AccessINCLUDES: Accessibility and Disability in the INCLUDES National Network Conference (2019)

Working Across Disciplines to Improve Digital Accessibility

Jonathan Lazar, University of Maryland, College Park

Almost accidentally, I ended up going back to school to study law and change my career to be more focused on how the law can change accessibility policies. There are three areas of law that you should be familiar with, as laid out below.

ADA and Web Accessibility

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in 1990, before the advent of the internet. The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated publicly that the protections of the ADA apply to web sites of entities covered by Title II and Title III, under the effective communication requirement. The DOJ reaffirmed this in 2018. Courts have held since 2006 (National Federation of the Blind v. Target) that web sites of public accommodations are covered under the ADA. In 2017, the District Court dismissed Robles v. Domino’s Pizza LLC because “Plaintiff has failed to articulate why… compliance with a technical standard other than WCAG 2.0 [Web Content Accessibility Guidelines] does not fall within the range of permissible options afforded under the ADA.” In January 2019, this decision was reversed and remanded. The Ninth Circuit decision stated that “flexibility is a feature, not a bug, and certainly not a violation of due process” and “Our Constitution does not require that Congress or DOJ spell out exactly how Domino’s should fulfill this obligation.”

Copyright and Accessible Formats

The Chafee Amendment (Sec. 121 of the Copyright Act) states: “It is not an infringement of copyright for an authorized entity to reproduce or to distribute copies or phonorecords….if such copies or phonorecords are reproduced or distributed in specialized formats exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities.” The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in 2014 that the fair use doctrine of copyright law allows the making of accessible digital copies of print books. The US just ratified and deposited the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works to people with disabilities who cannot read physical text.

ADA and Testing Accommodations

ADA statute (§ 12189) states, “Any person that offers examinations or courses related to applications, licensing, certification, or credentialing for secondary or postsecondary education, professional, or trade purposes shall offer such examinations or courses in a place and manner accessible to persons with disabilities or offer alternative accessible arrangements for such individuals.” The ADA regulation (28 C.F.R. § 36.309(b)(1)(i)) helps to interpret this statute by stating, “The examination is selected and administered so as to best ensure that, when the examination is administered to an individual with a disability that impairs sensory, manual, or speaking skills, the examination results accurately reflect the individual’s aptitude or achievement level or whatever other factor the examination purports to measure, rather than reflecting the individual’s impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except where those skills are the factors that the examination purports to measure).”

Equity by Design

Joan Freese, Twin Cities Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

At Twin Cities PBS, we have two projects focused on STEM education: SciGirls Code and Hero Elementary.

SciGirls Code uses a national connected learning model to integrate computing in STEM learning with middle school girls. We implemented a nine-month curriculum on mobile apps, robotics, and e-textiles in 16 pilots sites with over 160 girls. We offered professional development for 32 STEM educators and role model training for female tech professionals. Our research is investigating the ways computational learning experiences impact the development of computational thinking as well as interest and attitudes toward computer science. Promising strategies used by SciGirls Code for addressing equity in learning technologies include uniting around a shared purpose; aligning home, school, and community; connecting to the interest and identities of minority children and youth; and targeting the needs of subgroups.

We partnered with the Pacer Center to work with students with disabilities and host three workshops; the Pacer Center helped us see how it was possible to work with students with disabilities and how to make sure all students felt included, especially in a group of students with disabilities instead of just one student with a disability trying to work with a group of students who don’t have disabilities.

Hero Elementary is a comprehensive media initiative that integrates television, digital media, outreach, and research. The project goal is to improve the school readiness in science and literacy of K-2 students living in poverty. We focus on low-income communities, English Language Learners, children with disabilities, and children from Latinx communities. Hero Elementary uses proven strategies to engage young learners in science, supporting early science learning with experiences that feature the following:

• Science connected to local places
• Culturally relevant pedagogy
• Real-world, hands-on learning
• Multimodal experiences, multiple representations
• Discussion and reflection
• Home and community partnerships

A collection of 31 “Playlists,” which include television episodes, digital or analog games, hands-on activities, the Science Power Notebook, learning analytics on a digital platform, educator assets, and children enrichment resources for parents. These playlists have adapted the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines Educator Checklist from the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), recommendations from a needs assessment with special education teachers and partners, and recommendations from Game accessibility guidelines.

Hero Elementary is partnering with Hope Haven, a public school for kids with disabilities in Jacksonville, FL, to work with their after-school program and see how the playlists and projects work with students. In the future, we hope to align universal design for learning with classroom strategies for informal educators.

Embedding Neurodivergent Software Design in a Computer Science Course

John Russo, Landmark College

Neurodiversity is a concept where neurological differences are to be recognized and respected as any other human variation. These differences can include those labeled with dyspraxia, dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyscalculia, autism spectrum, Tourette syndrome, and others. Cognitive abilities have a range. For example, people read and comprehend at different rates, recognize and understand more or less objects, can complete long tasks in a single session or need multiple sessions, become distracted more or less easily, and more. Autistic individuals may have difficulty interpreting the emotions of others, get lost easily, have challenges filtering out noise, and face confusion shifting between tasks. Individuals with attention deficits may have issues with memory limitations or choosing the correct word or sentence structure in addition to attentional bias. Software designers need to remember that one size doesn’t fit all when designing for neurodiverse users and should focus on functional impairments instead of looking at specific diagnostic profiles. As a general rule, they should design with cognitive load in mind. Abstract concepts, social and emotional cues, and symbols and icons can create problems in design.

In addition to teaching software design best practices, we can teach universal design principles into our courses, use individuals who are neurodivergent as subject matter experts, and find neurodivergent test users to evaluate the effectiveness of a design. In my future work, I hope to develop best practices for teaching neurodivergent software design as part of a computer science course. I plan to work with neurodivergent subject matter experts to test the validity of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 guidelines and develop design team and testing team composition guidelines that could be disseminated to industry.

