Information Technology and Disabilities

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Information Technology and Disabilities

• Lawrie Phipps
• JISC TechDis Service
• Email Helpdesk_at_techdis.ac.uk
• Web www.techdis.ac.uk

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Introduction

• Language Social and Medical Models
• TechDis
• Legislation
• Code of Practice
• Guidelines
• Questions

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Language (social and medical)

• Person with disabilities
• Disabled person
• Social vs Medical

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TechDis

• Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee
• Enhancing provision for disabled students and
  staff in further and higher education through
  technology
• Various audiences IT support is key

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Research and projects

• Range of research and projects including
• Web accessibility
• Computer based assessment
• Learning technologies
• PDAs and mobile phones
• Screen readers
• Accessibility tools

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Support

• Helpdesk_at_techdis.ac.uk
• www.techdis.ac.uk
• Tel [phone]
• Caveat very small team that is more often out
  than in ?

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Rule 6. Education States should ensure that the
education of persons with disabilities is an
integral part of the educational system.
Required National Action Plans to be submitted by
member states
Therefore Legislation
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The Legislation

• SENDA Special Educational Needs and Disability
  Act
• Amends the DDA - Disability Discrimination Act
  1995 (DDA)
• Part 4 of the DDA now refers to Education

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What It Says

• Not treat a disabled person less favourably for
  a reason relating to their disability
• Required to make reasonable adjustments if a
  disabled person would otherwise be placed at a
  substantial disadvantage
• Adjustments should be anticipatory
• Applies to all admissions, enrolments and other
  student services which includes assessment

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What It Means

• . Will depend on case law
• But there is a code of practice

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The DRC Code of Practice

• practical guidance on how to avoid
  discrimination against disabled people and
  students wanting to access education
• The code is not an authoritative statement of
  law
• But it may be used as evidence
• E.g. an institution might cite the code as
  practice that it followed in evidence to avoid an
  adverse judgement

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The DRC Code of Practice

• The Act does not provide an excuse for disabled
  people or students to behave in disruptive or
  antisocial ways
• Bad treatment is not the same as less favourable
  treatment
• A responsible bodys duty to make reasonable
  adjustments is an anticipatory duty owed to
  disabled people and students at large. s 28T It
  is not simply a duty to individuals.
• Case Studies

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Example

• A student who is a wheelchair user is treated
  rudely by one of the computing service advisors
  in the learning resources centre. The staff
  member is rude to all students that day her bad
  treatment of the disabled student is not related
  to the students disability.
• The disabled student has not been treated less
  favourably than other students.

Caveat
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Language and Social Model

• Language is very important to disabled students
• Likely to be very intolerant of incorrect
  phrasing in this situation
• Is their query because of a (hidden) disability?
• Are you drawing attention to it by being rude?

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Example

• A tutor in Zoology delivers one of his modules
  through a computer-based  learning environment
  and awards marks for students' participation in 
  online discussion. The system does not work with
  a visually impaired student's software.
• The student is likely to be placed at a
  substantial disadvantage.

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Example

• A university encourages its lecturers to put
  lecture notes on the institution intranet. It
  introduces new procedures to ensure that all
  notes put on the intranet meet established
  guidelines to ensure there is no conflict with
  specialist software or features that students
  with dyslexia may be using. It therefore
  anticipates reasonable adjustments that it might
  need to make for certain disabled students.

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Case Study

• Purchasing an accessible Virtual Learning
  Environment
• Does it have an accessibility statement
• Does it comply with any accessibility guidelines
• Can it be adapted in house to suit student needs
• Documented User testing, either by company or
  evaluated in house
• Testing with relevant assistive technology

• Blackboard
• WebCT
• Nathan Bodington
• COSE (soon)

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Guidelines

• As well as the DRC CoP there are the following
  for E-learning
• IMS http//www.imsglobal.org/
• W3C http//www.w3c.org/wai
• Adopting in-house
• However,
• Interpretation of guidelines is key

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The conference centre can provide ramps for
access
Caution Ramp is not wheelchair accessible!
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Thank You
?s