Access World: a rich resource for tech info

I will be without computer access for the next week, so I want to leave readers with a resource I’ve known about and used for several years. It the American Foundation for the Blind’s
Access World
magazine.

Access World is a bi-monthly publication of the AFB that documents and reviews the latest technological innovations and how taccessible the various products are to those with visual impairments. The on-line magazine is a rich resource for everything from comparisons of screen readers, OCR programs, and CCTVs to examining the accessibility of the latest models of cell phones. There was a recent feature on accessibility of different office copy machines. If you think those are confounding, you ought to try using one of those multi-tasking machines with little or no sight. That review really grabbed the essence of how inaccessible the world of most stand-alone copy machines are.

As if Access World were not resource enough, I’ll toss one other one out here. It is the
Official AFB web site.

While I will be off-line for a few days, fret not. AccessAbility will be back soon. Check back at the beginning of October. Until then, here’s to a more accessible world.

Federal Complaint About Monkey's Therapy/Assistance Role

Did you read about Debby Rose, the Springfield, MO woman who has filed a complaint with the federal government against the local health department? The reason for her complaint is that the health officials have ruled that her monkey is a therapy animal, not an assistance animal as she alleges, and has disallowed her access to establishments that serve or handle food.

According to the article in the Springfield News Leader:
“Rose said her monkey, Richard, is a service animal that helps her cope with a debilitating anxiety disorder, which includes a racing heart, high blood pressure and panic attacks in certain situations -- particularly public activities. Richard helps relieve that and, according to the Americans With Disabilities Act, she said, he should be allowed into public food places.”

“Director of Health Kevin Gipson maintained the health department's position that, according to its interpretation of ADA law, the monkey is a therapy animal or a pet -- not a service animal — and therefore not allowed in food establishments. According to health department research, "a service animal by definition has to perform a physical function for that person," Gipson said.”

“Gipson said he would reverse the decision if the federal government says Rose's monkey is a service animal. He encouraged Rose to file a complaint.”

This difference in opinion is exactly what I was writing about in an earlier post and to make certain that your school has a policy in place regarding assistance animals as well as therapy animals. Service animals do not always come in the canine variety. Don’t forget that just a couple of years ago a few miniature horses were trained to function as guides for blind people.

If interested, the full article about the woman’s allegation is at
the Springfield News Leader web site.

New Multi-Language Driver for FS Pac Mate

If you have any visually impaired students who use the Pac Mate model note taker from Freedom Scientific, the following news release may be of interest to them, particularly if they are bilingual.




Freedom Scientific is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the new Multi-language keyboard driver for PAC mate, allowing you to add the ability to input text in eight different languages on your PAC mate QX.

This driver requires that you be running version 4.0 or later of the PAC mate software.
With this driver installed, you can choose from eight different keyboard layouts, allowing you to enter text in Spanish, Italian, German, European French, French Canadian, Brazilian Portuguese, French Swiss, and German Swiss. American and U.K. English already are included on PAC Mate QX models running PAC Mate Version 4.0 or later.

What Does It Cost?

The multi-language keyboard driver is a free download.

How Do I Get It?

A link to this download is available from the PAC mate Headquarters page on Freedom Scientific's web site, or you can go directly to the page by visiting

http://www.freedomscientific.com/PACMATE-HQ/PACMate_Multi_lang_Keybd_Driver.asp/

Follow the instructions on this page regarding downloading and installing the driver.

We're sure customers who work with multiple languages will enjoy the additional power and functionality this offers.

Jonathan Mosen.
Vice President, Blindness Hardware Product Management
Freedom Scientific BLV Group LLC

AHEAD in Texas 2006 Fall Conference

I have just sent in my registration for the AHEAD in Texas 2006 Fall Conference, To be held Nov. 9-10 at Texas State University in San Marcos. If you still need to register or want more information about the event, then check out the conference web site at:

http://ahead.org/txahead/events/fallconf.php/


If you don’t already know, conference attendees get free membership in AHEAD in Texas for the next year. Aside from that perk, this event is the best opportunity to learn the latest trends in DSS and to also meet the professionals providing these services throughout the state.

Being the target audience of AccessAbility includes students with disabilities and their family members, I have a question for you if you are somebody from either of these two groups. Did you know that you can also join AHEAD in Texas?

It is true, and for those who can not make the annual conference, fear not. for you, membership is offered at a reduced fee from the professional members. Parents can join as an advocate member for $25 per year and students can join as student members for a mere $15 per year.

AccessAbility is not stumping for AHEAD in Texas, but simply serving as a conduit of information for those who may not know this information.

