Although each situation is different and the student is the best source of information regarding useful accommodations, the following are some accommodations that should help to make the laboratory safer for students with mobility impairments and the other students in the class as well:
There is often confusion over the terms "hearing impaired," "hard of hearing," "deaf," and "deafened," both in definition and appropriateness of use.
Develop policies and procedures that ensure access to lab facilities, computers, and electronic resources for people with disabilities, and demand that accessibility be considered in the procurement process.
Although a lab cannot be expected to have specialized equipment on hand for every type of disability, provide equipment that you anticipate will be used and/or is available at relatively low cost:
Designing a lab that is universally accessible begins with the physical environment of the facility. Considerations for making a computer lab facility more accessible include the following:
Although each situation is different and the student is the best source of information regarding useful accommodations, the following are some accommodations that should help to make the laboratory safer for students who are deaf and the other students in your class as well:
Educational software where the computer provides multisensory experiences, interaction, positive reinforcement, individualized instruction, and repetition can be useful in skill building. Some students with learning disabilities who have difficulty processing written information can also benefit from completing writing assignments, tutorial lessons, and drill-and-practice work with the aid of computers. For example, a standard word processor can be a valuable tool for individuals with Dysgraphia, an inability to produce handwriting reliably.
Principles of universal design should be employed in making library databases more accessible to patrons with disabilities. "Universal design" means that rather than designing your services and facility for the average user, you design them for people with a broad range of abilities and disabilities. The following questions can help guide database developers to design library databases that are universally accessible to and usable by people with disabilities.
In the process of teaching a course, instructors may find that the format of some tests is not fully accessible to students with particular types of disabilities. For example, a student with a fine motor impairment may not be able to fill in the bubbles on a Scantron sheet. A student with Dyslexia may have difficulty demonstrating mastery by writing an essay but may have more success with a fill-in or multiple-choice test. If an alternate form of a test is called for, instructors should ensure that the alternate form is equivalent to the test given to other students.
Although each situation is different and the student is the best source of information regarding useful accommodations, the following are some accommodations that should help to make the laboratory safer for students with visual impairments and all of the students in your class:
Access to computers for people with disabilities involves two major issues: access to the computers themselves and access to electronic resources such as word processors, spreadsheets, and web pages. Adaptive hardware and software can facilitate computer access for people with disabilities. Adaptive (or assistive) technology solutions may involve simple, readily available adjustments such as using built-in access devices on standard computers, or they may require unique combinations of software and hardware such as those needed for voice or Braille output.