LITA Presentation as of Wednesday, December 27, 2000, 5 pm, updated Monday, May 7, 2001


Welcome to

Assistive, Accessible Technology:
Today's High Tech
With the Highest Human Touch:
A Do-It-Now! Session
Ellen Perlow
E-Mail: eperlow@twu.edu Web: http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/
Manager of Information Services
Texas Woman's University's School of Library and Information Studies
3rd LITA National Forum-Concurrent Session I
Friday, November 3, 2000, 3:15 pm-4:30 pm
Holladay Ballroom-Doubletree Hotel-Lloyd Center, Portland, Oregon
This and other documents are available in alternative formats upon request.
This and other web-based documents for this presentation meet the World Wide Web Consortium guidelines for accessible web design.

URL: http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/lita2000.html
Outline of Presentation

| 1. What are Accessibility, Assistive Technology, and Universal Design and Why are They Important for Everyone |

| 2. Assistive Technology is Everywhere! |

| 3. Differences, Accessibility Considerations, Assistive Technology |

| 4. Half-Time Quiz |

| 5. Legal Considerations/Standards/Guidelines |

| 6. We're Convinced! So How Do We Do It? |

| 7. Resources: With Whom Can We Consult? Who Can Assist Us? |

| 8. Doing It Now! .. With Session Participants' To-Dos |

| 9. Ellen Perlow-Biographical Information |

| Accessibility and Assistive Technology Resources | Assistive Technology is Everywhere! |
| Differences, Accessibility Considerations, Assistive Technology | Federal Assistive Technology Legislation |
| Why Assistive Technology | Assistive Technology Database |


by Ellen Perlow

(Opening paragraph written with Dragon Systems/Lernout and Hauspie Dragon Naturally Speaking, and spoken with Henter-Joyce/Freedom Scientific Jaws Software)

Good Afternoon! Welcome! My name is Ellen Perlow, Manager of Information Services at Texas Woman's University's School of Library of Information Studies. I also am the Chair of the ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship Diversity Initiative, the scholarship with the bright lime green bookmark. By the way, we are recruiting for our 2001 applicants: application deadline: March 1st. It is the scholarship that you don't have to win to be in it: as is its theme: we are Celebrating a New Century that Celebrates Diversity.

Thank you all for being here. Welcome to this demonstration and audience participation session on accessibility, assistive technology, and universal design, the highest tech with the highest human touch. Thank you for considering accessibility, assistive technology, and universal design important and relevant for you ... because, as you have heard, THEY ARE!!!

1. What are Accessibility, Assistive Technology, and Universal Design , and Why are They Important and Relevant for Everyone?

As does the ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship Diversity Initiative, this session celebrates the beautiful diversity of doing things differently. For definitions of these three concepts, please refer to the following links: for Accessibility: http://www.starlingweb.com/webac.htm; for Assistive Technology: http://www.ihdi.uky.edu/projects/EmployAT/ ComputerAccessHTML/atdefinition.htm; for Universal Design: http://www.design.ncsu.edu:8120/cud/univ_design/princ_overview.htm.

One preliminary note. Resources and references presented in this session are just the beginning ....

If you take a look at the Celebrating Our Diversity handout, you can see what I mean. Please add to this list. Please look around the room. We all have come here to this 3rd LITA National Forum because we all share a deep interest in technology and promoting technology in our library and information science settings. What type of librarian or information scientist have we chosen to become? : reference librarian, cataloging, rare book, government documents, school librarian, children's or adult public librarian, web designer, medical librarian, administrator or director? Are we from the West Coast, the Midwest, from Texas (as I found out, a country of its own), do we love or are allergic to chocolate? We all likely know how different we feel when we are not feeling well, have a cold or allergies, and our senses of taste, smell, and hearing, and our voice function differently. Yes. We ALL are PEOPLE with differabilities.

And as for doing things differently, if we take the ribbon you received when you came in, let us try tying a bow, or in the alternative, our shoes. (Forty years ago, in pre-Velcro-brand days, I almost didn't graduate kindergarten, because I had yet to figure how to tie my shoes... We moved just in time.). Now try it with one hand. [ep demonstration] Don't worry, you will adapt, compensate, and do it, but in a different way, as I did by learning to type with my left hand, learning to drive with a left foot gas pedal and spinner knob, or as people with low or no vision do, by developing extraordinarily keen auditory, tactile, and perceptual abilities. Compensating is what life's all about. We do it every day, for instance, by taking an alternate route when the freeway or interstate has a traffic jam. Or for me coping with how Dell designed this laptop so that to exchange the CD-ROM drive with the Zip Drive, you need to be a magician with at least four quite superbly dexterous hands. Is there a choice?

