AccessEngineering

Making a Makerspace? Guidelines for Accessibility and Universal Design

Many engineering departments, libraries, and universities are launching new initiatives to create makerspaces, physical spaces where students, faculty, and the broader community can gather and share resources and knowledge, work on projects, network, and build. In creating these innovative spaces we should apply principles of universal design to ensure the spaces, tools, and community are accessible to as many individuals as possible.

Equal Access: Universal Design of Engineering Labs

A checklist for making engineering labs welcoming, accessible, and usable

As increasing numbers of people with disabilities pursue educational opportunities in engineering, accessibility of engineering teaching and research labs is critical. The ultimate goal is simply equal access. Hands-on learning in lab courses is an important component of an engineering degree. Everyone who needs to use your department's labs should be able to do so comfortably.

AccessEngineering: Promoting the Success of People with Disabilities in Engineering and Incorporating Universal Design in Engineering Curricula

AccessEngineering works with two national leadership teams: engineering faculty from diverse colleges and universities, and students with disabilities in undergraduate and graduate engineering programs

Activities for Students with Disabilities

AccessEngineering encourages students with disabilities to pursue engineering careers.

How can you include individuals with disabilities in broadening participation activities for other underrepresented groups?

It is important for programs that serve to increase the participation of women, racial/ethnic minorities or other underrepresented groups in fields such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to be welcoming and accessible to students with disabilities. After all, there are people with disabilities within any of these underrepresented groups.

Programs can do a number of simple things to make their activities inviting and accessible to individuals with disabilities, such as those described below.

Rights & Responsibilities

Accommodating students with disabilities in engineering is a shared responsibility. Faculty, students, and disability services staff must work together to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities who request support. Coordinated efforts and support from departmental, administrative, facilities, and other student service personnel can also enhance the overall accessibility of the postsecondary learning environment for students with disabilities.

Accommodations

A nonnegligible proportion of undergraduates report having disabilities; specifically, 11 percent of 2011–12 undergraduates reported having a disability. The types of disabilities reported by these students were as follows:

Universal Design

Most groups in educational institutions, workplaces, and other settings are diverse with respect to background, cultural and gender identity, first language, socioeconomic status, age, abilities, learning preferences, and myriad other characteristics. All people have an intersecting identity made up of a variety of these unique facets.

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