IT Accessibility: What Campus Leaders Are Saying

University presidents, CIOs, and other IT leaders discuss the importance of IT accessibility on college campuses.

(Michael Young) We are committed to
the notion that everyone should have

an opportunity to participate in
higher education

whether it be from the
learning perspective,

or the research perspective,

or an opportunity to work here
at this institution.

We benefit from that because we get
to enjoy the talents and the skills

of those people who come in,
and also their perspective,

which in many cases will be different
from the perspective of others on campus.

So accessibility becomes a very
important value at the university.

(Tracy Mitrano) We're a leading
university globally.

We want the best talent in the world
for our students, our staff,

and our faculty. And we want to
be sure if that talent has a disability

that they know that we are a
welcoming community.

(Pablo Molino) We're competing
with other prestigious

and highly accomplished institutions.
We want to make sure that we can target

the right candidates to join our community
regardless of their disability status.

(Pete Siegel) We want to do everything
we can to ensure that they have

the same access to smart faculty,
to fellow students,

and to the resources at UC Davis.

(Edward Ray) In fact,
we genuinely believe that

excellence is achieved through diversity

and that a commitment
to equity and inclusion

really enriches each of our lives.

(Linda Cahill) It would be inconceivable
not to have a social conscience, at least,

and be completely committed to making
our resources at Barry University

accessible to all students.

(Edward Ray) We believe that the use
of technology can be very powerful.

It connects people to each other,

but it also enhances their
learning capabilities;

it increases what they can do through
their research and creative work;

it really makes it possible for them to
have a more powerful impact in the world

and that's basically what we're all about.

And we want that to be true
for every member of our community

regardless of limitations, of physical,
spacial, time or other dimension.

(Hernan Londono) As an IT professional,

sometimes some of us concentrate in
the technical side of the house only

and we forget that finally
the technology is to serve the people.

(Michael Young) What the university
offers and makes available

has to be offered to everybody.

We can't afford to waste the talents
or the brilliance or the minds of anybody

and making things accessible allows
everybody to engage in the university.

Equal opportunity is a part of our value
system, but it's also required by law.

(Pete Siegel) Compliance is extremely
important. Compliance is the law.

But that isn't the motivator
for most of us at universities.

Our motivation has always been
to provide easily accessible tools,

excellent experiences for our students

and really to give them the sense that
this is a place they want to be,

a place they want to learn,
a place where they can thrive.

(Michael Young) Universal design is a very
powerful concept because what it means is

we look at the issue of accessibility
at the outset rather than buying something

or engaging something, or developing
something that we have to retrofit.

Which not only makes it cheaper
and more efficient,

it likely makes it much better in terms
of both the quality of the product

and the accessibility to those...

all the people that we want
to be able to use it.

(Tracy Mitrano) I think the other direction

that colleges and universities
could and should take is

to think about accommodation

as really the beginning of the
conversation about disability.

It was the appropriate measure
that was taken

in the Americans with Disabilities Act

that was passed in 1990

and that's well over a generation ago.

I think now we really have to think less
about how we're going to measure

specifically this accommodation
or that accommodation

and recognize that we can make
accessibility open and available

so that individual staff, faculty
or students

do not have to go to get an accommodation.

It will be automatically available
in the webpage that they visit,

in the device that they use.

(Brady Deaton) We envision a campus
that has a concept of universal design

in all aspects of information technology,
that a student is not impeded in any way,

but in fact, that technology is utilized
not only directly by those who benefit

because of certain challenges
they may have,

but also is illustrative to
the broader student body

and to the faculty and to alums
.

about what an inclusive learning
environment is.

(Pete Seigel) We have some things
we have to learn

in order to move into
accessibility space,

but the basic goals and the basic values
are things we already know and love.

Then we bring in things like
universal design,

the notion that if we design things
well right from the start,

they actually aren't more expensive.

This is something that we can fit
into even our very, very tight budgets.

(Eileen McDonough) We make a great effort
in our graduate

and our undergraduate counsel to make sure
that faculty and deans are aware that

in program design, in offering
a new major,

that they take into account that

they might have to have specialized
software available,

and they have to build that
into their program development.

And then to certainly just be aware
of all the different ways

that students can learn,

to help faculty and deans understand
the concept of universal design.

(Gerry Hanley) The first step really
needs to be an assessment

of where we are, so we can
then inform our planning process,

develop plans, implement a project,

and then really assess the results of it.

(Pablo Molino) Key to our approach
to making sure that

our campus and our technology is
accessible to people with disabilities,

is to ensure we do this by design.

This is not an afterthought that we do
after we have implemented a new classroom.

Instead, this is something that we do

from the initial conception
of a new project or idea.

The same way we do this for privacy
and security,

we do this for accessibility.

(Bruce Maas) It is less costly,
in the long run,

to be thinking through the issues
of accessibility comprehensively.

Therefore, having a plan for accessibility
insures that from the beginning

we think through our issues with regard
to the delivery of our services.

Doing so in a strategic way means that we
can hold down costs over the long haul

and actually deliver better services in the bargain.