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2. Accessibility and Assistive Technology are a vital part of our daily lives. Assistive Technology IS Everywhere!

Please look at the Assistive Technology Everywhere: How Could We Live Without You? handout in your binder: TV remotes, automatic doors, curb cuts, staplers, scanners, paper shredders, cell phones, shoelaces, The Reading Pen that scans, portrays, speaks, and defines text [ep holds up pen], The Clapper, and The Taplight [demonstrations] : the latter two only $20 in your local drugstore.

Do you know what this is (Ellen holds up rubber miniature model of an Alva-brand Braille display)? Anyone? To me and probably for most of all of you it is or could be a stress reliever and used to exercise one's hand muscles. We all certainly need relief from stress in our life. To effectively utilize a computer, some people utilize what this model actually represents: an ALVA Access Group-brand Braille display.

How many of you have with you right now cell phones, pocket datebooks, calendars, calculators, organizers? How many of you could live without them? How did we used to live without them? You may have a Palm Pilot, but in France, they manufacture a Parrot that can speak to you. In January 2000, Ford Motor Company unveiled its Talking Car. The Trace Research and Development Center at the University of Wisconsin has developed prototypes of accessible Information/Transaction machines [ITMs], that include Automatic Teller Machines [ATMs]. You can search the Internet via an accessible search engine: the SETI Search - Search Engine Technology Interface.

As reported recently, Sendero Group, a well-known assistive technology manufacturer, produces a talking Global Positioning System [GPS] that provides you with spoken directions. Just announced this week is a new GPS digital tracking system called the Digital Angel.

In fact, as John Williams points out in a September 2000 Business Week column: we all owe a tremendous THANK YOU! to the designers and inventors of assistive technology originally developed for people with a variety of communication needs for all the mainstream marketplace high tech wonders that we enjoy and take for granted today: from the typewriter, scanners, speech synthesizers and voice recognition software (originally developed for people with vision differences), to the phonograph, telephone, transistor, digital and cable-based technologies, marquee signage, and electronic mail (originally developed for people with hearing differences). As Mr. Williams notes, companies, such as Bell Labs, Sony, and Microsoft that have recognized the wider, mainstream utility of assistive technology have been richly rewarded with tremendous profits. (Stay tuned to John Williams' Assistive Technology column via the Texas Assistive Technology Partnership homepage).

Check out the Accessibility Features, such as for magnification, font size, screen resolution, sound, and various keyboard functions, already built into your hardware and software programs!

Of course, if you attend assistive technology conferences, which I strongly recommend, besides participating in the ultimate diversity experience, you personally can experience and test out this fantastic technology, as these photos from the CSUN 2000 Conference attest.

Some of us need the technology, some of us WILL need the technology, the rest of us would love to have it to make our lives easier. For all of us, and I haven't met a perfect person yet, we who also are library patrons, join the crowd known as people with differabilities or people who do things differently sooner or later, if we have not already, through birth, illness, accident, war, natural disaster, lifestyle choice, or just by aging (please see display boards, also displayed at the 2000 ALA Diversity Fair, in back of room). And we never know when. Yes. We ALL are PEOPLE with differabilities. So if all of us need accessibility and assistive technology, it logically follows that our libraries, information centers, our schools of library and information science need accessibility and assistive technology too, and our websites need to be accessible to all. The World Wide Web Consortium W3C validator is located at: http://validator.w3.org/

The highest common denominator is a major guiding principle of the library and information science profession: Equity of Access for All. The highest of high tech with the highest human touch is Assistive Technology!



3. Celebrating the Diversity of Differences, Accessibility Considerations, and Assistive Technology

Let us examine the broad spectrum of Differences, Accessibility Considerations, and Assistive Technology

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4. Half-Time Quiz:

Please answer the following multiple-choice question:

Accessibility, Assistive Technology, AND Universal Design are on MY agenda because Accessibility, Assistive Technology, and Universal Design are:

a. fantastic, enjoyable, and fun
b. high-tech, cool, the latest
c. educational, promote diversity, and are the right thing to do for everyone
d. great for marketing our institution's services
e. all of the above
f. none of the above (Tell me more. I've yet to be convinced.)

If your answer was "f. none of the above," and you still are searching for a reason for placing accessibility, assistive technology, and universal design on your agenda, how about your justification being that accessibility and assistive technology also are THE LAW!