AHEAD is the parent organization for professionals in the DSS field. AHEAD in Texas is an affiliate of AHEAD. However, membership in one does not bring membership in the other.

Still, if you want to know what is going on at the state level, AHEAD in Texas is the pipeline of information that can keep you in touch. Membership also brings you into a networked group of professionals serving a common cause.

Check out the AHEAD in Texas web site for membership and contact information.

http://ahead.org/txahead/join.php


If you’re planning to attend the Fall Conference, I’ll see you there.

Undiagnosed Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans

Service members injured during wartime who return stateside with a medical discharge and work to further themselves by attending college is not anything new. The current battle situation, however, involves innovations in battle armor which are much improved over past military incursions and the result is the potential for undiagnosed traumatic brain injuries.

According to an Associated Press article,
Brain Injuries are the Signature Wound of Iraq War.


The article indicates the person’s other, more obvious injuries may mask the symptoms of the TBI and preclude proper treatment.

“Doctors say traumatic brain injuries are the signature wound of the Iraq war, a byproduct of improved armor that allows troops to survive once-deadly attacks but does not fully protect against roadside explosives and suicide bombers.

So far, about 1,000 patients have been treated for the symptoms, which include slowed thinking, severe memory loss and problems with coordination and impulse control. Some doctors fear there may be thousands more active duty and discharged troops who are suffering undiagnosed.”

A related news article describes the situation getting worse as,Defense Department funding for its ten brain injury facilities is
being cut in half.

The reason for posting this information here on AccessAbility is to hopefully serve as a conductor of enlightenment, especially at those schools where a strong number of your population might be returning service members.

DSS Coordinators might want to evaluate your caseload and check for any clients who might be veterans fitting this profile. A follow-up could include an interview with any noted clients to discuss their diagnosis and ensure that it is proper. The ethical thing to do is to ensure that your clients are receiving the correct service from your office. Our veterans deserve this much consideration and then some.

ADHD Awareness Day is Sept. 20

One of the greatest rewards of the DSS field that I experienced on several occasions was helping somebody who felt like there was something going on, but they weren’t sure what it was. After gathering the symptoms, the usual result was a suspected LD or ADHD. The payoff came when the person returned with documentation supporting their newfound disability and they became a client of the office.

With this in mind, I offer the following reminder.

ADHD Awareness Day is September 20, 2006.

As in previous years, ADHD Experts on Call will also return again on that day.

If you are not familiar with that program, ADHD Experts on Call is an educational hot line that allows people affected by ADHD to speak with representatives from patient-advocacy groups, teachers, doctors, school nurses and parents. It is a great opportunity for someone who is dealing with the symptoms but not having a diagnosis to get some input from folks in the field who know what the experience is all about. This might be the very push that helps somebody go out and get the diagnosis. You’ll know if they come in later with their documentation in hand.

The toll-free number is 888-ASK-ADHD (888-275-2343), or you can chat online live with an ADHD expert at
www.ADHDExpertsOnCall.com,
All callers and Web chatters can receive free information about ADHD.

Please share this information with anybody you feel may beneifit from it.

An awareness day is a great opportunity for your office to plan outreach activities. Do you have anything planned for Sept. 20? How about any other day?

Managing suicide risks: What about your school?

Last week, I posted about 1 in 5 students self mutilating at two Ivy League schools. In that post I mentioned that I was doing research, but never said what I was researching.

The research topic was suicide at college. My line of thinking was trying to understand if those students who commit suicide are living with a diagnosis and possibly receiving services from their DSS office for Depression or Bipolar disorder. I’m still looking at information I have been gathering.

Directly related to this subject, just yesterday, I didn’t have to look far to find the latest news story about college suicides. The Associated Press had one plastered on the site of my local paper, announcing
Colleges Grapple with student suicides
for all the world to see.
The deeper issue at the heart of that story is that the female student profiled had attempted suicide and was kicked out of her dorm for violating the school’s policy against suicide. Pop quiz…isn’t it depressed people that attempt suicide? Isn’t depression covered under the ADA?

Apparently Hunter College finally saw the error in that line of thinking and settled with the student, allowing her to continue classes and paid her a financial settlement as well. Additionally, the college is abandoning its suicide policy, but may still temporarily remove troubled students from residence halls. However, a spokesperson said that evictions will not be automatic.

The supporting information in that article suggests that schools may be held liable if a student commits suicide in his or her dorm room. Two judges have ruled that a school may have a duty to act in a preventive capacity if the student’s risk of suicide was foreseeable. As a result, some schools have tried to act in a more aggressive manner and sent students home when this risk became apparent.

Interesting thought provokers here, don’t you think?

