AccessComputing

Background

My name is Maria and I am a distance learning instructor at a community college. A student who is blind enrolled in my course and told me that some of the content was inaccessible.

Access Issue

Specifically, the student pointed out that some course content was embedded in graphics images that she could not access using her text-to-speech system.

Solution

I added text descriptions for all of the graphics images in my course.

Conclusions

This case demonstrates the following:

Yes, there are electronic mentoring programs that connect people with disabilities to peers and mentors via the Internet. Before joining an e-mentoring community, young people should obtain permission from their parents or guardians, who should check out the community and sponsor before allowing their children to participate. Apply Internet safety guidelines, such as those at SafeKids.Com.

Yes. There are many tutorials on how to create accessible websites. A few popular free web-based tutorials are listed below.

• Techniques and Concepts, WebAIM
• 508 Web Accessibility, Jim Thatcher

Background

I am a computer science major, and my name is Sean. I have a psychiatric condition called Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I was first diagnosed in grade school by a child psychiatrist. I also have some social phobias and physical tics, but the OCD is what most affects my academic work. I take medication that controls some of my symptoms.

Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) were created to allow people who have difficulty hearing or speaking on the telephone to communicate with voice telephone users. Under Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) [1], each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and all of the U.S. territories must provide free relay services.

Interactions with your peers can reinforce your classroom learning, help you persist to graduation, and make your college experience more satisfying (Pascarella, E.T., & Terenzini, P. T. 2005. How College Affects Students: A Third Decade of Research. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco). A group of students working together to advocate for increased accessibility on campus can also be more effective than a student advocating alone.

The World Institute on Disability (WID) is an international nonprofit center on public policy that focuses on researching disability issues and overcoming barriers to independent living for people with disabilities.

The Trace Center has prepared a document, A Brief Introduction to Disabilities, that discusses major disability groups and some specific barriers to accessibility they encounter. This online publication describes specific access issues related to visual impairments, hearing impairments, physical impairments, cognitive/language impairments, seizure disorders, and multiple impairments.

Students with learning disabilities and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder who participated in a study at Virginia Commonwealth University identified the following study skills as helpful to their success in postsecondary education:

Background

My name is Elena. I am working toward my associate's degree in computer graphics at the community college. I have Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease causing inflammation of the tissues, which can be painful. Recently I developed repetitive strain injuries (RSI) as a result of my muscle pain and weakness and extensive computer use. I take medications that partially control the Lupus symptoms. I do not have a visible disability, so sometimes people think I am faking or unnecessarily avoiding work.