessible, I’m sure there are limitations. It falls into the category of the last, best solution under 508 standards, but a text-only version is better than one where no access is allowed.

With my pardons to Dr. King… I have a dream of a world where one day there will be no need for discussion about accessibility, a day where inclusion will be the norm.