STEM Education and Career Exposure Software for Deaf and Reading-Challenged Students

Greg Monty, North Carolina A&T State University

Our name is EMERGE in STEM (Education for Minorities to Effectively Raise Graduation and Employment in STEM): Paving a K-12 Pathway to the STEM workforce through education and career exposure. We are part of the second cohort of INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots. EMERGE in STEM has a galaxy of partners engaged in our project including partners from school districts, the State Department of Education, community organizations, colleges and universities, entrepreneurs, local commerce and industry, and our evaluation and assessment team. Additional partners will join over time. EMERGE in STEM is the go-to STEM center for Guilford County in North Carolina, maintaining a calendar of most STEM activities in the area. We are enlisting thousands of students in grades 4-12 to complete assessments before and after participation in STEM interventions.

Our Learning Blade software has missions that focus on 12 different contexts for STEM including energy production, robotics design, flu outbreak, and transportation congestion that relate to a variety of career clusters, with games and lessons involved with each context. Captions in the Learning Blade software provide access for students who are deaf or hard of hearing and students with reading-related disabilities. Many students with disabilities are using this software, and we are currently collecting data to determine how the software works for them. A report from Battelle Education found that overall, Learning Blade doubles the number of students interesting in engineering and science and leads to a 79% increase in students recognizing that “math is helpful when solving interesting problems,” 69% increase in students recognizing “what I learn in school will be useful later in life,” and 56% increase of students interested in taking advanced math classes.

Digital INaccessibility: Why Haven’t We Figured This Out Yet?

Nora Ryan, Iowa State University

The ADA, Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, WCAG, Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act, 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, and 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA) all work to ensure access for people with disabilities in different contexts. Despite all this legislation, many digital resources are still inaccessible. There is a lack of clear federal regulations, little uniformity in assistive technology, insufficient promotion of inclusion and diversity, and an absence of education and awareness about accessibility.

We need more unambiguous, enforceable federal regulations, university policies that directly address digital accessibility, widespread education and awareness about accessibility, and certifications for both front-end designers and back-end developers.  It’s 2019 and we’re still not even close to where we need to be when it comes to digital accessibility and equal access. Why haven’t we figured this out yet?

STEM Accessibility Alliance: Strengthening the National STEM Workforce through Accessible and Inclusive Strategic Alignment

Chris Atchison, University of Cincinnati

We’re not seeing disability included in broadening participation efforts as much as we should. The issue is not diversity but a lack of social justice (opportunity, access, inclusion, equity). As said by Robin Bell, President of the American Geophysical Union, “The success and advancement of Earth and space sciences depends on a diverse pool of researchers… We do better science when diverse voices are at the table.” People with disabilities are not entering postsecondary education and the STEM workforce at rates consistent with the total US population. One out of five Americans has a disability according to the US Census. More than one in three of American households surveyed had at least one member who identified as having a disability according to Nielsen data. More than one billion people have a disability worldwide (United Nations Enable).

Research and practice in access and inclusion has produced great outcomes, but not all efforts are aligned towards a common goal. Most activities are in reaction to needs that are years, and sometimes decades, overdue. We are still struggling to be proactive. Our projects spring up as a reaction to a problem independently from each other. PreK-12 educators (including the support staff and parents) are not fully aware of the accessible and inclusive opportunities in higher education and STEM careers their students with disabilities can successfully pursue. We are unaware of the needs of industry and the accessible careers that already do, or will exist, in the next ten years.

I am hoping to propose an INCLUDES Alliance that will

1. utilize key findings from research that supports students with disabilities in workforce development to broaden the national talent in all STEM disciplines,
2. support PreK-12 teachers and parents to encourage students to pursue STEM disciplines, and
3. enlist corporate partners as mentors and visionaries for training the future of their workforce.

I envision the Alliance working broadly across sectors, STEM fields, and disability types, with the following objectives in mind:

• Have everyone at the table at the same time, including the very students, parents, and teachers we are trying to support.
• Work directly with corporate, government, non-profit partners to design pathways supporting PreK-12 students, parents, and teachers.
• Enable students with disabilities to graduate from secondary and post-secondary institutions with marketable skills that will make them strong candidates for STEM careers.

These are our collective impact goals:

• Establishing a cross-sector STEM access alliance in the tri-state area centered in Cincinnati.
• Enabling all project partners to identify sector-specific goals for increasing access and inclusion that align to the Alliance priorities.
• Creating a broader national STEM network building capacity of students with disabilities entering post-secondary education.

Research from Accenture found that companies that embrace best practices for employing and supporting people with disabilities in their workforce outperform their peers. Throughout this year, I will be working to identify partners, hold a conference, and develop a proposal for submission in the fall.

Community Engagement for Cradle through Career STEM Learning

Joe Hastings & Kristin Leigh, Explora

Explora is a 501c(3) science center and children’s museum, operating in a public-private partnership with the City of Albuquerque. We serve 325,000 people of all ages a year with STEM exhibits and programs. Explora serves as the backbone organization for STEM-New Mexico (NM), our state’s nationally-designated STEM Learning Ecosystem. One of Explora’s four core values is Community. We work hard to ensure Explora is useful, relevant, and an integral part of the community fabric. We utilize a Listen, Welcome, Co-create community engagement strategy, which involves formal community listening sessions, no-cost community partner memberships, and co-development of programs and initiatives. Explora’s other core values include Learning, Sustainability, and Generosity.

During our last strategic planning process, the leadership team decided we really needed to turn outward and focus in on our community’s aspirations and how Explora can contribute to community change. We used the Harwood Institute approach to ask the following questions: What kind of community do you want? What are the most important issues or concerns when it comes to the community? What do you think is keeping us from making the progress we want? What could we try that might make a difference? Who do we trust to take action?

You can’t decide where you are going until you listen to the entire community and hear their interests and concerns. We conducted listening sessions with a variety of local groups, and these aspirations were shared consistently among groups during these listening sessions:

• an inclusive, accessible community;
• a child-centered community;
• a community with abundant educational opportunities;
• a community with plentiful, high-quality early childhood education;
• a safe community;
• a community with less poverty and more jobs; and
• a community with well-planned neighborhoods.