How about your school, does it have a policy banning suicide? If so, how does this impact your students with psychological disorders? Is this legal? Is this ethical? Is it the right thing to do?

STEM subjects and blind students

As a DSS Coordinator, have you ever sat and wondered why rarely any blind students, not even the brightest of them, pursue STEM subjects?

If you’ve been in the DSS profession long enough, you already know the reason to that situation. While a myriad assortment of Assistive Technology (AT) does exist, it falls woefully short in providing full access. There is little that cracks the patina of what students in the STEM- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics- tracks would require. The burden to gather the proper resources to make the material in these courses accessible is monumental and will leave even the most veteran DSS Coordinator scrambling for help to find what tools exist to meet the student’s needs. For example, I know of one university that was recently saddled with getting a blind student’s graduate-level math book transcribed into braille. Due to the technical need for the nemeth code, the cost for translating just that one book was estimated near $10,000.

If you’re interested in a further informed and insightful discussion on STEM subjects and blind students, check out Chris Hofstader’s Blind Confidential blog at:
http://blindconfidential.blogspot.com/

Chris is a blind computer engineer and, thus, knows first-hand of the difficulty faced by students who pursue these academic tracks. He is also very well versed in the field of AT—he has previously worked as a software engineer at
Freedom Scientific
for six years.

Chris discusses two resources in the post, The Virtual Pencil and Gardner’s Accessible Graphing Calculator, which may not be common tools in many DSS Coordinator’s toolboxes. If interested in either of these, I offer the below information and links.

The Virtual Pencil is a software application which was originally designed for blind and low-vision students. However, the program has also been discovered to be of assistance to students with learning disabilities. If you want more information about this innovative product from the creative mind of Ted Henter, the original engineer who developed the JAWS screen reader, then go to the
Henter Math
homepage.

The official web site for theAccessible Graphing Calculator is:
http://www.tsbvi.edu/math/agc.htm/
The information on that web site describes the tool as follows:
“The Accessible Graphing Calculator (AGC) is a computer software program and was developed by the esteemed Science Access Project at Oregon State University, directed by Dr. John Gardner. This group is dedicated to the development of methods for making science, math, and engineering information accessible to people with print disabilities. "Print disabilities" include low vision, blindness, and dyslexia.”

Finally, going back to the Blind Confidential blog, if you continued scrolling after the discussion about STEM subjects and blind students, you also read Chris’ next post, offering a very brave and candid dialogue from the perspective of a blind person also dealing with severe depression and suicidal ideations. I applaud Chris for offering this frank understanding of what it was like for him to face the depths of hopelessness. While his language gets rough in some spots, he gives you a glimpse inside the mind of a person dealing with a major psychological event in his life. I believe it demonstrates very well how the perils of mental health can fall very hard on people with disabilities.

Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities

As a DSS coordinator a question I liked to ask my students was what their goals were beyond school. Where are you going with the education you are working on now?

Of course that was just the bait and was followed up with questions about what else they have done to prepare for the workplace. Ultimately, going to work is what they were usually getting their education for and, quite often, they had not even addressed the second question.

Naturally, a good resource for students with disabilities is the campus Career Counseling office. However, for more specialized attention, you can direct your students to the,
Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities
(COSD) web site.

The website has a strong collection of resources and a national network of individuals, universities, and employers to assist in providing resources to students with disabilities seeking employment. It is specialized and serves the same population you serve. Check out the link above and take the time to explore the site. Registration is free and gets you access to the growing membership database. It is one of those tools that it can’t hurt to have at your disposal.

It was actually a Career Counselor at my university who introduced me to COSD during my graduate assistantship. I quickly realized that there is some good work going on at COSD.

To maximize service to your students, there is a good opportunity to explore a strong alliance between the DSS office and the Career Counseling office. During my job as a DSS Coordinator, my colleague and I frequently called upon our Career Counseling office. It really helped that the Director of Career Counseling was housed across the hall. Our offices had a close working relationship and we often collaborated on services to the DSS clients.

What do you think? Is this a feasible collaboration at your school? If a DSS office is unable to provide assistance in helping its student’s reach their end goal of going to work, have you really done all that you can to serve your students?

One out of five college students self mutilate

Can you imagine the number of students on your caseload if that figure were almost one fifth of your school’s entire population?

Its possible.

It would be a reality if the number of students in a recent study of self mutilation rates among college students are accurate, and that entire group came to you with a proper diagnosis.

Let me explain.
I was doing some web research this morning when I came across an article from Fox News. The article actually ran in early June and is about
self mutilation rates among college students
at two Ivy League universities, Cornell and Princeton. The frequency rate at these two colleges is nearly twenty percent. That’s one out of every five students.

