One Solution: An Adaptive Technology Laboratory - Equity of Access: Adaptive Technology - The Research Center on Computing & Society

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Frances S. Grodzinsky

One Solution: An Adaptive Technology Laboratory

At Sacred Heart University, the solution to the problem of how to fully include people with disabilities in all aspects of campus life, including computer use, was to create an adaptive technology laboratory (ATL) equipped with specialized hardware and software tools to advance the computing skills of students with disabilities. The laboratory was networked with the campus-wide computing system, affording student access to all software used on campus. The software interfaced with the adaptive tools providing accessibility. The ATL was particularly important to students with disabilities who wanted to study computer science. It afforded them full access to computing resources. The lab was physically located within the ULC, where tutors could evaluate the needs of students and guide them toward the most appropriate adaptive tools.

Funding the adaptive technology laboratory was a challenge. For three years, I wrote to foundations, state granting agencies, and national education granting agencies. Most of these potential sources stated that it was the responsibility of the university, according to law, to accommodate its students with disabilities. Unfortunately, such accommodations normally did not extend to computer technology. Finally, the possibility of creating an adaptive technology laboratory materialized when the university agreed to match a grant that I wanted to submit to the National Science Foundation for instructional laboratory improvement. The grant proposal argued that computer technology is necessary for university students if they are to complete their major courses of study, because more and more of the courses are dependent upon computing tools. It reasoned that providing adaptive tools to students with disabilities would empower and prepare them to work with the latest technology when they graduated.

Although the grant application was successful, it provided only for equipment. There was no provision for training staff or students to use the adaptive tools once they were installed on the computers. With the support of an associate vice president of academic affairs, several ULC staff members, tutors, and faculty members were able to attend a four-hour workshop to learn what adaptive technology can do for students with disabilities. This core group then offered workshops to other faculty and staff at the university, both to demonstrate the tools and to train faculty to identify students and refer them to the ATL. In addition, a computer science senior, who was severely dyslexic, became very interested in adaptive tools and so became the technical support person in the laboratory. Finally, the university recognized the need to help the growing number of students with disabilities and created the position of director of students with special needs. Once the adaptive technology laboratory was created, a benefactor was impressed with the university’s commitment to its students with disabilities and provided substantial monetary support for the laboratory.

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