We welcomed groups to Explora to utilize our space, provide access for families, and build partnerships. Through this, we got to know many of the disability groups in our community. One partnership we developed was with the New Mexico Autism Society (NMAS). With NMAS, we received funding to co-create and iterate on: sensory toolkits, sensory stories and maps, sensory-friendly hours, staff training, and summer camps for children on the autism spectrum. This partnership helped to normalize sensory needs. Signs about sensory resources led to new conversations. Sensory recovery kits were placed on the exhibit floor for potential stressful situations. Selling fidgets in the store increased awareness and access. We also developed sensory-friendly events that allowed for low attendance, a calmer environment, more judgment-free environments, sensory break rooms, additional signage, lower noise and light, and transitional items as kids leave the museum.

Explora also is part of an NSF INCLUDES project, called Math FACESS (Families and Communities Empowering Student Success in Mathematics) that aims to improve students’ attitudes, practices, and achievement in math; improve parents’ attitudes, practices, and confidence in math and increase their utilization of family math resources; improve data-sharing among partners related to math participation and achievement; and create pathways within the STEM-NM Ecosystem for family math learning. This project has four major components:

• Teachers at two pilot schools participate in professional development related to Math Talk and Listening (Hufferd-Ackles, et al. 2004; Hintz and Tyson, 2015);
• Parents at the pilot schools participate in parent workshops and community-based activities focused on supporting their children’s math achievement;
• Project partners implement community-based family activities organized around a theme of 12 Months of Math (12MoM); and
• Ecosystem partners study what worked and what didn’t, in order to identify best practices that can be shared with system leaders to scale effective practices and increase impact.

NSF Alliances for Students with Disabilities in STEM

Overtoun Jenda & Brittany McCoullough, Auburn University

Our first alliance for students with disabilities in STEM started in 2009 as part of NSF’s Research in Disabilities Education program (RDE). The Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM focused on increasing the number of degrees and overall success being achieved by students with disabilities at five institutions in East-Central Alabama. In 2016 we were awarded funding for our current NSF INCLUDES Pilot Project, South East Alliance for Persons with Disabilities in STEM, which brings together 21 institutions throughout the southeastern US. In this project, some institutions hosted pilot sites, while others hosted workshops or training opportunities. We are hoping to expand this project to be a national program in an upcoming INCLUDES proposal titled The Alliance for Persons with Disabilities in STEM that will involve 37 institutions from across the country.

In our NSF projects, we have successfully utilized a variety of interventions: peer and faculty mentoring, small student cluster groups, monthly group meetings, research internships and presentations, and annual conferences. We also hosted two academies funded by government partnerships, one for blind/visually impaired high school students, and one for deaf/hard-of-hearing high school students. We have had over 250 students participate to date. Our participants have received 121 bachelor’s degrees, 15 masters, and 2 doctoral degrees. Graduate school entrance rates were higher than the overall student population. Participants had increased self-efficacy and persistence in STEM, increased self-advocacy behaviors, and successful creation of a supportive academic and social network.

Introducing the Environmental Data Science Inclusion Network

Alycia Crall, Battelle

There has been a growth of large ecological data sets and environmental synthesis projects. Analyses of these datasets and policies driven by those analyses may have profound environmental and societal implications. We want to bring together the practitioners, researchers, educators, evaluators and employers to work towards a more inclusive field to ensure the field reflects the diversity of the communities it serves. Our NSF INCLUDES conference Bringing Conversations on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Data Science to the Environmental Sciences will begin this conversation.

Our conference will feature an opening panel to discuss inclusion, with Gina Helfrich from the Numerical Foundation for Open Code and Useable Science (NumFOCUS), Cedric Chambers from Jobs for Underrepresented and Minority Professionals (JUMP) Recruits, Kaitlin Stack Whitney from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Clyde Cristman from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Dennis Dye from the Bureau of Indian Education. Our plenary speakers include Carolyn Finney, who will speak about environmental and social justice considerations in the world of big data; Carlos Castillo-Chavez, who will speak about the application of mathematics to environmental science issues and recruitment and retention of minorities in the data sciences; Melvin Hall, who will speak about evaluation of data science programs and culturally responsive evaluation; Drew Hasley, who will speak about data visualization for students with visual impairments; Melinda Laituri, who will speak about spatial justice and data ethics and analysis of the interactions between space and society to understand social injustices; Marco Hatch, who will speak about the integration of traditional ecological knowledge and recruitment and retention of indigenous students; and Whitney Tome, who will speak about increasing racial diversity within large environmental non-profits, foundations, and federal government agencies. There will also be posters and lightning talks to increase awareness of relevant initiatives and conference attendees will identify and prioritize topics for breakout discussion sessions. Learn more at edsin.qubeshub.org.

The National Science Foundation’s National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) project is a continental-scale ecological observation facility operated by Battelle. NEON provides the following:

• Free and open data on the drivers of and responses to ecological change
• A standardized and reliable framework for research and experiments
• Data interoperability for integration with other national and international network science projects

We host 81 field sites across the country, providing over 170 data products. Standardized data collection methods are used across all sites using automated instruments, observational sampling, and airborne remote sampling. Via our data portal, you can download data, view the data product catalog, and read protocols. We also offer self-paced tutorials, teaching modules, data skills workshops, science videos, research internships, and seasonal fieldwork. We are working to increase accessibility of NEON resources by captioning videos on YouTube, adding alt text to images and figures in data skills tutorials, requesting information about the accessibility needs of workshop participants, checking the accessibility of our documentation, and recommending resources to make data and data skills trainings more accessible.