The scope of this study includes not only cutting, but also burning and other methods of self injurious behavior.

According to the article, the frequency rates are similar to those reported at colleges, high schools, and middle schools across the nationn. It also reported more than 400 web sites dedicated to the subject of self mutilation.

After the earlier post here about cutting rates among young people on the wholeI felt compelled to provide additional information on this subject, as it is particular to college students.

In this Fox article, not only was this survey conducted with actual college students, but at two of the supposedly more elite universities of our country. If it is happening at this frequency there, there is a strong likelihood that it is happening at your school at similar rates.

These students have a noticeable psychological condition due to the dysfunction their behavior is causing in their daily living. The same question that was raised in the previous post on cutting can be raised again. If a student self identifies about the underlying psychological condition at the root of their cutting, what accommodations do DSS professionals make?

Just food for thought.

Eemergency evacuation plans and students with disabilities

With the new school year freshly underway, all colleges and universities need to have plans in place for safe evacuation of students with disabilities. This includes dorms and residence halls. Many schools made sure to draw up these types of plans when the Sept. 11 tragedy highlighted the difficult task that people with disabilities can have when they need to leave a building during an emergency. Once the plans are developed, it is important that they are periodically revisited to account for any necessary changes.

How about your school? If there is an emergency and either the classroom buildings or dorms need to be evacuated, do you have a plan in place for getting your students with disabilities out of the buildings? When was the last time you reviewed your school’s plan?

If you need assistance in developing or refocusing your evacuation plan, the following ten questions from the
Easter Seals
web site may aid as a guide in this task. (The questions are directed towards the individuals with disabilities, prompting them to plan for their own safety, but are easily modified for perspective taking.)


1. Do you need help with personal care, or use adaptive equipment to meet your personal care needs?
• What assistance would you need in an emergency?
• What would you do if water or electricity were cut off?

2. Do you need accessible transportation?

3. Do you need assistance to leave your home or office?

4. How will you need to be alerted to an emergency?

5. If elevators are not working, do you have a back-up plan?

6. Who will be available and know how to help you exit?

7. Will you need mobility aids to exit?
• Will you need back-up mobility aids when you reach a safe place?

8. Do you need medical supplies available in a safe place?

9. Will you need assistance in training and caring for a service animal?

10. Who needs to know where you will be after an emergency evacuation?

These questions really place the focus where planning for emergency evacuation of people with disabilities should be directed. When an emergency arises, it is too late to develop an evacuation plan for students with disabilities. It cannot be emphasized strongly enough how critical it is to be proactive in doing this.

I encourage you to pull out your school’s emergency evacuation plan and read over it. Then look over your caseload and see what concerns each of your students might have in the event of an emergency evacuation. If the provisions in place do not address the concerns of the students you serve as the DSS Coordinator, then it is your inherent duty to bring this need to the person who has authority over your school’s plan.

Publishers Launch Look-Up Service to Speed Delivery of Course Materials

If you’re looking to expand your catalog of access tools, (and who isn’t?) then the Association of American Publishers (AAP) has just ramped up a service that should prove a valuable resource for you.


According to the official press release,
“Higher education publisher members of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) today launched a beta version of a Publisher Look-Up Service. The online search tool, found at
publisherslookup.org
will enable Disabled Student Services (DSS) professionals who are seeking text materials in alternate formats for print-disabled students to more easily contact publishers.”

“The Publisher Look-Up Service is a first step in AAP’s Alternative Formats Solutions Initiative (AFSI), a national effort to identify ways to provide print-disabled post-secondary students with specially formatted course materials on a timely basis. AFSI research showed that publishers could make an immediate difference by launching the Publisher Look-Up Service, while still exploring longer-term solutions.”


The entire text of the press release can be viewed at:
The APP web site


If you want to see what else the APP has to offer, their homepage is:
publishers.org


There is a link on the page specifically for Higher Education.

This new service is a good supplement to the publisher contacts that
AHEAD
already offers to its members. Between the two of these resources, access to accessible materials by DSS professionals, and the students they serve, continues to improve.

Another resource for creating accessible PowerPoint presentations

I was doing some follow-up research on the earlier post of creating accessible PowerPoint presentations when I came across the following informative site, hosted by Adobe, the parent company of the Macromedia Flash animation software.


Creating Accessible PowerPoint
The site gives specific suggestions on how to make PowerPoint presentations accessible to both blind and deaf people. I give them their props for having a good textual description of what they were explaining. It was very clear and to the point on how the creator can best meet the needs of both blind and deaf viewers of Power Point presentations.