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5. Legal Considerations/Standards/Guidelines

If a mandate has not yet come to your state, as it has to Texas, to have your institutions' webpages be accessible, then it is soon to come, as it soon will come federally via Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1998, in addition to already being mandated by The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. So if your institution is considering hiring a webmaster or is considering a redesign of its website, wouldn't it seem prudent and most cost-effective to hire a webmaster who knows and practices World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]-compliant HTML 4.0 web design and that your newly redesigned website is W3C-compliant = fully accessible from the beginning? The HTML Writers' Guild has a wonderful and accessible AWARE Center with many resources for learning how to practice accessible web design.

Reading: Here Comes Section 508 -- Like It or Not (a Business Week article by John M. Williams)

Selected Standards

- International World Wide Web Consortium Web Design Standards http://www.w3.org/wai/

- HARMONY Project (European Union) http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/teo/ docarch/projecten/harmony/harmony.en.htm

- Public Service Commission of Canada http://www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/

- Portuguese Accessibility Special Interest Group guidelines - http://www.acessibilidade.net/doc/ acessibilidade/forum/intern_forum.html

- DAISY Consortium: The International Consortium for the New Digital Talking Book Standard http://www.daisy.org/products/menupps.htm

- University of Wisconsin. Trace Center for Research and Development. Universal Design Guidelines and Standards (various) http://www.trace.wisc.edu/world/

- U.S. Department of Labor. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Ergonomics standards (soon to be enacted?) http://www.osha.gov/

- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH]. Website includes various databases and NIOSH vendor list. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/

- American National Standards Institute [ANSI] http://www.ansi.org/

- IBM Guidelines for Writing Accessible Applications Using 100% Pure Java http://www-3.ibm.com/able/snsjavag.html

- Microsoft Corporation. Guidelines for Accessible Web Pages, with wealth of accompanying resources: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/dev/web/guidelines.htm

- Oregon State University Web Accessibility Guidelines, with accompanying resources: http://tap.orst.edu/policies.htm

- Santa Rosa Junior College Web Accessibility Guidelines http://www.santarosa.edu/access/www/checklist/

Legislation and Policy

- For current state and local policy initiatives: http://icdri.org/us_legal_resources.htm#State Policy Initiatives (from the International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet [ICDRI]) http://icdri.org/us_legal_resources.htm#State Policy Initiatives

- For global policy initiatives: Global Legal and Policy Resources (from the International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet [ICDRI]) http://icdri.org/global_legal_resources.htm

- Selected Federal Assistive Technology-Related Legislation


- Michael G. Paciello. Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities. Lawrence, KS: CMP Books, October 2000; 392 pages. ISBN 1-929692-08-7 : Chapter 2: pages 23-45.

- Equal Access to Software and Information [EASI]: Disability Law Related to Information Technology http://www.rit.edu/~easi/law.htm

-Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America [RESNA]. Government Affairs http://www.resna.org/ata/index.html

- U.S. Department of Justice. Disability Rights Homepage http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/drs/drshome.htm

- U.S. Department of Justice. A Guide to Disability Rights Laws http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/drs/drshome.htm

- U.S. Department of Justice. Section 508 Homepage http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/508/

- United States. The Access Board - an independent federal agency devoted to accessibility. http://www.access-board.gov/ Access Board mission http://www.access-board.gov/indexes/aboutindex.htm

- Access Board. Section 508 Final Standards for Electronic and Information Technology as issued on December 21, 2000

- EASI Interview/WebCast with Doug Wakefield, Author of the Section 508 Standards issued by the Access Board on December 21, 2000

- DisABILITY.gov U.S. Government Bobby-Approved site http://www.disABILITY.gov/

- U.S. General Services Administration. Center for IT Accommodation [CITA] Legislation and Policies webpage: http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/cita/law_policies.htm

- Policies Relating to Web Accessibility (World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative: International in scope) http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Policy

- WebABLE,Inc. Legal Mandates webpage "http://www.webABLE.com/legal.html

- Cynthia Waddell, J.D. website, papers, and resources http://www.icdri.org/cynthia_waddell.htm

- WebAIM: Web Accessibility in Mind: provides news on status of legislation (Section 508, etc.) and cases, summary and links to sites concerning Web Accessibility Standards, with "Suggestions to Consider when Establishing an Institutional Policy for Web Accessibility." http://www.webaim.org/

- University of Southern Maine. GENASYS: Generating Assistive Technology Systematically Project Standards and Legislation Resources http://genasys.usm.maine.edu/standard.htm

