About AccessComputing

The goal of the Alliance for Access to Computing Careers (AccessComputing) is to increase the participation of people with disabilities in computing fields. AccessComputing collaborators apply proven practices to:

  • increase the number of students with disabilities successfully pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees and careers in computing fields.
  • increase the capacity of postsecondary computing departments to fully include students with disabilities in computing courses and programs.
  • create a resource to help students with disabilities pursue computing fields, guiding them through critical junctures to computing careers and computing educators and employers, and professional organizations develop more inclusive programs and learn about promising practices.

AccessComputing ensures nationwide, long-term impact because it:

  • supports local and regional workshops, academies, capacity-building institutes, and internships to recruit and retain students with disabilities into computing fields;
  • helps computing departments, professional organizations, and alliances that serve women and racial/ethnic minorities make their activities and resources accessible to students with disabilities;
  • creates collaborations among individuals with disabilities, computing professionals, faculty, employers, professional organizations, and disability service providers;
  • collects and publishes research and practice data to support the inclusion of people with disabilities in computing fields.

AccessComputing outcomes will benefit society by making computing opportunities available to more citizens and enhancing computing fields with the perspectives of people with disabilities.

AccessComputing is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program of the Directorate for Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE) (grant #CNS-0540615, CNS-0837508, and CNS-1042260).

AccessComputing is led by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and DO-IT at the University of Washington. Download a PDF describing the AccessComputing project. If you are interested in knowing how you can participate in AccessComputing send an inquiry to accesscomp@uw.edu.