Barriers to STEM Learning: Cognitive Loads in the Classroom

Ibrahim Dahlstrom-Hakki, Technical Education Reasearch Centers (TERC)

It’s important to understand cognitive load. The processing capacity of our working memory is limited. A limited number of items can be held in working memory at any one point. Working memory can act as both a gateway to information processing and knowledge acquisition and as a bottleneck in acquiring and expressing knowledge. There are both intrinsic and extraneous processing loads when we learn. An extraneous load is part of a learning task that is not integral to the learning goal (i.e., spelling in a critical thought essay or reading in algebra word problem). An intrinsic load is the core elements of the learning task (i.e., the analysis in a critical thinking essay or algebraic reasoning in an algebra word problem). Learning is efficient when cognitive load doesn’t exceed working memory capacity. This happens when extraneous loads are low and the intrinsic loads are appropriate to the learner’s ability level. Learning is slowed or stops when cognitive load exceeds working memory capacity. This may happen if the intrinsic load is beyond a learner’s ability level or when extraneous loads are high.

Factors that limit available working memory include weaknesses in memory, attention, or executive function; language deficits; poorly automatized skills; and anxiety and other affective issues. Automatization of skills, addressing confidence and other affective issues, and effective strategy use can reduce extraneous cognitive load and free up working memory.

• Common sources of struggle can come from
• Poor or confusing formatting – 3a + 23 = 2a – 7 is easier to solve than IVa – XIX = IIa + VII.
• Attention load simulation – In a geometry problem, it’s easier to solve a problem when the necessary information is embedded in the diagram.
• language processing, and
• anxiety.

Providing Equitable Access to Computing Education in Mississippi

Sarah Lee, Mississippi State University

In 2016, the Mississippi Alliance for Women in Computing received INCLUDES funding. Mississippi has the lowest median wages in the US and lowest rates of STEM employment, with women and people of color largely underrepresented in computing professions. Computer scientists in the southern US are underrepresented compared to the rest of the nation. Our Alliance illuminates computing pathways for women by attracting white women and women of color into computing, improving the retention rates of women in computing majors, and helping women transition into the computing workforce. With a variety of partners, we have offered summer programs for K-12 students in computer science and cybersecurity outreach; extracurricular activities, mentoring, and tutoring for college students; Attract-Inspire-Mentor PK-12 teacher professional development, and coding academies.

There are Mississippi Coding Academies in both Jackson and Golden State. They are tuition-free, 11 months opportunities with an employer-driven curriculum and a highly selective recruitment process. Students learn full-stack coding, soft skills, and have a direct connection with employers. The goal was to create opportunities, respond to a growing employment need for tech-skilled workforce, boost the innovation ecosystem for the state, and attract industry with a technology-trained workforce supply.

One of our partners is Academics, Campus Life, Community Involvement, Employment Opportunites, Socialization, and Self-Awareness (ACCESS) at Mississippi State University, a 4-year, comprehensive transition program designed as an inclusive post-secondary experience for students with developmental and intellectual disabilities. ACCESS students enroll in the University, participate fully in all aspects of college life, graduate from the program, and transition to their chosen employment and living situations, having become proficient in self-advocacy and self-determination.  We have built a partnership between our Coding Academies and students in the ACCESS program. We want to open up pathways for women and people of color, but also for people with disabilities and other minority groups. We are looking to expand our Alliance throughout the Southern US in the future.

You can find the full text for Policy #188, information about waivers, and the minimum accessibility standard by visiting the following:

• Policy #188
• Standard #188.10 – Minimum Accessibility Standard
• Policy #103 – Technology Policy & Standards Waiver Request

The UW’s Accessible Technology website includes a variety of resources:

• the IT accessibility policy and guidelines for the UW
• legal issues and civil rights complaints and resolutions nationwide
• instructions and tips for making IT accessible
• more resources for creating and procuring accessible IT products

The DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) website contains the following:

• information about DO-IT projects
• evidence-based practices that support project goals and objectives
• resources for students with disabilities
• educational materials for teachers and administration

DO-IT maintains a searchable database of frequently asked questions, case studies, and promising practices related to how educators and employers can fully include students with disabilities. The Knowledge Base is an excellent resource for ideas that can be implemented in programs in order to better serve students with disabilities. In particular, the promising practices articles serve to spread the word about practices that show evidence of improving the participation of people with disabilities in postsecondary education.

Examples of Knowledge Base questions include the following:

• Are electronic whiteboards accessible to people with disabilities?
• Are peer review tools accessible?
• Are there computer keyboards designed to be used with only one hand?
• Are touch screens accessible?
• Do postsecondary institutions have to provide assistive technology (for example, screen enlargement or voice recognition software) to students with disabilities who enroll in distance learning courses?
• Does a postsecondary institution have to provide specific hardware or software (known as assistive technology) that an individual with a disability requests so that they can access information technology used on campus?
• Does making our school web content accessible mean I cannot use multimedia on my site?
• How can educational entities determine if their websites are accessible?

Individuals and organizations are encouraged to propose questions and answers, case studies, and promising practices for the Knowledge Base. Contributions and suggestions can be sent to doit@uw.edu.

For more information on making your campus technology accessible and to learn more about accessible learning or universal design, review the following websites and brochures:

• The University of Washington’s hub for information on accessible technology, featuring how to create and develop accessible documents, videos, and websites, can be found at Accessible Technology.
• WCAG 2.0 are the expected guidelines to be followed for all websites.
• The Access Technology Center’s website.
• A list of thirty different web accessibility tips, and how to implement those tips.
• Accessibility training and certification.
• More information about accessibility standards and procurement.
• Cheat sheets for making accessible documents and content, as well as a plethora of other resources for accessible websites, can be found at the NCDAE.
• The AccessDL website shares resources for making distance learning and online courses accessible.
• Accessible University’s website featuring common web accessibility principles and solutions.
• A brochure on universally designing distance-learning programs.
• A brochure on what accessible distance learning is and how it helps students.
• A brochure on the top tips for creating an accessible distance-learning course can be found at the 20 Tips website.
• A brochure on why accessible web design matters, and some resources to make your website accessible, can be found at Accessible Web Design.
• Blindmath is a listserv for those who want to learn more about all issues around accessible mathematics.
• More information on universal design in education can be found at the Center for Universal Design in Education.