- Accessible Web Page Design Resources - Axel Schmetz, Ph.D., including legal information and guidelines; also useful tools for authoring, repair, validating webpages, Examples of accessible and less than accessible sites http://library.uwsp.edu/aschmetz/Accessible/pub_resources.htm

- Oregon State University. Technology Access and the Law and Section 508 and Assistive Technology Act Briefing Sheet "http://osu.orst.edu/dept/tap/Policy/techlaw.html

- University of Wisconsin-Madison. College of Engineering. Trace Research and Development Center. Government Efforts: http://www.trace.wisc.edu/world/doc_access/index.htm#gov

- Does Your Library's Web Page Violate the Americans with Disabilities Act? (Mary Minow, J.D., A.M.L.S.) http://www.librarylaw.com/ADAWebpage.html

Lynx Viewer: Service that allows web authors to see what their pages will look like (sort of) when viewed with Lynx, a text-mode web browser. Lynx Viewer http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html

Accessibility Resources: National Arts and Disability Center http://nadc.ucla.edu/dawpi.htm

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6. We're Convinced! So How Do We Do It?

A. The Fundamental Assessment Process

I happened to be the only library and information science professional in the Dallas 2000 class of the CSUN assistive technology course, June 19-23, 2000. All of the other 30+ participants were professionals in the fields of assistive technology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, and even vendors of assistive technology. The Fundamental Assessment Process [FAP] method discussed was very familiar to my class colleagues. The method is similar to a user needs analysis and applicable to any acquisition, and takes place when buying a car, a stereo, a library automation system, or a diamond ring ...

The Fundamental Assessment Process ensures the best possible technology match between identified needs and the assistive technology acquired.

Step 1: Intake/Referral

Ensures the assistive technology solution will meet the needs of the consumer. Collect background information on the consumer/library/information center through interviews with [potential] patrons, family members, care providers, and professionals currently working with the consumer. Please remember that you do not have to buy everything! Much assistive technology is cost-free or inexpensive no-and-low tech. Check out the Accessibility Features, such as for magnification, font size, screen resolution, sound, and various keyboard functions, already built into your hardware and software programs!

Step 2: Identification of Needs: Collaborative Approach: Work as a Team

Identify goals, interests, dislikes, priorities, and the practical aspects.

Step 3: Identification of Desired Outcomes

What do we want the technology to do?

For instance, a high tech application for the goal of reading may be a scanner and voice output software for someone with vision differences. Show: that 1) the technology actually assists patrons, 2) patrons are satisfied with the technology, and 3) evidence that the technology is a cost effective solution and an efficient use of staff time (outcome measurement). See also: Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America [RESNA - http://www.resna.org/]. Technical Assistance Project. Project Management Resources. Enhancing Provider and Consumer Communications for Better Outcomes at http://www.resna.org/taproject/project/conprov.html. Also: the 3-volume RESNA Resource Guide for Assistive Technology Outcomes (Outcomes Resource Guide), available from RESNA (listed in RESNA online publications brochure: http://www.resna.org/resna/pubsbro.htm )

Step 4: Collaborate. Work as a Team Throughout the Process.

Identify and accommodate all relevant variables. Work as a team: patrons, family members, caregivers, the community, the academic community. Involve and consult with professionals who can advise on what technology, products, and brands of products will suit your needs (for instance, the following assistive technology practitioners ).

Step 5: Skills Assessment

Assessment of skills of [potential] users of the assistive technology. Consult with assistive technology practitioners, and of course, [potential] users.

Step 6: Device Trials
Step 7: Revisit Desired Outcomes

Revisit primary outcomes to ensure that they are being met. This is the last point in the process before procurement of the device, so take the time to make sure that the technology is the most appropriate and most effective device, currently available, for the consumer.

If outcomes are met, go to Step 8. If outcomes are not met, go back to Step 3.

Step 8: Procurement of Device: Funding Considerations

A well documented written report of the needs identification and appropriate technological interventions is used to justify funding for the purchase of assistive technology devices. Every effort should be made to ensure the language used in these reports meets the criteria of the funding agency. Provide supportive documents from professionals. Examples: Product brochures or Manufacturer's information sheets, Magazine articles or newspaper articles about the intervention being requested, Pictures or video tape of the individual using the device (taken during the device trial period).

Step 9: Technology Implementation The equipment has been funded, ordered, modified or fabricated as necessary, is set up, and delivered. Initial training on the basic operation of the device, including care and regular maintenance and ongoing training strategies are included in this phase.

Where should the assistive technology be located?

