“AccessComputing is a place where I not only find help in my own life, but has also become a place in which I contribute knowledge and understanding.”
AccessComputing aims to increase the participation of people with disabilities in computing fields. Our work is two-fold, including (1) direct interventions to support computing students in increasing the participation of people with disabilities in computing (2) increasing the capacity of computing educators, employers, and organizations to include people with disabilities. When more citizens have access to computing opportunities, and when computing fields are enhanced by the perspectives of people with disabilities, we all benefit.
Through the AccessComputing team, we support undergraduate and graduate students interested in increasing the participation of people with disabilities in computing from across the country in reaching critical junctures toward college and careers by providing advice, resources, mentoring, REUs (research experiences for undergraduates), and funding to attend computing conferences.
We support computing educators, employers, and organizations to enact institutional change in order to recruit and retain students and employees with disabilities. This happens in our work with partners, our Community of Practice, webinars, minigrants, and workshops.
AccessComputing, an NSF Broadening Participation in Computing Alliance, is led by the University of Washington (UW), University of California Irvine, Gallaudet University, and Tufts University. It is based at the UW as a collaboration between DO-IT, the iSchool, and the Allen School. AccessComputing is supported by the National Science Foundation under grants CNS-0540615, CNS-0837508, CNS-1042260, CNS-1539179, CNS-2137312, and CNS-2417014.
To learn how you can participate in AccessComputing, contact accesscomp@uw.edu.