Sheryl Burgstahler, Director, Accessible Technology Services, University of Washington
Dan Jones, Chief Digital Accessibility Officer, University of Colorado Boulder
Disability Area: Topic Area:
Length of Session (in hours): 2-hr
Format: Lecture
Expertise Level: All Levels
Type of session: General Conference
Summary of Session
Presenters in this session will address issues related to ensuring the accessibility of IT to all faculty, students, staff and visitors with disabilities. They will share the results of more than a dozen legal challenges regarding the accessibility of IT on campuses nationwide and lessons that can be learned from the resolutions.
Abstract
Presenters in this session will address issues related to ensuring the accessibility of IT to all faculty, students, staff and visitors with disabilities. Presenters will provide an brief historical perspective on approaches to providing access to individuals with disabilities; the legal foundation provided by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 along with its 2008 amendments; an overview of two approaches to access: universal design and accommodations; the results of more than a dozen legal challenges regarding the accessibility of IT on postsecondary campuses nationwide and lessons that can be learned from the resolutions; and how campus communities can work as a unit and separately to ensure the accessibility of IT. Three campus perspectives—the University of Washington, the University of Colorado Boulder, and the University of Montana—will be provided.
Keypoints
Postsecondary institutions legal obligation to make IT accessible to faculty, students, staff, and visitors wi
Typical challenges people with a variety of disabilities face in using IT deployed by postsecondary institutio
Remedies that have resulted, and lessons learned that can benefit other campuses as they strive toward making
Speaker Bio(s)
Sheryl Burgstahler
Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler founded and directs Accessible Technology Services, which includes the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) Center and the IT Accessibility Team within UW-IT at the University of Washington (UW). These units promote (1) the success of students with disabilities in postsecondary education and careers and (2) the development of facilities, IT, services, and learning activities that are welcoming and accessible to individuals with disabilities through the application of a Universal Design (UD) Framework. ITAT focuses efforts at the UW; the DO-IT Center reaches national and international audiences with the support of federal, state, corporate, foundation, and private funds. Dr. Burgstahler is an affiliate professor in the UW College of Education. She developed and continues to teach a graduate course in applications of universal design in higher education at City University of New York.
Dan Jones
Dan Jones, CU-Boulder Director of IT Security and University of Colorado VP of Information Security/Chief Information Security Officer, has recently assumed the additional title and role of Chief Digital Accessibility Officer (CDAO). Jones’ experience enables him to facilitate long-standing accessibility improvements and encourage cultural change. He is responsible for monitoring and overseeing information and communication technology accessibility for individuals with disabilities as well as sharing campus accessibility issues and improvements with the rest of the university.