In the front part of the library or information center, along with all other computer workstations! (NOT in the back room. Exception: If the technology includes speech input and output, placement of the workstation in an area that maintains the quiet environment of the library is advised. For speech output: headphones are recommended). Having your high tech equipment in a prominent area for the public to see is great publicity for your library, information center, and institution.

Usage Policies. Practice Equity of Access. Patrons who NEED the technology have top priority at all times. However, all patrons should have access and have the opportunity to utilize the assistive technology. All staff should be trained in the use of the technology. Celebrate Diversity!

Step 10: Follow Up / Follow Along

Do a follow-up a short time, within a month, after delivery of device to make sure the device that was recommended is meeting the needs or if a re-assessment is in order to determine a more appropriate device. Ensure that patrons are satisfied with the system and that the system is working effectively. After that first year, contact should happen less often but still at least once a year. Follow up and follow along will reduce the occurrence of ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY DEVICE ABANDONMENT: a serious problem in the assistive technology service delivery process.

If the technology is not meeting needs, go back to Step 2.

Since 1969 the number of people using assistive technology has more than doubled. There are three key factors for this increase:

1. greater rates of survival following trauma and disease
2. advances in microelectronics and the availability of microcomputers
3. the passage of legislation that has mandated the consideration of AT for people with differabilities.

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B. Variation on the FAP Theme: a plan for purchasing audio-visual equipment developed by Denise Burke, a library media specialist in the Denton, Texas Public Schools:

a. First, conduct an equipment evaluation:
b. Refer to equipment selection aides/guides for recommendations. Consider each of the following criteria for establishing selection:
c. Field test equipment in your building, whenever possible, before buying:
d. Complete the purchase order request or process specific for your library, information center, or institution.

e. Make your decision and purchase the best piece of equipment for your situation.

f. Installation, testing, and follow-up evaluation.

Also see:

- RESNA's Accessible Educational Technology webpage. http://www.resna.org/tap/aet_lidx.htm RESNA has many other resources on its website that are most worthwhile to consult.

- Hardware (http://tap.orst.edu/Policy/hard.html) and Software (http://tap.orst.edu/Policy/soft.html) Purchasing Guidelines for assistive technology developed by Oregon State University's Technology Access Project. http://tap.orst.edu/

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7. Resources: With Whom Can We Consult? What Resources are Available to Assist Us?

First Stop: Please read: EASI Street to Science, Engineering and Mathematics: an EASI Guide to Adaptive Computing Technology that provides an overview of the various types of adaptive/assistive technology. http://www.rit.edu/%7eeasi/easisem/handbk1.html

a. Go to the Source.

The experts in accessibility, assistive technology, and universal design are the inventors, designers, manufacturers=users of the equipment or methods of doing things differently. For instance, every college campus has an Accessibility Service component, the personnel with whom you can consult. In turn, these experts can put you in contact with many [potential] users who can provide advice and who likely will become future patrons.

b. Assistive Technology practitioners (ATPs) and experts in the field of assistive technology abound. You yourself can become one!

- Statewide Resources: Your state assistive technology partnership office. http://www.resna.org/taproject/at/statecontacts.html The Project Office probably has an assistive technology lab at its headquarters. In addition, the office will be familiar with your state/territory's resources, including relevant state agencies and statewide vendors and distributors of assistive technology.

- The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America [RESNA-http://www.resna.org/] credentials Assistive Technology Practitioners [ATPs] and Assistive Technology Suppliers [ATSs] and maintains a directory of these professionals. RESNA also provides professional development courses. "http://www.resna.org/prodev/index.html

- Online classes are offered by:

-- The California State University at Northridge Center on Disabilities (highly recommended!: also has in-class component) http://www.csun.edu/codtraining/

-- Equal Access to Software and Information [EASI] (highly recommended!) http://www.rit.edu/~easi/

-- The HTML Writers Guild http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/

-- WebAIM http://www.webAIM.org/

-- WebABLE! http://webable.org/training.html

c. Great Resource: Your State Library!. http://www.cosla.org/states.html
One of the divisions of the state library should be a unit that provides services and resources for people with differabilities.

d. Organizations, Associations, Advocacy groups also abound:

- Your local Alliance for Technology Access resource center: http://www.ataccess.org/MemberDirectory/default.html

- American Library Association. ASCLA Division http://www.ala.org/ascla/

- Assistive Technology Industry Association http://www.atia.org/

- California State University at Northridge Center on Disabilities [CSUN] http://www.csun.edu/cod/
a wealth of resources, including conference proceedings and annotated lists of conference exhibitors, training programs with expert trainers, etc.

