IT Accessibility: What Campus Leaders Are Saying

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

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

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participate in higher education, whether it
be from the learning perspective, or the research

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perspective, or an opportunity to work here
at this institution. We benefit from that

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because we get to enjoy the talents and the
skills of those people who come in, and also

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their perspective, which in many cases will
be different from the perspective of others

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on campus. So accessibility becomes a very
important value at the university.

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(Tracy Mitrano) We're a leading university
globally. We want the best talent in the world

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for our students, our staff, and our faculty.
And we want to be sure if that talent has

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a disability that they know that we are a
welcoming community.

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(Pablo Molino) We're competing with other
prestigious and highly accomplished institutions.

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We want to make sure that we can target the
right candidates to join our community regardless

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of their disability status.
(Pete Siegel) We want to do everything we

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can to insure that they have the same access
to smart faculty, to fellow students, and

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to the resources at UC Davis.
(Ed Ray) In fact, we genuinely believe that

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excellence is achieved through diversity and
that a commitment to equity and inclusion

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really enriches each of our lives.
(Linda Cahill) It would be inconceivable not

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to have a social conscience, at least, and
be completely committed to making our resources

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at Barry University accessible to all students.

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(Ed Ray) We believe that the use of technology
can be very powerful. It connects people to

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each other, but it also enhances their learning
capabilities; it increases what they can do

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through their research and creative work;
it really makes it possible for them to have

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a more powerful impact in the world and that's
basically what we're all about. And we want

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that to be true for every member of our community
regardless of limitations, of physical, spacial,

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time or other dimension.
(Hernan Londono) As an IT professional, sometimes

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some of us concentrate in the technical side
of the house only and we forget that finally

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the technology is to serve the people.
(Michael Young) What the university offers

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and makes available has to be offered to everybody.
We can't afford to waste the talents or

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the brilliance or the minds of anybody and
making things accessible allows everybody

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to engage in the university. Equal opportunity
is a part of our value system, but it's

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also required by law.
(Pete Siegel) Compliance is extremely important.

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And compliance is the law. But that isn't
the motivator for most of us at universities.

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Our motivation has always been to provide
easily accessible tools, excellent experiences

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

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

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

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

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something, or developing something that we
have to retrofit. Which not only makes it

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cheaper and more efficient, it likely makes
it much better in terms of both the quality

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of the product and the accessibility to those
-- all the people that we want to be able

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to use it.
(Tracy Mitrano) I think the other direction

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that colleges and universities could and should
take is to think about accommodation as really

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the beginning of the conversation about disability
. It was the appropriate measure that was

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taken in the Americans with Disabilities Act
that was passed in 1990 and that's well over

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a generation ago. I think now we really have
to think less about how we're going to measure

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specifically this accommodation or that accommodation
and recognize that we can make accessibility

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open and available so that individual staff,
faculty or students do not have to go to get

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

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in the device that they use.
(Brady Deaton) We envision a campus that has

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a concept of universal design in all aspects
of information technology, that a student

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is not impeded in any way, but in fact, that
technology is utilized not only directly by

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those who benefit because of certain challenges
they may have, but also is illustrative to

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the broader student body and to the faculty
and to alums about what an inclusive learning

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environment is.
(Pete Seigel) We have some things we have

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to learn in order to move into accessibility
space, but the basic goals and the basic values

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are things we already know and love. Then
we bring in things like universal design:

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the notion that if we design things well right
from the start, they actually aren't more

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

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

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to make sure that faculty and deans are aware
that in program design, in offering a new

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major, that they take into account that they
might have to have specialized software available,

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and they have to build that into their program
development. And then to certainly just be

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aware of all the different ways that students
can learn, to help faculty and deans understand

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the concept of universal design.
(Gerry Hanley) The first step really needs

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to be an assessment of where we are, so we
can then inform our planning process, develop

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plans, implement a project, and then really
assess the results of it.

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(Pablo Molino) Key to our approach to making
sure that our campus and our technology is

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accessible to people with disabilities, is
to ensure we do this by design. This is not

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an afterthought that we do after we have implemented
a new classroom. Instead, this is something

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that we do from the initial conception of
new project or idea. The same we would do

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this for privacy and security, we do this
for accessibility.

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(Bruce Maas) It is less costly, in the long
run, to be thinking through the issues of

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accessibility comprehensively. Therefore,
having a plan for accessibility insures that

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

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

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actually deliver better services in the bargain.
(Brady Deaton) It is very important that a

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university follows a policy and a process
that is a can-do kind of process. It assumes

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that we are going to undertake the investments
that we need, we're going to demonstrate the

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values that we need - that not only address
the needs of students who may be challenged

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with vision or hearing or other disabilities,
but also draw on the technology that is not

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only exciting for those people who are developing
the technology, it's intellectually exciting,

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it provides new jobs for that matter and it
stimulates learning in so many parts of the

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university. So that attitude of the university
administration, as well as faculty and staff

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and students, becomes very, very important
because everyone gains from this. It's a win-win

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situation.
(Tracy Mitrano) A policy really is an important

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way to go, because it will focus everyone's
attention. It's also probably the way that

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you have to go now that there are legal pressures
on higher education in this area. The second

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thing I would say about policy is there are
really two types in general. One is a policy

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that you have because you have a law, for
example, the Family Education Rights Privacy

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Act Policy, so you want to be clear and sure
that you're going to have compliance on your

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campus. There's another kind of policy that
I would call aspirational policy and maybe

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accessibility fits a little bit in both but
you most certainly can err on the aspirational

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side. An aspirational policy is something
you establish for your institution as a path

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moving towards something, moving forward.
It does not have to have one hundred percent

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

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institution.
(Gerry Hanley) I'd say another critical

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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.