Assistive technology: A delivery model for college and university student services

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Assistive technology A delivery model for
college and university student services

• Robert Perkins
• School of Education
• University of Charleston, SC
• Charleston, SC 29424
• [phone]
• PerkinsR_at_CofC.edu

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South Carolina Assistive Technology Project
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South Carolina Assistive Technology Project Grant

• Duxbury Braille Translation Program
• ET Braille Printer
• Dell Computer and HP Scanner
• JAWS for Windows
• OpenBook

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Disability Statistics

• 43 million Americans have a disability
• 4.3 million Americans have visual impairments
• 4.5 million students have disabilities

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Legislation

• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

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Litigation

• In State of New Mexico v. House, Gallegos, and
  Foley, 1992, it was found that public agencies
  must provide information in alternative formats.

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Litigation

• In 1992 Loyola Marymount University was ordered
  to provide notes of class lectures and
  discussions either by having a classmate process
  them into Braille or provide students with the
  ability to take their own notes.
• Tests must be provided on audiotape or Braille at
  the students preference.
• Materials must be given at the same time sighted
  students received them.
• A computer modified with voice output and screen
  reading capabilities must also be provided during
  the same hours computers were available for
  sighted students.

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Litigation

• In 1994 Los Rios Community College District, OCR
  defined two types of print material.
• The first type was print materials where
  comprehension is a critical factor, such as
  exams. This material must be provided in the
  students preferred format.
• The second type is more general material such as
  handbooks, class schedules, etc. and can be
  provided through audiotape, readers or
  synthesized speech

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Litigation

• In 1995, Purdue University agreed to
• Enlarge print handouts and deliver them at the
  same time other students received theirs
• Notify all instructors that they must describe
  information on chalkboards
• Provide all printed materials in the library
  through electronic reading equipment or sighted
  readers
• Provide adaptive computer equipment

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Litigation

• In 1996 San Jose State University ensured the
  university would provide Internet access to a
  visually impaired student. Computers (both
  Macintosh and IBM) were to have adaptive
  technology to make them accessible
• Sighted readers could only be used where adaptive
  technology did not exist

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1. What services has the college provided you to
help you in courses you take at the college?

• The college has provided the following services.
• An Optical Character Recognition system (reads
  some textbooks with synthetic speech)
• Lab computers that have been speech-enabled
  through screen reading software
• Reader services (to record books that are not
  already available on tape and/or can not be
  scanned with OCR solutions)
• Readers for course examination materials (exam
  readers)

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2. How have you felt about the services provided?

• Access to textbooks is a large concern for
  visually impaired students. Until recently, the
  college has not provided modern OCR solutions to
  enable visually impaired/blind students to read
  their assigned material. The OCR solutions that
  have existed are over a decade out of date, and
  are slow and inaccurate.

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3. Were these services adequate?

• No. I've had to come up with many of my own
  solutions to read textbooks, handle course
  requirements, etc. Handling things on your own
  is a good thing to some extent, but other
  disabled students who may not have my technical
  skills will have considerable problems.

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4. Were these services provided in a timely
manner?

• No. I have had to constantly annoy people and
  complain to countless others in order to get many
  things accomplished.
• As a Computer Science major, I require access to
  campus machines in order to perform my course
  work. Many people are notified of this need
  prior to the semester that I will be taking the
  classes requiring the adaptation, and I am still
  waiting for people to get through the red tape
  half-way through the semester.

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5. How have faculty responded to your needs for
accommodation?

• On a whole, most professors are willing to make
  whatever adjustments or modifications that are
  required for me to participate in their courses.
  I rarely require any adaptation at the classroom
  level, however. In most classes, the only needs
  that I have are for professors to orally indicate
  anything that is written on a board or overhead
  projector and approval to have a reader from the
  College Skills Lab administer all tests and
  exams. On an individual basis, the staff is
  generally helpful, but this does not seem to be
  the case when more than one person becomes
  involved.

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6. What accommodations were provided for course
material?

• Readers are a way of gaining access to printed
  material.

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7. Were these accommodations adequately provided?

• C of C insists on having disabled students go
  through the Disabled Student Services office in
  order to gain services from a reader. The time
  lag in this method makes it impractical.

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8. Were course materials provided in a timely
manner?

• Students, learning of the reading assignment from
  a professor, must make a request for a reader to
  the DOSS office, wait for the office to schedule
  someone to read the material, have that person
  deliver the recordings to the DOSS office, and
  finally make the recordings available to the
  student who is requesting the service. This
  procedure is further complicated by the added
  steps of trying to find people, waiting for them
  to return calls, etc. It is unrealistic to
  expect that this procedure will require less than
  a week to complete.

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9. What suggestions would you have to offer that
could improve college life for students with
disabilities?

• Other institutions put students directly in
  contact with the readers. A student must notify
  the reader that they will need materials
  recorded. When the recording is complete, the
  student is contacted by the reader. This can
  still take a few days, but is a far more
  responsive method than the current practice.

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10. Do you have any other comments?

• Provision of adaptive access to campus computing
  facilities including screen reading software,
  screen magnification software, and alternative
  input equipment have been slow. It is not so
  unrealistic to expect some workstations in each
  computing center that are configured with
  adaptive software. Currently, however, these
  adapted workstations are constantly in and out of
  order, and relying on them for any type of
  regular usage is a serious mistake.

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Conclusions

• Legislation Litigation
• Requires adaptive technology be available
• Requires material be delivered in a timely manner
• Important material needs to be in the students
  preferred format

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Conclusions

• Models of delivery
• Central location for producing materials
• Office of Disabilities
• Student with own equipment