- Center for Applied Special Technology [CAST]
Universal design/learning experts: http://www.cast.org/
Home of the Bobby validator http://www.cast.org/bobby/

- U.S. General Services Administration. Center for IT Accommodation [CITA]
A wealth of resources, including listings of conferences on accessibility, assistive technology, and universal design. http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/cita/

- Differability Resources on the Internet: disabilityresources.org http://www.disabilityresources.org/
comprehensive annotated lists, directories, and databases, etc., including an Assistive Technology Index http://www.disabilityresources.org/AT.html

- Equal Access to Software and Information [EASI] http://www.rit.edu/~easi/

- Stanford University. Archimedes Project, engaged in research to promote equal access to information. http://archimedes.stanford.edu//arch.html

- Do-It: University of Washington http://www.washington.edu/doit/

- IBM Special Needs Division http://www.ibm.com/sns/

- University of Wisconsin-Madison. Trace Research and Development Center
Universal Design Experts! "http://www.trace.wisc.edu/

- Center for Public Broadcasting/WGBH (Boston) National Center for Accessible Media (also for video description service) http://www.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/ncam/

- U.S. Library of Congress. National Library Service [NLS] for the Blind and Physically Handicapped http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/

- Regional NLS centers, for instance, Suffolk County, Long Island, NY Subregional Talk-Books Plus Program "http://www.suffolk.lib.ny.us/tbp/

... etc. For more organizations, please see the Assistive Technology Database http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/atia.htm and many other sites.

More specialized organizations:

- Communication Aid Manufacturers Association [CAMA]: resources on communication devices http://www.aacproducts.org/

- International Society for Augmentative & Alternative Communication [ISAAC] http://www.isaac-online.org/

- American Federation for the Blind: resources on vision differences: http://www.afb.org/

- American Printing House for the Blind: resources on vision differences: http://www.aph.org/

- Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind: resources on vision differences: http://www.clb.org/

- Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation: resources on learning differences: http://www.hellofriend.org/html/resources.html

- National Center on Accessibility at Indiana University-Bloomington: resources on accessibility in recreation and tourism: http://www.indiana.edu/%7enca/

e. Assistive technology suppliers (ATSs), vendors and distributors, for instance:

- Assistive Technology Industry Association ( http://www.atia.org/ )members,

- Canadian assistive technology device companies http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/it05241e.html

- Annotated lists of vendors exhibiting at assistive technology conferences:
-- ATIA http://www.atia.org/conf_2001.html#Exhibitors
-- CSUN http://www.csun.edu/cod/conf2000/exhibitors.html
-- Closing the Gap http://www.closingthegap.com/conf/lookback2000/exhibit00-1.html
-- RESNA http://www.resna.org/resna/resna2k/exhibitors.htm

f. Managers of [university-based] assistive/adaptive technology labs, for instance, at:

- The Center for Adaptive Technology at Southern Connecticut State University http://www.southernct.edu/departments/cat/

- Edinboro University of Pennsylvania Adaptive Technology Lab http://www.edinboro.edu/cwis/tac/dis_serv/assistiv.htm

- Oregon State University. Technology Access Program http://osu.orst.edu/dept/tap/
Contact: Ron Stewart Ron.Stewart@orst.edu

- University of California-Los Angeles [UCLA]. UCLA's Disabilities and Computing Program. http://www.dcp.ucla.edu/ Program has up-to-date laboratory and adaptive technology discussion list, as well as experienced adaptive technology specialists on staff.

- University of Toronto. The Adaptive Technology Resource Centre http://www.utoronto.ca/atrc/

- Texas Woman's University School of Library and Information Studies Assistive Technology Demonstration Lab http://twu.edu/slis/ls/resources/at.htm

Other labs:

- Southwest Missouri State University Assistive Technology Lab http://computerservices.smsu.edu/assistivetech/labs.html

...

g. University professors and practitioners of occupational therapy, physical therapy, adaptive physical education/kinesiology; audiologists, device designers, distributors, educators, occupational therapists, physicians, psychologists, rehabilitation counselors, rehabilitation engineers, social workers, speech language pathologists ...

h. Databases

- ABLEDATA assistive technology database: http://www.abledata.com/

- Adaptive Device Locator System (Academic Software: the ultimate in AT databases) http://www.acsw.com/adlsweb1.html

- Canada. Assistive Devices database http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mangb/asstdev/burst.html

- Closing the Gap databases http://www.closingthegap.com/

- RESNA Database of Technology Training Resources Developed by AT Act Grantees: http://www.resna.org/taproject/library/training/search.html