If you lack either the time or interest to participate in the web training event discussed on Access Ability last week, then check out what Adobe has to say about creating accessible PowerPoint.

Again, the price of this resource is right-- absolutely free!

DSS Counselor's role: Holistic or not?

Clients of the DSS office, like jewels, have many facets. The role of student is just one of those facets.


In my last position, my colleague and I embraced the faceted view of our clients and dealt with them using a holistic approach. Our belief was that whatever impacted them outside probably had a lot to do with how well they would do academically. Our supervisor gave us the blessing on this approach when he told us his vision was for the DSS office to be a one-stop shop, being counselor, advisor, or whatever else we needed to be for our students.

Granted, training and experience have a lot to do with what one can offer students. One must recognize when you have reached the limitations of what you can ethically offer to clients. It is at that point when we rely on our resources and refer the client to someone better suited to deal with the specific need.

With all that said, my question is where does the DSS office fit in the scope of providing services other than those mandated by the law? Are the ADA and Section 504 definitions of the boundaries or just the beginning of what services the DSS can provide?

When I first began work in the DSS field, several professionals referred me to Jane Jarrow, of Disability Access Information and Support, or DAIS, as the go-to person for anything related to the field.


One of the most telling disclosures I’ve heard about the DSS field in recent years was when Jane was interviewed by Beth Case for a segment on the Disability 411 podcast. In her interview, Jane’s statements really reflect that the strength of disability services is in the attitudinal definition of the word “service.” It greatly emphasizes the difference between what I’ve often termed “ADA compliant” versus “ADA friendly.” Her approach is that the ADA and Section 504 offer the beginning, not the ceiling of what DSS professionals should offer. Amen to that.





As the DSS professional, where do you see the lines drawn for the DSS counselor? Is your job strictly to address the classroom accommodations, or can the student call upon you when they need resources for personal or career counseling?

I’ll illustrate the point with a couple of case scenarios.

A student with a cognitive disability recently moved to your area from out of state to live at no cost with relatives and attend class at your school. She does not work and is receiving services from the state rehab agency. Now, due to varying circumstances, the four family members she moved in with have all had to move away. She has had some previous work experience, waitressing at a café and working at a convenience store, but these were out of state and she can’t recall her supervisors names. She realizes her dilemma because the last relative is two weeks from moving, at which time she will be left on her own with no job and no place to live.

You are her DSS counselor and she comes to your office describing her current dynamic situation. What do you do? Do you offer any service or do you refer her to other departments and agencies that deal with her specific needs?

In another scenario, a visually impaired student comes to you, seeking advice on writing a resume and job interviewing. He said he has talked to the career counselors on campus, but he said the counselors there don’t understand him, they don’t know how to deal with the stigma of being judged on the basis of your disability instead of your abilities. In your interactions with this student, he displays interpersonal traits that make you feel he lacks the self advocacy skills needed to progress in the working world. Do you take on the role of teaching him these skills or refer him to the state blind rehab agency?

I propose these situations as just hypothetical, but I use them to illustrate my point that students have lives outside the classroom. Is it not reasonable to see the interlocking relationship between these two worlds and how they impact each other? If the disability is a particular lens that is a contributing factor impacting the situation, is it your role to assist in the student’s needs outside the classroom?

These are just questions meant to stimulate thought and, hopefully, discussion.

Resources:

The DAIS website
http://www.daisweb.com/node/15

(If you didn’t notice, that was a new DAIS homepage address, so make sure you bookmark it.)

The Disability 411 Podcast with Jane Jarrow’s interview

http://disability411.jinkle.com/show03.htm

If you’re interested in finding out the various other discussion topics the Disability 411 Podcasts cover, then check out their homepage below. There are 25 shos already cataloged and the new school year is upon us, so I’m certain there will soon be more to come. You will also find that the holistic approach is embraced in media presentation. Beth Case does a great job at presenting the material only after a written transcript is available so that deaf people have equal access to the material. Kudos for that, Beth.

Disability 411 Podcasts

disability411.jinkle.com

The mission of Disability 411 is:
“Disability411 provides audio workshops, interviews and information on disability-related topics for those who work with individuals with disabilities, including college disability counselors, rehabilitation counselors, K-12 special education teachers, employers, or anyone who works in the disability field. Information is also of interest for individuals with disabilities and their families. Hosted by Beth Case, a disability counselor with 10 years of experience in postsecondary disability services.”
The host of Disability 411 is Beth Case, a DSS counselor at the North Harris Montgomery Community College District. Beth is a good person and also a great resource for information in her field.

