paper -
48 Implementing Assistive Technology: Opportunities and Challenge
Janice
Tulloss, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
In the past two years, UNC Greensboro, through the
Department of Instructional and Research Computing (IRC), has made a concerted
effort to improve the accessibility of its 23 open-access computer labs to
students with disabilities. A review
of the status quo led to the realization that services for disabled students
were being provided in an upredictable and somewhat scattershot manner. Specialized hardware was provided in a few
places, specialized programs would sometimes mysteriously disappear from machines,
and little coordination existed with the Office of Disability Services. As faculty increasingly incorporated
technology into their classes, increasing the likelihood that all students
eventually must use the computer labs, it became apparent that services for
disabled students needed improvement.
This renewed effort to meet the needs of disabled
users has included improved communication and joint projects with the Office of
Disability Services, new and more widely deployed assistive technology (both
hardware and software), improved physical layouts and more accessible lab
furniture, staff training in the implementation of assistive technology, and
the more prominent integration of the needs of disabled students into the
routines and lab upgrade processes of IRC.
This paper presents the opportunities and challenged faced during IRC's on-going journey to making computing facilities equally accessible to all students. It presents the organizational, logistical, technological and bureaucratic challenges to implementing Assistive Technology as well as the opportunities for improved communication with Disability Services staff and with IRC's disabled user population.