- SearchAbility http://www.webaim.org/searchability/: database sponsored by WebAIM - Web Accessibility in Mind http://www.webaim.org/

- University of California, San Francisco. Disability Statistics Center http://dsc.ucsf.edu/UCSF/

- University of Wisconsin-Madison. College of Engineering. Trace Research & Development Center resources (http://www.trace.wisc.edu/world/web/ ) and Family Village Accessibility Shopping Mall http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/mall.htm

- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH] http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/database.html

- Assistive Technology Database http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/atia.htm

i. Funding and Research

- Funding Resources http://www.trace.wisc.edu/docs/quick_sheets/qs9.html#Funding (Trace Center http://www.trace.wisc.edu/ )
- Links to Funding Resources http://www.synapseadaptive.com/Links/fundresources.htm

- National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research [NIDRR] http://www.ncddr.org/, the federal agency that funds the Tech Act of 1998 Projects ( http://www.edb.utexas.edu/coe/depts/sped/tatp/ata.txt )and Technology for Access and Function Research Projects http://www.ncddr.org/rpp/techaf/webresources.html

j. Electronic Discussion Lists

- AXSLIB-L. Library access discussion list operated by EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information - http://www.rit.edu/~easi/ ). Administrative address: listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu

- University of Wisconsin. Trace Research and Development Center Discussion Lists http://trace.wisc.edu:8080/guest/main/

- Web Accessibility http://www.webable.com/phorum/ (sponsored by WebABLE!, Inc.) http://www.webABLE.com/

- Webwatch http://www.teleport.com/~kford/webwatch.htm:

The primary purposes of the list are to share information on web sites that are particularly useful, to coordinate advocacy efforts on making sites more accessible and for everyone to learn about making the web a more helpful tool.

k. Accessible, World Wide Web Consortium-Compliant Web Design Manuals

- Internet-based resources provided and cited by accessibility-focused organizations, for instance, those cited above, especially resources by the World Wide Web Consortium and its Web Accessibility Initiative. http://www.w3.org/ and http://www.w3.org/wai/
W3C Validator at http://validator/w3.org/

- Castro, Elizabeth. HTML for the World Wide Web. Fourth Edition. (Visual QuickStart Guide) Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2000. ISBN 0-201-35493-4 Excellent manual. Fourth edition (2000) and subsequently published editions.

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8. Do It Now!!!!

Upon arriving home from this LITA Conference (or even before!), ten [10] steps (at least) we proactively will do to integrate ACCESSIBILITY, ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY AND UNIVERSAL DESIGN into our institutions.

With the assistance of the assistive technology known as index cards and pencils, a/k/a writing assistants, we now will meet in small groups and will do it now! As of Sunday, November 5, 2000, these are some of the "To-Dos" submitted by participants in the session. Please e-mail eperlow@twu.edu with more "to-do's."

Please offer and submit your evaluation of this session, as well as suggestions for future presentations on a separate index card, also, if you wish, utilizing the assistive technology known as carbon paper. During this time you are welcome to experience the assistive technology that is loaded on my laptop and review the literature that is on the back table, some of which I will distribute as free giveaways.

Thank you for participating! Thank you in advance for your advocacy on behalf of accessibility and assistive technology for everyone. I will be at the LITA Conference through Sunday and look forward to meeting you.

My Top Ten List to Do Now for Accessibility, Assistive Technology, and Universal Design

1. Re-do your website with less text and much larger print.

2. Explore Start and Accessories in Windows.

3. Look at the Vision and Hearing portions of the materials for this session.

4. Talk to staff members about access and how we might help our patrons.

5. Listen to members of the community who have vision and hearing and other communication differences concerning recommendations what to do.

6. Look at our Website.

7. Look at needs for new library building.

8. Tell others about this talk - http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/lita2000.html.

9. Check out the good/bad websites (see: http://library.uwsp.edu/aschmetz/Accessible/pub_resources.htm. See how our website measures up.

10. Talk with the Assistive Technology contact person at the University regarding our online system's compliance.

11. Consult with our campus Accessibility Officer and his/her staff who also can put us in contact with users of assistive technology or ways of doing things differently.

Thank you! Please e-mail YOUR "To-Do" ideas to: eperlow@twu.edu and actually DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WOULD DO!!!