Great resource for ADD and ADHD

My last several posts have all been relating to physical disabilities. So, in keeping a more accurate reflection of the caseloads of DSS offices, let me shift my topic for this one.

A good number of students at colleges and universities that receive services from their DSS office have a diagnosis of ADD or ADHD. I recently came across a great

web site
that offers, not only the host’s professional expertise as a valuable resource for information about this disability, but has useful links to further help anybody needing more information on the matter.

The host of the web site, Dr. Thomas Brown, is a Yale-trained clinical psychologist and also maintains a private practice in Hamden, CT. specializing in assessment and treatment of high-IQ children, adolescents and adults with ADD and related problems. Additionally, Dr. Brown is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and is Associate Director of the Yale Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders. He has credentials as a presenter with many of the professional psychological, psychiatric, and medical organizations, in addition to working internationally in this chosen field of expertise.

I have spent a good amount of time today exploring Dr. Brown’s web site. There is more information there than I can digest and store in my mind at this time. With this in mind, it is now bookmarked as one of my professional resources. The site is invaluable as a resource for information relating to AD/HD.
Read over Dr. Brown’s site and see what you think. And, make sure to bookmark it for yourself, as it is extremely rich in content and resources.

(Note: Access Ability is not sponsored or affiliated by the organization discussed in the above post. The information is being offered on Access Ability merely as another resource to enhance further development of the DSS field.)

Free Web Conference: Creating Accessible PowerPoint Presentations

Being that I’m a blind computer user, it probably makes sense that one of my pet concerns is accessible computing and media. It makes no sense to live in a digital age, where, at least in theory, all material should be accessible without duplication of effort. We all know that this isn’t always the case. As technology evolves, so does material and, too often, it seems that access technology is following behind and trying to catch up with the pack. However, more than lapses in technology, it is lapses in attitude or the plain, old-fashioned, I didn’t think about those people,” that excludes students with disabilities from media presentations.

In a previous post, I mentioned that web offerings of the school need to be accessible. This accessibility includes on-line publications such as electronic versions of newspapers and newsletters as well as the different departmental websites. This line of thought needs to be taken a step further to include PowerPoint presentations, which have become integral to the learning environment.

Those ubiquitous PowerPoint presentations have become such a big part of the college learning experience that it has become almost mandatory that students have some mastery of using this Microsoft program by the time they graduate. There have been advances by the engineers at Microsoft in making the program itself accessible, but too often it is the content, not the application, which is not accessible, leaving students with disabilities out of the information loop.

How often are visually impaired students left to wonder what was presented in a PowerPoint slide show that offered visual support to a speaker’s program. With streaming audio becoming more and more involved as part of Powerpoint presentations, where does this leave deaf students?

With proactive attitudes, colleges and universities can embrace access as an integral part of media presentations. Schools should encourage and foster universal design by their faculty and staff. The DSS office can be the linking mechanism that brings together this enhanced awareness.

Just as with the previous post about accessible computing, I’m not one to complain without providing an alternative. I offer a good and again, free, resource for helping to resolve this problem.

EASI, Equal Access to Software and Information, is offering a free web conference on how to create narrated Powerpoint presentations and adding streaming captions. These two production aspects empower presenters to share their information to a broader audience.

*Creating Narrated PowerPoint and Adding Streaming Captions
*Date: Sept. 11, 2006
*Time 2 pm EDT

If interested, or to register, check out the EASI Clinic web page at:
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm

According to the clinic web site, interested parties must register to participate. Registration for an event provides not only live access to the event when it occurs live, but also gives you access to a recording of the conference that you can view at a later time. So, if you can’t make the presentation at the scheduled time and date, you can register before the event and still have access to a recording of it.

Remember, his is a free conference, so you have nothing to lose by registering. You can only gain by taking part of this program.

This conference is only one of a variety of offerings the group has planned. There are free ones, like the PowerPoint conference, as well as some more complex, multi-session programs which require a fee. Check out the group’s calendar and see if there is something coming up that can further the goal of presenting accessible programming to your students.
If you’re interested in learning more about EASI and what all they have to offer, check out the official home page at:
http://www.rit.edu/%7Eeasi/index.htm

(Note: Access Ability is not sponsored or affiliated by the organization discussed in the above post. The information is being offered on Access Ability merely as another resource to enhance further development of the DSS field.)

Service animals versus therapy animals

I just read the New York Daily News article about a former Gay Games athlete pushing the issue of having what he alleges is a
therapy dog
on a nude beach. I recognize that a nude beach is a much different context from an institute of higher education, but thought it offered a good springboard for discussion.