Conferences can be a great way to share resources, collaborate, and come up with new ideas. Consider attending the following:

• ATHEN (Accessing Higher Ground)
• CSUN
• ATIA
• Closing the Gap
• Smaller, local IT conferences, like TechConnect
• NW E-Learn
• EDUCAUSE
• Building Bridges
• Faculty Accessibility Retreat for 2-year colleges

Location: Husky Union Building (HUB) 145, UW Seattle Campus

Hosted by Accessible Technology Services (ATS), UW-IT

Moderator: Sheryl Burgstahler, Director ATS

8:30 – 9:00 am
Pastries, Fruit, Coffee, Tea, Informal Networking

9:00 – 10:00 am
Welcome, Introductions, Goals, Objectives, Overview, Sheryl Burgstahler
Meeting Goal: Improve the accessibility of IT developed, procured, & used by public postsecondary institutions in Washington State
Objectives: Increase understanding of requirements of Policy #188, share & develop plans for implementing Policy, and build relationships between those implementing Policy state-wide.

10:00 – 11:00 am
Evolving WCAG Guidelines, Terrill Thompson, UW ATS Accessible Technology Specialist

11:00 – 11:15 am
Break

11:15 – 11:45 am
Update on Policy #188, Ryan Leisinger, WATech

11:45 – 12:45 pm
Small Group Discussion & Lunch: What is (1) helping and (2) holding back your progress on implementing Policy #188?
Write responses on post-its & place on poster sheet under two columns.

12:45 – 1:15 pm
Report Out From Small Group Discussions

1:15 – 2:45 pm
Panel of Participants Sharing Promising Practices for Implementing Policy #188
Each will speak up to 15 minutes about overall progress or a specific successful practice. Q&A for all will be at the very end.

• Carly Gerard, Western Washington University
• Bridget Irish, The Evergreen State College
• Ana Thompson, University of Washington, Bothell
• Joetta Sieglock, Eastern Washington University

2:45 – 3:00 pm
Break

3:00 – 3:30 pm
Small Group Discussions: What are key steps you are planning to take to implement Policy #188, short term and long term?
Write responses on post-its & organize on poster sheet in categories.

3:30 – 4:00 pm
Report Out From Small Group Discussions

4:00 – 4:30 pm
Conclusion, Comments, Future Plans & Evaluation

What is meant by Neurodiversity and what do Neurodiverse students want?

Ronda Jenson, Northern Arizona University and Scott Bellman, NNL Project Director

Video Link (Length: 1:03:05)

As shared by Scott Bellman, DO-IT’s Neuroscience for Neurodiverse Learners (NNL) project provides hands-on experiences in neuroscience disciplines, networking opportunities, and resources to high school and early post secondary students. The project also provides resources for educators and stakeholders such as a website and online knowledge base, workshops, video productions, and publications.

Neurodiverse learners we work with in the NNL project face academic challenges related to specific learning disabilities (e.g., dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia), attention deficit disorders (ADD, ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Tourette syndrome, and other conditions impacting cognitive processing.

Within the NNL project, high school and early postsecondary students learn about and engage in scientific communication, social skills and teamwork, college preparation, leadership building, self-advocacy, neuroscience and neural engineering, and ethics related to emerging technologies.

NNL uses principles of universal design (UD) by proactively designing materials and activities that are accessible and inclusive for individuals with a broad range of characteristics, including disabilities. Below are examples of how we implement these principles:

• Offerings are available both on-site and online.
• All activities provide dedicated spaces for reflection and quiet.
• Materials are provided in a variety of formats, and captions are provided for videos and video conferencing activities.
• Students are offered multiple ways to engage in learning.
• Project staff prepare “social narratives” to describe what students can expect before an activity occurs, or before coming to campus. For example, prior to NNL's annual summer camp, students are sent images of the campus, buildings, and classrooms where they will be conducting work. The images are supplemented with descriptions of each space.

The project offers hands-on learning and student-guided learning. For example, during summer camp activities, students are asked about topics they would like to explore, and then the topics are added to the camp curriculum. Such student-driven topics have included the effect of meditation on the brain, the impact of music on the brain, and neuroscience in movies. 

The project promotes near-peer leaders, defined as neurodiverse STEM students who are slightly older than our main project participants. Near-peer leaders are very effective at helping students navigate the learning content, participate in discussions, and engage in activities.

Another project that focuses on neurodiverse students is the Discover Your Unique Advantage in STEM (DYNA STEM) project. DYNA STEM has gathered information to elevate the voices of 21 neurodiverse undergraduate students in STEM across three states: Arizona, Missouri, and Ohio. The project encourages developing an understanding of universal design, adult learning principles, trauma-informed approaches, and embracing intersectionality. It offers the following suggestions for STEM educators:

• Acknowledge undergraduate students as adult learners who bring diverse learning histories to the classroom.
• Acknowledge that learning histories may be positive, negative, or indifferent.
• Acknowledge the intersectionality of cultural backgrounds, identities, and personal histories.
• Acknowledge differences in the ways undergraduate students perceive, approach, and interact with new information and skills.

The students who engaged with DYNA STEM shared what they want in education settings:

1. Specific, clear instructions
2. Flexibility for self-guided learning
3. Balance of peer learning, hands-on, and direct instructions (aka-not just lecture or not just group project)
4. Choice: Options to choose and not choose activities or steps
5. Visuals and graphics, not just text-based
6. Opportunities to be creative
7. Clear, logical applications to real-world STEM work
8. Sensory stimuli focused on specific tasks
9. Physical space options for standing and sitting, with options for orientation in the space
10. Clear social expectations

Through interactions with neurodiverse students, educators are encouraged to explore the following questions:

• What does intersectionality mean to undergraduate neurodiverse students?
• In what ways do we acknowledge neurodiverse undergraduate students as adult learners?
• What can we do to show respect for the trauma-histories neurodiverse undergraduate students may have?

