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Norman Coombs
EASI Chair
Email: nrcgsh@rit.edu
Carmela Cunningham
UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program Coordinator
EASI Project Coordinator
Dick Banks
EASI Electronic Resources Manager
Email: rbanks@discover-net.net
It’s eight years after the Americans with Disabilities
Act was signed into law and about ten years after the first
adaptive technology programs were put into place on college and
university campuses. In the early days, service providers had
several battles to fight. They had to convince administrators
that adaptive technology services were needed on their campuses.
This usually included making a series of arguments. The first
argument was that it was a correct and necessary service for a
college or university to provide for its disabled student
population. The second argument usually stated that in the long
run providing adaptive technology saved both the school money and
society money. And finally, service providers argued that there
were legal mandates for providing such services. In the first
couple years, the legal argument rested on Sections 504 and 508
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Later, the argument focused
on the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The good news is that most college and university campuses now
have some kind of adaptive technology and information access
services available for disabled students, faculty and staff.
Now, however, there’s a whole list of other challenges and
issues that face service providers on college and university
campuses, such as: How do we keep the funding that was initially
put into place? How do we continue to convince administrators
that such services are necessary and are worth a portion of a
tight budget? How do we serve students who aren’t prepared
to use adaptive technology? How do we help students understand
what services are available to them and how they can use those
services? What does the Americans with Disabilities Act mean for
Web accessibility? What issues arrive when the Internet is used
to deliver course material? How can we convince college
departments to make their Web pages accessible?
And those are just to name a few. This year, EASI is presenting
a day-long slate of presentations that focus on how to
effectively and efficiently provide adaptive technology and
information access support and services to individuals with
disabilities.
EASI is uniquely positioned to explore such important issues. In
existence for almost 12 years, the history of the organization
runs parallel to the history of adaptive technology and
information access.
EASI began as a group that specifically gathered information
about adaptive technology and disseminated that information to
colleges and universities. Through the past ten years, that role
has expanded to include providing information to K-12 schools and
to businesses.
At the same time the EASI audience expanded, the group also began
branching out to other fields. In particular, EASI started
looking at issues related to library access, science, engineering
and math accommodations, science and math access for K-12
students, and most recently, the group has been working on Web
accessibility and universal design issues.
EASI's mission is to serve as a resource to the education
community by providing information and guidance in the area of
access-to-information technologies by individuals with
disabilities. We stay informed about developments and
advancements within the adaptive computer technology field and
spread that information to colleges, universities, K-12 schools,
libraries and into the workplace.
Our supporters and friends comprise people from colleges,
universities, businesses and other institutions. They include
computing staff, disabled student services staff, faculty,
administrators, vendors, representatives of professional
associations, private consultants, heads of both non-profit and
for-profit organizations, faculty and staff from K-12 schools,
and students.
National Science Foundation Projects
EASI is preparing to enter into its third grant project with the
National Science Foundation. The first project, which began in
1996 focused on making science, engineering and math accessible
to individuals with disabilities. The second project, which
began in 1998 was tasked with making science and math materials
accessible to K-12 students with disabilities. A large part of
that project focused on building appropriate foundations in K-12
and creating materials to help ensure that K-12 students are
appropriately prepared for college work. EASI’s new
project, which will begin in 2000, will focus on synthesizing the
work of those two projects and building on that foundation. The
project will compile material that will make science,
engineering, math and technology accessible to K-16 students.
We’ll also look at building appropriate foundations and
what strategies and tools are available to help prepare
individuals for technical careers.
In order to support its mission of compiling and disseminating
information about adaptive computing technology and information
access, EASI prepares information in a variety of formats and
forums.
SEMINARS AND ONLINE WORKSHOPS
EASI has made presentations to more than 2,500 people who provide
computer and information access to people with disabilities.
Topics include: The Americans with Disabilities Act, computer
access strategies, lab environments, Web accessibility, science,
engineering and math access, and support services.
In conjunction with the Rochester Institute of Technology, EASI
delivers three online workshops via the Internet.
Adapt-it focuses on adaptive computing technology and
support services. EASI-SEM specializes in access to
science, engineering and math. EASI-WEB demonstrates how
to develop web pages that are accessible to everyone. The
workshops can be previewed on the web at www.rit.edu/~easi/workshops.html.
EASI on the World Wide Web
EASI has established a homepage on the WWW. You can find all EASI
materials using URL: http://www.rit.edu. EASI's Web
site specializes in information technology's impact on science,
math and libraries.
ELECTRONIC JOURNAL
EASI publishes a quarterly electronic journal, "Information
Technology and Disabilities, " which focuses on technology
issues that relate to people with disabilities. The journal is
available in two ways. First, it is on EASI's web at http://www.rit.edu/~easi/itd.html Second
it is available through a listserv list, itd-jnl. To subscribe
send e-mail with this one line:
sub itd-jnl followed by your "first name last name"
to: listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu
ELECTRONIC DISCUSSION LISTS
EASI supports three major public discussion lists: EASI, AXSLIB-L
and EASI-SEM. These include more than 2,000 people from more than
40 countries. The EASI List focuses on general discussion about
adaptive equipment, access issues and other disability and
computer topics. The second list is the library access list,
called AXSLIB-L. The third list, EASI-SEM specializes in
materials to advance access to science, engineering and math for
students and professionals in those areas. To join these lists,
EASI or AXSLIB-L, send a subscribe command to:
listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu. To join EASI-SEM send a
subscribe command to listserv@listserver.isc.rit.edu.
PUBLICATIONS AND VIDEOS
EASI has supported the book, "Information Access and Adaptive
Technology," published by Oryx Press and written by Carmela
Cunningham and Norman Coombs. EASI has also created and
distributed more than 20,000 copies of its pamphlets on adaptive
computing technology to date. Publications are available on the
Web. Print copies are also available. For ordering information
send e-mail to: easi@tltgroup.org.
EASI-Videos: EASI, with the support of the Rochester Institute of
Technology, has created a series of three videotapes. They cover
(1) general adaptive computer technology, (2) access to math and
tactile graphics and (3) laboratory access and faculty attitudes.
These videos can be seen on EASI's web site from the webcast
link: http://www.rit.edu
EASI is producing a slate of papers that will help service
providers more effectively meet the challenge of providing
services in the year 2000. Those papers are: EASI Day for
Service Providers; Collaboration for Accessibility: Practical
Experience in Creating Accessible Web Sites at UCLA; Distance
Learning and Students With Disabilities: EASI Tips For Teachers;
Providing Services For Post-secondary Students: Service Issues;
Providing Services For Post-secondary Students: Funding Issues;
and Providing Services For Post-secondary Students: Legal
Issues.
As EASI enters into its 13th year, the organization
remains committed to the philosophy on which it was founded.
Individuals with disabilities have the same right to access to
information and resources as everyone else.
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