In my last position, I was involved in a discussion with the head of Risk Management regarding the difference between service animals and therapy animals. Our college developed a specific policy regarding service animals, making sure to delineate the allowances for them versus therapy dogs.

I might add that I travel with a Seeing Eye dog, so I do have some qualified understanding about this area of discussion. At least I do for the scope of service animals. I had to do some research for the therapy animal part of the discussion.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act,
“Service Animal means any guide dog, signal dog or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including but not limited to guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders, providing minimal rescue or protection work, pulling a wheelchair or fetching dropped items.”

It was interesting to find that there is no single, standard certifying authority for therapy animals. There were, in fact, several groups that I found during an internet search offering certification for therapy dog training. The criteria for certification seemed to vary by the group offering it, but all of the training seemed skimpish and minimal when compared to the intensive, specifically detailed work that I know Seeing Eye dogs are put through with professional dog trainers.


I also found an informative
web site
which offered the follwing description of the differences between service dogs and therapy dogs.
“Therapy dogs, on the other hand, perform their tasks by invitation. The owner of a therapy dog has no more "right" of access to a hospital, nursing home, or public place than any other able-bodied person with a pet. (Note that the "right" accrues to the person, in either case, not to the dog! This is a crucial distinction that many fail to make.)”
“most hospitals and some nursing homes require a lot of paperwork before a therapy dog sets foot in the facility--the same facility where any person with a disability has a clear right to enter with his or her service dog.”
An interesting aspect of this website is that it is hosted by a handler of a therapy dog. However, while it is being a therapy dog handler which allows the web site host to speak with authority, it is her position as a professor at the
College of Charleston
in South Carolina, and her offered virtual lecture on therapy dogs, which gives her some credibility on the matter.

The bottom line, and reason for this subject as a post is to pose the question, “What is your school’s policy on service animals and therapy animals?”

The matter may never get raise at your school, but if it ever does, being proactive is much better than reactive.

Accessible Computing Resources

Aside from thought provoking discussion topics like the previous post, I envision Access Ability to be a source of resources for DSS professionals. With this thought in mind, I offer the following resources dealing with accessible computing. Some of the resources are tutorials, one is a screen reader, another is a guide to accessible web sites, and the last one is a jackpot of access technology information. The best part about these are that they are all free. (Sorry for inconsistencies in the links. While some of the html I used worked at providing text links, others did not, hence the URL links.)

** FREE TUTORIALS FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE

While some may argue over whether it is the blind rehabilitation agency or the college who is responsible for training students on how to use adaptive technology, two things are certain:
1, colleges and universities must supply some form of accessible computing;
2, competence in using computers empowers students with disabilities to be more successful.
Whether or not your school provides any training, free tutorials can help any student learn how to make adaptive technology work. The author of the “From The Keyboard” series has made his tutorials available for free download at his web site.
http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard/
The tutorials offered on the website bary, but include several which are specifically written for using the Microsoft Windows operating system, the internet, and other pc applications, in particular, the Microsoft Office applications Word, Excel, and Outlook.

The downside to this website is that the tutorials will most likely not be updated in the future. As a result, they will become increasingly outdated as time marches on. The key thing is that they can give some fundamental skills to students who must use the applications with the keyboard instead of the mouse. If a student can get the basic operation of a program down, even if it is an older version, the odds are that the student will be able to move to a newer version of the application with the basic concepts in place.


** FREE SCREEN READER

Even though the DSS office may not be able to use this, there is a
free screen reader
available to individuals. Thunder is a free download from a UK company that also sells magnification and scanning applications for blind and visually computer users. I have not personally tried this product, but if it offers free access to blind computer users, the price is definitely right.


** 30 DAYS TO A MORE ACCESSIBLE WEB SITE

While the two previous links were targeted for assisting students who have visual disabilities, accessible websites deal with more than just that segment of the DSS service population. As more and more material is being presented on-line, colleges and universities need to ensure that all of their web offerings, not just the distance education classes , are accessible. The people responsible for much of a school’s web content are often web developers in the various departments, are often compartmentalized, and not necessarily linked to the school’s IT or Distance Ed department.

In my own experience, it was these department web designers that were reluctant to change and offered resistance to incorporating accessible features to the web pages they had already designed. The university where I served as a graduate assistant in the DSS office sent a contingent of interested folks to an accessibility seminar and learned about
Knowbility
and their Air U project, which my university later participated in.

