(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
across faculty, staff, students, venders,
all of us working together have to share in that responsibility.
Now, a shared governance process means if you are responsible in delivering
the service, then you have an opportunity to share in governing how we're going to
manage the implementation of these services.
(Brady Deaton) The administrators of the university must reflect the values
that demonstrate the importance of this to the learning environment
and it has to be built in then to every aspect of what we do.
0:10:00.779,0:10:04.139 (Michael Young) Right now we have a number of projects and initiatives underway at the
0:10:04.139,0:10:09.269 UW in which we're testing new technologies. Accessibility is an important consideration
0:10:09.269,0:10:13.079 in these evaluations. Many of the vendors we work with have completed
0:10:13.079,0:10:18.569 Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates or VPATs, which offer a checklist of accessibility
0:10:18.569,0:10:23.649 criteria and vendors' self-assessment as to how well they meet those criteria. It's a
0:10:23.649,0:10:28.269 good starting point, but we go beyond that to ask a vendor specific questions and to
0:10:28.269,0:10:33.569 test their products with respect to accessibility. (Gerry Hanley) We begin with our vendors saying
0:10:33.569,0:10:40.569 (a) this is not only important, that this is required for working with the CSU. Every
0:10:42.309,0:10:48.990 student who comes into our institution, we have to provide equally effective access to
0:10:48.990,0:10:55.860 those services and you are a partner in delivering those services to us. So we will tell you
0:10:55.860,0:11:02.860 what we need and then we will help you inform your staff, educate your staff, provide them
0:11:03.930,0:11:10.699 some consultation and guidance in partnership with us, so you can deliver the successful
0:11:10.699,0:11:13.370 service for us. (Pat Burns) So we work with our vendors to
0:11:13.370,0:11:19.180 try to put pressure on them to make things accessible. We actually have a purchasing
0:11:19.180,0:11:26.180 process where we work through and ask the issues about accessibility for software and
0:11:26.490,0:11:31.529 hardware that we buy as well. (Bruce Maas) Individual efforts really need
0:11:31.529,0:11:37.879 to be able to scale well. If we go about things in an ad hoc approach, one by one, we're not
0:11:37.879,0:11:43.910 likely to get the same results as if we work together as a community in higher education,
0:11:43.910,0:11:48.990 to work with vendors to improve accessibility for everyone with regard to the products that
0:11:48.990,0:11:55.269 are offered. That's a much more pragmatic approach rather than institution by institution.
0:11:55.269,0:12:02.269 (Gerry Hanley) Making accessibility a priority in their development roadmap is going to be
0:12:02.300,0:12:09.300 driven by the market demand. And if an institution never says a word, the vendor isn't going
0:12:11.059,0:12:17.269 to do anything about it. So if we begin to communicate our demands collectively, then
0:12:17.269,0:12:20.490 the vendor will recognize the market value of accessibility.
0:12:20.490,0:12:26.670 (Joel Hartman) As we acquire IT resources, we have to embed accessibility in our contracts.
0:12:26.670,0:12:31.019 As we develop resources, we have to employ universal design in our thinking about how
0:12:31.019,0:12:35.930 to make these resources available and we have to continue to monitor students to see if
0:12:35.930,0:12:42.930 we're really delivering to them the resources in a form that they can actually use.
0:12:43.309,0:12:50.309 (Michael Young) Accessibility requires effort on the part of everyone in the higher education
0:12:53.610,0:12:59.209 community - faculty, staff, technology vendors. If we all do our part, our institutions can
0:12:59.209,0:13:04.529 provide everyone with an equal opportunity to participate. And we all benefit from the
0:13:04.529,0:13:07.709 perspectives of a diverse group. (Hernan Londonono) Having that peace of mind
0:13:07.709,0:13:12.959 that we are doing all we can to provide an accessible campus is -- gives us a lot of
0:13:12.959,0:13:17.670 pride and we feel very happy about what, what we do.
0:13:17.670,0:13:22.199 (Linda Cahill) Why wouldn't we make our campus accessible to students with disabilities and
0:13:22.199,0:13:27.439 why wouldn't we do everything we could to see the technology is accessible to our students?
0:13:27.439,0:13:32.490 (Tracy Mitrano) The spirit of what has made higher education the jewel in the crown of
0:13:32.490,0:13:36.939 American society is part and parcel of the message of accessibility.
0:13:36.939,0:13:43.139 (Ed Ray) Every way in which we touch the lives of others, whether it's in the classroom,
0:13:43.139,0:13:50.139 the laboratory, through live performances, through events on campus, we want everyone
0:13:50.170,0:13:57.170 who comes here and creates those experiences to be as fully engaged and as fully benefited
0:14:00.290,0:14:07.290 by the activity as possible. And that simply can't be done if people have artificial challenges
0:14:08.179,0:14:09.889 or barriers to try to overcome.
0:14:09.889,0:14:16.319 (Ed Ray) I would say to those out there who are just getting started or maybe struggling
0:14:16.319,0:14:23.319 to figure out how to use technology to advance accessibility on their campuses that there's
0:14:23.629,0:14:25.549 no such thing as a bad time to start.