Ellen Perlow - Biographical Information

Ellen Perlow is Manager of Information Services at Texas Woman's University's School of Library and Information Studies. She received her BA in Elementary Education from the University of Michigan, Master's degrees, including the MLS, at Long Island University, and a law degree from Touro College on Long Island. Ellen is a graduate of the California State University at Northridge [CSUN] Assistive Technology Applications Certificate Program (September 2000). She has completed the online EASI course in accessible web design (http://www.rit.edu/~easi/) and currently is enrolled in EASI's advanced accessible web design course. Prior to coming to Texas Woman's in September 1996, Ellen was an academic librarian in Israel, and for nearly a decade, a bibliographic instruction, cataloging, and public services librarian at the C.W. Post Campus Library of Long Island University.

Ellen was responsible for locating the original anonymous annual donor to the Century Scholarship, the ALA ASCLA Diversity Initiative to recruit people who do things differently or people with differabilities into library and information science [LIS] programs and into the LIS profession. The chair of the ASCLA Century Scholarship Committee, she organized and was a member of a panel discussion program on the Century Scholarship (http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/csalise.html ) at the January 2000 ALISE 2000 Conference that was attended by LIS faculty, ALA staff working on diversity issues, and the ALISE President.

At the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago in July 2000, Ellen participated in the following events:
Learning about Accessibility, Assistive Technology, and Universal Design has become one of Ellen's goals. She attended the first and second Assistive Technology Industry Association - http://www.atia.org/ conferences in Orlando in October 1999 and January 2001. In March 2000 and 2001, she attended the 15th and 16th annual California State University at Northridge [CSUN-http;//www.csun.edu/cod/] Assistive Technology Conferences in Los Angeles.

With the many materials she collected at these conferences, Ellen established an Assistive Technology database with links to a myriad of sites, including those of manufacturers and distributors of assistive technology.


Ellen also is the current chair of the ASCLA Division Library Services to People with Physical or Visual Differences Forum, a member and LITA Division liaison to ASCLA's ADA Assembly, and the ASCLA liaison to the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee. Ellen helped write (including the paragraph on LIS education), the American Library Association's new Accessibility Policy that passed the ALA Council unanimously at the ALA January 2001 Midwinter Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Ellen also serves on the ALA Core Competencies Task Force and was the ASCLA Library Services to Special Populations Section representative to the Second Congress on Professional Education.

Ellen is a graduate of the Texas Library Association [TLA] TALL Texans Leadership Development Institute at which she set forth her goals to bring accessibility and assistive technology awareness to the national and Texas library community. She also serves on TLA's Diversity Committee and the TLA 2002-Dallas Program Committee.

During the 2000-2001 academic year, Ellen has been involved in presenting programs and workshops on accessibility, assistive technology, universal design, and the universal diversity of differability or doing things differently both at Texas Woman's University and nationally and in Texas at conference programs.
In all of these forums, Ellen has and will be advocating for training in formal and continuing library and information science education on accessibility, assistive technology, universal design, and the universal diversity of differability.

Of special note: Ellen was instrumental in having the Texas Library Association initiate a Texas Century Scholarship for Texas winners of the ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship (February 2001.) Ellen participated in the original composition of the American Library Association's new Accessibility Policy ( http://www.ala.org/ascla/access_policy.html) in particular the paragraph on LIS education, that passed the ALA Council unanimously at the ALA January 2001 Midwinter Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Among Ellen's major goals:

1) Facilitating the achievement of the American Library Association's mission of a representative workforce that reflects the communities served by all libraries, through the inclusion of people with differabilities, assistive technology laboratories, and assistive technology training as an integral part of curricula in library and information science programs for multicultural librarianship, diversity education, and technology; and

2) Facilitating nationwide the success of the Century Scholarship Diversity Initiative, homepage at http://www.ala.org/ascla/centuryscholarship.html, and its theme: Celebrating a New Century that Celebrates Diversity. March 1st application deadline! Apply and recruit Century Scholarship applicants today!

3) The adoption of positive language to promote worldwide the celebration of all diversity, including the universal diversity of differability.



Table of Contents:
| 1. What are Accessibility, Assistive Technology, and Universal Design and Why are They Important for Everyone |
| 2. Assistive Technology is Everywhere! | 3. Differences, Accessibility Considerations, Assistive Technology |
| 4. Half-Time Quiz | 5. Legal Considerations/Standards/Guidelines |
| 6. So How Do We Do It? | 7. Resources | 8. Doing It Now!: Participants' To-Do's |
| 9. Ellen Perlow-Biographical Information |

| Accessibility and Assistive Technology Resources | Assistive Technology is Everywhere! |
| Differences, Accessibility Considerations, Assistive Technology | Federal Assistive Technology Legislation |
| Why Assistive Technology |
| Assistive Technology Database |

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This page last updated Monday, May 7, 2001, 9 pm

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