I just learned about a useful book that would have been a handy tool to have back then and helped to communicate our message of accessability to these designers at my university.
Dive Into Accessibility is a downloadable zip file that is available in both html and pdf formats. Subtitled “30 days to a more accessible web site,” the book discusses the various people who can benefit from the incorporation of accessible web design, as well as outlining the step-by-step process of accomplishing the end goal. The book is written well in that it points out that there are a variety of different users who can benefit from accessible web sites, and they are not all visually impaired. It explores their various access needs and also provides the directions on how to implement the changes. The directions seem pretty user-friendly, which is saying a lot being that this review is coming from one who knows only very basic html code.

The file can be downloaded from the author's web site:

http://diveintoaccessibility.org/

** ATHEN: A MOTHERLODE OF ACCESS TECHNOLOGY

Finally, if you want to dive right into the world of those who do heavy accessible computing work, check out the
ATHEN
blog. ATHEN is the Access Technologist Higher Education Network, whose purpose, according to their site, is:

“to collect and disseminate best practices in access technology within and for the higher education environment as well as present a collective voice for the professional practice of access technology in higher education.”

ATHEN is a non-profit organization and deals with all varieties and models of accessible technology, trying to find what works best and share their information. I came across the group when I was conducting research into the production of e-texts for my students. This blog is definitely one to bookmark and check out regularly for the latest in accessible technology news. The old saying, “a wealth of resources,” may be cliché, but it truly fits for the ATHEN blog.

In addition to the ATHEN site, I hope you’ve got Access Ability bookmarked. I will be diligently working to post the latest news and share useful resources for the advancement of the DSS profession. Stay tuned and check back regularly.

Cutting on the rise among young people

For the first post here, aside from the introductory one below, I want to toss out some food for thought and, hopefully, create some discussion. Think about it, share it with your colleagues, then give your thoughts in the comments section.

According to an Aug. 6, 2006 article in the Houston Chronicle,
Cuttings are on the rise among young people.


The profile identified in the article as the “typical cutter” seems to parallel traditional college student demographics. (For non-Houstonians, the locales describe some diverse slices of social economic status.)


“There is no neat profile of a cutter. Typically they are younger, teens or 20-somethings, slightly more females than males. Their homes range from Katy to Clear Lake to Galveston, jobs from students to mall workers to mothers, personal issues from bulimia to rape to incurable sadness. Even their methods vary, from razors to crushed Coke cans to safety pins, hundreds of cuts daily to one every few months.”

Here’s the logical line of thinking I thought of when reading this article:
Being these are teens to 20-somethings, there would seem to be a high probability that most college campuses have some cutters in their student population. Self mutilation is a physical expression of some sort of psychological dysfunction. Being that this psychological problem would be addressed by a counselor or medical professional, this is, of course, covered as a psychological disability for DSS purposes.

And, here is the food for thought question:
Granted that a student who is a cutter would have to self disclose, and that the specific individual diagnosis will vary from case to case, what accommodations might be best implemented to address a student who cuts on him/herself?


If you find this blog post useful, interesting, or even if you think it is a complete off the mark indulgence, please share your thoughts in the comments section.

On a final note, if you think this blog is interesting and worthhwhile, please share it with your colleagues. There is a link below that will allow you to email this post. Or, just send them a link to the blog. It is an easy page to remember: accessability.blogspot.com

Thank you for your time and feedback.

Welcome to Access Ability

Access+Ability=Accessibility

Like the heading says, this is a blog serving higher education professionals in the Disability Support Service (DSS) field. Yes, it is a public forum where professionals in the DSS field can find resources and news as well as air concerns, brainstorm solutions, and find like-minded individuals to share thoughts. However, students with disabilities, as well as their family members, are also invited to share in the discussions. The goal of Access Ability is to have an informative site where resources can be shared for the betterment of all.

A little background...
My name is Ron Graham. A few years ago, I coined the phrase, “If you’re not including somebody, you’re excluding them.” With the ever-evolving dynamics in technology and the legal rights of people with disabilities, there are fewer and fewer excuses that can be tolerated for not providing accessability to individuals.

Disability Support Services is a unique and specialized profession, one that I know from both sides of the service relationship. I was blinded after receiving a head injury in an auto accident 13 years ago. Following this life-changing event, I returned to college at age 33. I went on to earn my Associates Degree in Criminal Justice, Bachelors Degree in Behavior Science, and Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology. Granted, I understand the role of the recipient of services from DSS providers. However, I also know the role of the DSS provider as well, as I worked as a graduate assistant in the DSS office at an upper level Texas university for the three years of my graduate program. Most recently, I was the Coordinator of DSS at a Texas community college. While personal circumstances caused me to leave that position, my passion for DSS professionals to keep the focus on service will never cease. This is how Access Ability came to be.

So, welcome to Access Ability, and we look forward to serving our target audience