How Can Universal Design Impact Neurodiverse Learners?

Sheryl Burgstahler, NNL PI 

Video Link (Length: 1:00:52)

An inclusive environment embraces all potential participants who meet requirements with or without accommodations and makes sure everyone feels respected and engaged. Ability exists on a continuum, where all individuals are more or less able to see, hear, walk, read printed material, communicate verbally, tune out distractions, learn, or manage their health. This is also true of abilities related to neurodivergence, such as learning differences and differences in cognitive processing–such differences exist on a continuum.

Most disabilities of neurodiverse learners have invisible disabilities—meaning they aren't obvious to most people—and many students don’t report their disabilities to postsecondary disability service offices. Regardless, we want to ensure that students have access to the classes and labs we teach, as well as the learning resources we share. 

Students’ identities are also multi-faceted, which means we must take an intersectional approach that acknowledges that some students are from more than one underrepresented group. Students who are neurodiverse may also identify as black or African American, a woman, or other minority identities. It is important to listen to students and to be sensitive to their identities and ways they have been discriminated against.

How society views disability has changed throughout the years. People with disabilities historically have been eliminated or excluded from society, segregated from the general population, aimed to be cured, rehabilitated, accommodated, and finally, accepted and included as they are. The modern approach has its roots in social justice and aims to allow all people to feel included, including those with disabilities.

There are two approaches for making college and university campuses accessible: accommodations and universal design (UD). Accommodations are reactive and address the inaccessible features of a product or environment to make it more accessible to a particular individual (e.g., captioning a video when a student with a hearing impairment requests it). Universal design is a proactive approach for creating a product or environment accessible to the most diverse group possible (e.g., captioning all videos by default). A building with stairs at the entrance and a separate ramp for people with wheelchairs is technically accessible, while a building with a single entrance that everyone can use is universally designed.

Universal design doesn’t just help people with disabilities—sloped entrances help people moving carts, and captions help those learning English or in noisy environments, as just a few examples. Universally designed technology should have built-in accessibility features and ensure compatibility with assistive technology.

UD is an attitude that values diversity, equity, and inclusion. It can be implemented incrementally, focuses on benefits to all students, promotes good teaching practice, does not lower academic standards, and minimizes the need for accommodations. UD can be applied to all aspects of learning, including class culture and climate, physical environments, delivery methods, products, and information resources, delivery of feedback, and assessments. 

To review an easy to use checklist, visit Equal Access: Universal Design of Instruction. For more tips, you can follow the 20 Tips for Teaching an Accessible Online Course.

Disability Representation in the Media

Kayla Brown, DO-IT Project Coordinator

Video Link (Length: 0:30:32)

Media representation is the way in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, and experiences. This includes the accuracy of portrayals, the diversity of perspectives, and whether those portrayals perpetuate negative stereotypes. It's not just about quantity—it's about quality. This session explored common tropes in the media about disability and examined examples of neurodivergent characters.

Examining the media is important because television and movies influence the way people think. If portrayals exhibit negative stereotypes, this will affect how we see groups of people as a whole. One unique aspect of many neurodiverse characters is that they are coded as having a disability. Coding characters means that they are written in a way to imply something about them, such as having a disability. A character may have the behavior of someone with autism, but it is not confirmed explicitly through dialogue or from the writers. 

If we can increase the number and quality of media representation of people with disabilities, we can begin to introduce the world to more accurate depictions of people with disabilities. We can start a real conversation about disabilities and establish points of reference for it. In this way, fictional characters in television and movies have the power to alter prevailing ideologies and attitudes in society.

Accessible Technology for Neurodiverse Learners

Gaby de Jongh, University of Washington

Video Link (Length: 0:52:09)

Accessible electronic and information technology can be used by people with a wide variety of abilities and disabilities and incorporate the principles of universal design. Assistive technology can maintain or improve functionality and provide numerous benefits to neurodiverse learners by addressing specific learning needs, supporting strengths, and promoting independence. Assistive technology helps remove barriers to learning by providing accessible alternatives to traditional methods. It can accommodate various learning styles, sensory sensitivities, and physical challenges, ensuring equal access to educational materials and opportunities.

Assistive technology should be selected based on individual needs and preferences, and it should be accompanied by appropriate guidance and support from professionals and educators to ensure effective training and implementation. There are many examples of assistive technology that may benefit neurodiverse learners:

• Social communication aids, such as social skill training apps, video modeling tools, or augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices
• Social engagement opportunities and classes or discussions on communication skills
• Text-to-speech software that reads text aloud, making it easier to comprehend and process information--text-to-speech software can adapt to the specific needs, preferences, and pace of neurodiverse learners, which allows for individualized instruction, customization of learning experiences, and easier engagement
• Visual schedules, reminders, task managers, and digital planners that help learners stay organized, manage time effectively, and improve executive functioning abilities
• Noise-canceling headphones, ambient sound generators, or apps that block distractions, enhance concentration, and create a more conducive learning environment
• Sensory-friendly interfaces, adjustable lighting, and/or noise reduction options create a more comfortable and inclusive learning environment

Panelists: Nils Hakansson (Wichita State University), Raja Kushalnagar (Gallaudet University), Marta Larson (Michigan After-School Partnership), and Vinod Namboodiri (Wichita State University)

Moderator: Brianna Blaser, UW

As an educator and person with a disability, what do you wish educational researchers knew about people with disabilities or their experiences?