(Brady Deaton) It is very important that
a university follows

a policy and a process

that is a can-do kind of process.

It assumes that we are going to
undertake the investments that we need,

we're going to demonstrate the values
that we need,

that not only address the needs of
students who may be challenged with vision

or hearing or other disabilities,

but also draw on the technology
that is not only exciting

for those people who are
developing the technology,

it's intellectually exciting, it provides
new jobs for that matter,

and it stimulates learning
in so many parts of the university.

So that attitude of the university
administration,

as well as faculty and staff and students,
becomes very, very important

because everyone gains from this.
It's a win-win situation.

(Tracy Mitrano) A policy really is an
important way to go,

because it will focus everyone's attention.

It's also probably the way that
you have to go now

that there are legal pressures
on higher education in this area.

The second thing I would say about policy
is there are really two types in general.

One is a policy that you have
because you have a law,

for example, the Family Education Rights
Privacy Act Policy.

So you want to be clear and sure that

you're going to have compliance
on your campus.

There's another kind of policy
that I would call aspirational policy

and maybe accessibility
fits a little bit in both

but you most certainly
can err on the aspirational side.

An aspirational policy is something
you establish for your institution

as a path moving towards something,
moving forward.

It does not have to have one hundred
percent compliance

because it's really a direction
that you're setting strategically

for your institution.

(Gerry Hanley) I'd say another critical
aspect around our strategy is

a shared governance strategy.

Because education is
a shared responsibility

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across faculty, staff, students, venders,
all of us working together have to share in

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that responsibility. Now, a shared governance
process means if you are responsible in delivering

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the service, then you have an opportunity
to share in governing how we're going to

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manage the implementation of these services.
(Brady Deaton) The administrators of the university

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must reflect the values that demonstrate the
importance of this to the learning environment

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and it has to be built in then to every aspect
of what we do.

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(Michael Young) Right now we have a number
of projects and initiatives underway at the

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UW in which we're testing new technologies.
Accessibility is an important consideration

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in these evaluations. Many of the vendors
we work with have completed

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Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates
or VPATs, which offer a checklist of accessibility

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criteria and vendors' self-assessment as to
how well they meet those criteria. It's a

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good starting point, but we go beyond that
to ask a vendor specific questions and to

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test their products with respect to accessibility.
(Gerry Hanley) We begin with our vendors saying

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(a) this is not only important, that this
is required for working with the CSU. Every

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student who comes into our institution, we
have to provide equally effective access to

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those services and you are a partner in delivering
those services to us. So we will tell you

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what we need and then we will help you inform
your staff, educate your staff, provide them

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some consultation and guidance in partnership
with us, so you can deliver the successful

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service for us.
(Pat Burns) So we work with our vendors to

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try to put pressure on them to make things
accessible. We actually have a purchasing

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process where we work through and ask the
issues about accessibility for software and

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hardware that we buy as well.
(Bruce Maas) Individual efforts really need

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to be able to scale well. If we go about things
in an ad hoc approach, one by one, we're not

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likely to get the same results as if we work
together as a community in higher education,

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to work with vendors to improve accessibility
for everyone with regard to the products that

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are offered. That's a much more pragmatic
approach rather than institution by institution.

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(Gerry Hanley) Making accessibility a priority
in their development roadmap is going to be

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driven by the market demand. And if an institution
never says a word, the vendor isn't going

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to do anything about it. So if we begin to
communicate our demands collectively, then

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the vendor will recognize the market value
of accessibility.

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(Joel Hartman) As we acquire IT resources,
we have to embed accessibility in our contracts.

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As we develop resources, we have to employ
universal design in our thinking about how

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to make these resources available and we have
to continue to monitor students to see if

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we're really delivering to them the resources
in a form that they can actually use.

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(Michael Young) Accessibility requires effort
on the part of everyone in the higher education

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community - faculty, staff, technology vendors.
If we all do our part, our institutions can

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provide everyone with an equal opportunity
to participate. And we all benefit from the

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perspectives of a diverse group.
(Hernan Londonono) Having that peace of mind

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that we are doing all we can to provide an
accessible campus is -- gives us a lot of

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pride and we feel very happy about what, what
we do.

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(Linda Cahill) Why wouldn't we make our campus
accessible to students with disabilities and

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why wouldn't we do everything we could to
see the technology is accessible to our students?

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(Tracy Mitrano) The spirit of what has made
higher education the jewel in the crown of

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American society is part and parcel of the
message of accessibility.

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(Ed Ray) Every way in which we touch the lives
of others, whether it's in the classroom,

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the laboratory, through live performances,
through events on campus, we want everyone

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who comes here and creates those experiences
to be as fully engaged and as fully benefited

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by the activity as possible. And that simply
can't be done if people have artificial challenges

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or barriers to try to overcome.

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(Ed Ray) I would say to those out there who
are just getting started or maybe struggling

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to figure out how to use technology to advance
accessibility on their campuses that there's

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no such thing as a bad time to start.