• Coming from a smaller school, people can often say they don’t have the resources available for accessibility. Cost and time allocation comes up much more often. I wish educators or organizations could support this issue and provide resources for providing accommodations. Organizations often see people with disabilities as an expensive cost allocation.
• All institutions should include people with disabilities on their advisory board. People with disabilities are highly varied. Even two people with the same disability may need different accommodations. If there are more voices of people with disabilities, your organization or institution will be more universally designed.
• Accommodations should be kept as streamlined as possible. I don’t want to be identified as different, and I don’t want to have to search around to find accessibility.
• Faculty can often see accommodations and accessibility as controlling what they can do and how they teach. However, faculty should see accessibility as a partnership that allows all people to be educated. Instead of punitive practices, there should be encouragement and understanding of inclusion.
• People have often labeled me a specific way and provided accommodations only within that label. People with disabilities need to be included in the accommodation discussion instead of exterior to it.
• If departments have to provide funding for accommodations, that can be difficult. If funding comes from a central budget of the university, it would be a lot easier for technology to be purchased and accommodations provided.

What things would you want as faculty that you used to have as a student?

• Students are often provided with resources and accommodations, whereas staff and faculty often have to go through other venues or don’t have the same options. Sometimes staff and faculty aren’t sure how to get accommodations.
• Staff and faculty usually go through HR for accommodations, which can work at a different speed than student offices. Faculty and staff often come after students in the case of access. Even more so, staff and faculty accommodations are not covered by the same budgets that students’ accommodations are covered.
• Since I am not in a single institution, I have to be my own support group. I have to provide my own accommodations. I often feel like I don’t have a system and when I go to new locations, I have to have the same battles and same issues repeatedly and fight for my own accommodations. There should be more knowledge and shared resources to all institutions and venues.

What would you want your colleagues and peers to know about how best to support you as a person with a disability?

• I ask students to ask me questions and feel comfortable talking about my disability, as well as the fact that I may be asking for help in relation to my disability. I am proactive about open communication.
• Find a way to interact with me that isn’t about my disability. For example, people need to learn how to walk slower, speak up, listen better, and find ways to interact with others that helps the person with a disability feel included.

What can we do to increase the representation of people with disabilities in INCLUDES projects? Why haven’t more INCLUDES projects considered disability?

• People with disabilities are often seen as separate from other minorities. Alliances should take an intersectional approach to considering identity. Disability is often not included in the diversity conversation.
• Disability data should be collected. NSF and other institutions can provide advice for collecting data on disability.
• People often think there is stigma in disabilities and may not want to create organizations around disabilities because of this.
• People feel like they don’t want to do more work for only 10-15% of the population or claim it is too hard to find participants for these projects.
• People need people with disabilities on their teams. If people with disabilities aren’t included in leadership, then people with disabilities are more likely to be forgotten.
• There is a lack of expertise in disability and accessibility in many research teams that could be addressed with more courses, training materials, and webinars on the subjects.
• There needs to be more transparency in the proposal selection process. It would be helpful to know how many proposals addressed disability and how many awards were given to projects that address disability.
• All current projects should be evaluated for how they work with different underrepresented groups and how accessible they are, and then tools should be given to make them more inclusive.
• Grant reviewers often don’t understand the needs and cost allocations in relation to disability. Grant reviewers should receive a training on disability and there should be a checkbox about accessibility for the proposal selection rubric.
• Projects should encourage self-identification and create a welcoming environment by saying they especially include women, minorities, and people with disabilities.
• Many STEM programs find the physical requirements to be harder for people with disabilities and therefore exclude them on the basis of expectations (instead of thinking about accommodations or roles that people can take on in a project).
• More resources should be offered to all projects on how to address disability-related issues.
• There is a lot of stigma around disability, especially in STEM and education. People are less likely to self-identify, therefore leading projects to believe there aren’t enough people with disabilities interested.

What resources would be useful to the INCLUDES community in helping them (1) better address disability-related issues, (2) make activities more welcoming and accessible, and (3) develop collaborations that lead to future innovative projects and resources that are inclusive of individuals with disabilities?

• Resources to help those that aren’t focused on disability, but should be considering disability in their own work. Include disability as a social justice issue, a STEM issue, a cultural issue, etc. Disability needs to be included in organizations that focus on all of these topics (e.g., Peggy Macintosh’s work that focuses around privilege).
• More concrete statements of need that better describe how people with disabilities are excluded and underrepresented in STEM.
• More resources that define jargon and theories and help introduce people into the STEM world who are from organizations that are about inclusion but not necessarily STEM focused.
• More role models with disabilities and more profiles of people with disabilities who have been successful in STEM.
• The Disabled List will connect people with disabilities with design studios so people with disabilities can give their expertise to these studios.
• Creating a resource or checklist for conference and presentation accessibility.
• More lists of organizations that provide support and resources around accessibility and universal design, or a national center on disability that could provide support to all projects.
• Sharing more on social media about disability and accessibility.
• Better search functionality on NSF to see other broadening participation and INCLUDES projects.
• Invite more people with disabilities and more people who can benefit from our expertise to our conferences or host more events where we invite others from the community to attend and learn more.
• More internship support for students with disabilities.
• Question how we are translating theory (such as Tinto’s Theory of Integration) into practice and how we can find more concrete linkages between research and practice.
• Create annotated bibliography related to the participation of people with disabilities in STEM.
• The INCLUDES Hub should share more resources by creating a database of organizations and facilitating networking between them.
• More data needs to be collected and shared on disability, accessibility, how privilege affects non-minorities, etc. White papers could be written to share this information and data.
• Use process-oriented projects to improve processes over individual outcomes.

What are barriers and possible solutions individuals with disabilities might encounter within INCLUDES or other STEM research, instruction, and projects?

• Disability is a wide range of differences and needs compared to other groups included in broadening participation efforts.
• Barriers can include physical needs such as transportation, buildings, and the environmental as well as stigma and attitudes around disability.
• Cost and time can be seen as barriers in working with people with disabilities.
• It is often societally acceptable to not make things accessible, and there is a lack of knowledge around why accessibility is important.
• Research and STEM events need to be made welcoming to people with disabilities—it can be hard to be the first person to join, especially if they don’t feel welcome.
• Traditional methods of teaching often exclude the broad spectrum of student ability.
• Instructors are often have a specific mindset of what a student should look like.
• There’s a perception that there are limited role models in STEM for people with disabilities.
• Look at the Institute for Equitable Evaluation for best practices and encourage participatory design.

What are examples of collaborations that could be undertaken by stakeholder groups, specific conference participants, and/or other organizations that would support the project goal and objectives?

• Currently funded projects should help fund initiatives and give expertise to others. For example, we can come give presentations or give stipends to students with disabilities to become more involved with their community or to hire someone to remediate documents.
• We need to partner with industry and widen their lens on disability and how hiring more people with disabilities and focusing on accessibility can help their companies.
• We can share more resources among broadening participation groups and use the INCLUDES Hub to disseminate those resources and partnerships.
• DO-IT and similar organizations can share resources to begin addressing accessibility within the INCLUDES network.
• Conferences should have an INCLUDES track that helps bring more people into the community about inclusion and accessibility.
• More people in the disability community and with accessibility expertise should be peer reviewers for NSF grant panels and submit INCLUDES proposals.
• All of these communities and people interested in accessibility should come and join the INCLUDES Hub and Community of Practice to help create a movement.
• We need more funding to help focus the community and keep everyone engaged in the accessibility movement.
• A disability-specific INCLUDES Alliance is one goal, but pushing for the meaningful and authentic inclusion of disabilities in other Alliances is just as important.
• Stakeholders and partners should identify areas of need not commonly addressed in most projects, such as financial burden, parent engagement, student voice, etc.

What changes do you plan to make that will lead to the INCLUDES Network being more accessible and welcoming to individuals with disabilities as an individual? As a project? Or in collaboration with others?

• Provide a list of resources available to individuals working with disabilities to conference attendees.
• Give a presentation to program staff to increase awareness of existing tools and resources.
• Partner with other attendees to identify opportunities to collaborate to expand resources available.
• Make our project website, resources, application, and videos more accessible and ensure that our research captures available data on disability.
• Have the INCLUDES Hub convene our community of practice and host more resources on accessibility.
• Continue to collaborate with other teams to cross-pollinate ideas on accessible computing and education access in general.
• Review the INCLUDES portfolio; engage relevant projects as targets for dissemination and knowledge translation of research findings pertaining to students with disabilities and accessibility.
• Volunteer as a reviewer for NSF.
• Act as a broker in putting experts in disabilities supports in contact with people who want to do more in their work but don’t have the tools or resources to do so.
• Collaborate across campus to bring more knowledge of accessibility to faculty, and get more faculty involved in accessibility.
• Add disability demographic questions to future surveys.
• Create more effective channels of communications. 

Stakeholder groups represented in the CBI included

• disability student service leaders and administrators,
• postsecondary IT professionals, and
• Policy #188 coordinators.

The following individuals participated in the CBI.

Ana Thompson
UW Bothell

Anna Marie Golden
University of Washington

Ashley Magdall
University of Washington Bothell

Bridget Irish
The Evergreen State College

Carly Gerard
Western Washington University

Curtis Perera
Bellingham Technical College

Dale Coleman
Tacoma Community College

Dan Comden
University of Washington

Danny Messina
Eastern Washington University

David Engebretson Jr.
Western Washington University

Doug Hayman
University of Washington

Gaby de Jongh
University of Washington

Hadi Rangin
University of Washington

Ian Campbell
University of Washington

Jeane Marty
UW Bothell

Jessica Carey
Clover Park Technical College

Joel Gavino
Pierce College

Joetta Sieglocki
Eastern Washington University

Justin Busby
Yakima Valley CC

Karla Ealy-Marroquin
WSU Spokane Health Sciences

Kathleen chambers
North Seattle College

Linda Schoonmaker
Big Bend Community College

Lora Allen
Big Bend Community College

Lyla Crawford
University of Washington

Marisa Hackett
Renton Technical College

Mary Gerard
Bellingham Technical College

Max Bronsema
Western Washington University

Rose Madison
Everett Community College

Ryan Leisinger
WA State

Sheryl Burgstahler
University of Washington

Susie Hawkey
University of Washington

Terrill Thompson
University of Washington

UW Accessible Technology Services engages stakeholders within Communities of Practice (CoPs). CoP members share perspectives and expertise and identify practices that promote the participation of people with disabilities in postsecondary education.

Accessible IT CoP

This CoP is populated with disability services and IT professionals interested in increasing the accessibility of IT in postsecondary education, particularly in Washington State. Participants

• exchange information, ideas, and suggestions for future collaboration,
• gain and share knowledge and help identify issues related to IT accessibility in higher education, and
• recruit others to participate in the CoP.

Universal Design in Higher Education CoP

This CoP is comprised of individuals interested in exploring universal design (UD) and its applications in higher education. Participants on this CoP discuss

• promising practices for infusing universal design on postsecondary campuses;
• applying UD to all educational opportunities that include instruction, technology, student services and physical spaces; and
• specific topics in the book Universal Design and Higher Education: From Principles to Practice and contribute materials to be shared through the Center on Universal Design in Education.

Accessible Distance Learning CoP

Distance learning program administrators, instructors, and support staff use the Accessible Distance Learning CoP to increase their knowledge about disabilities and make changes in distance learning that lead to more inclusive practices. Members discuss

• management,
• staffing,
• training, and
• policy issues related to creating accessible distance learning courses and programs.

You and your colleagues can join the CoP by sending the following information to doit@uw.edu:

• name
• position/title
• institution
• postal address
• email address
• name of the CoP

or information about other CoPs, consult our website.

The Washington State Accessible IT Capacity Building Institute on Policy #188 was funded by Access Technology Services at the University of Washington. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the CBI presenters, attendees, and publication authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Washington.

Accessible Technology Services
University of Washington
Box 354842
Seattle, WA 98195-4842
www.washington.edu/accessibility/
doit.uw.edu/
206-685-3648 (voice/TTY)
888-972-3648 (toll free voice/TTY)
206-221-4171 (FAX)
509-328-9331 (voice/TTY) Spokane

© 2018 University of Washington. Permission is granted to copy this publication for educational, noncommercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged.