Accessibility Commons^™

A Study Of Kentucky School District Websites: They’Re Colorful And Informative….But Are They Ada Compliant?, John A. Huss, Shannon Eastep

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

An often-overlooked component of a school district website is the necessity for that website to be accessible to those with disabilities, while following the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act. This study investigated the accessibility of school district websites in Kentucky by selecting a random sample of 50 school districts and analyzing their home pages using WAVE (Web Accessibility Versatile Evaluator), which reports accessibility violations by annotating a copy of the page that was evaluated and presenting embedded icons and indicators to disclose breaches with ADA. Out of 50 districts, …

A Case Study Of Two Taiwanese Students With Hearing Loss Navigating The English As A Foreign Language Requirement At Their University, Yu Chen

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Many institutions of higher education (IHE) students in Taiwan now need to meet the English proficiency requirement to earn their higher education degrees. In this case study, I intended to a) provide the opportunity for IHE students with hearing loss in Taiwan to share their opinions, thoughts, and experiences of learning English as a foreign language in higher education institutes; and b) understand how English as a foreign language policies and educational practices contribute to create opportunities and barriers for IHE students with hearing loss. The research question I intended to examine was “what are the perceptions of the lived …

Investigating The Possible Effects Of State Takeover On Teacher Self-Efficacy In Low-Performing, Low-Ses School Districts In Arkansas, Pasty Ann Hughey

Theses and Dissertations from 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in teachers’ level of self-efficacy based on the state takeover status of a school district. The design of this study was “group comparison research” (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2015). The dependent variable was teachers’ level of self-efficacy and the independent variable was state takeover status. Data gathered for this study were teacher demographics and the level of teacher self-efficacy measured by the TSES instrument (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Three school districts in Arkansas were selected and matched on demographic variables and school academic measures. One district had recently been …

"Hear Us, See Us": Constructing Citizenship In The Margins, Tricia M. Hagen Gray

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The meatpacking industry has drawn an increasing number of immigrants to the Midwestern community of Washington River from Mexico and Central America, making it a New Latino Diaspora (NLD) receiving community. Demographic change amidst the sociopolitical landscape of neoliberalism, declining civic engagement, and polarized partisan politics has forced interaction between longstanding residents and newcomers who are socially, culturally, and linguistically different. Historically marginalized groups have sought to claim rights—especially since Donald Trump’s election in 2016—resulting in a deeper fissure of the social landscape.

Washington River High School provided a context in which to explore questions about how students construct citizen …

What Makes That Autistic Student Tick? Strategies For Classroom Behaviors, Amanda Puleo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Inclusion of autistic students in mainstream classrooms may make it difficult for teachers to identify and proactively address disruptive behaviors. That is, mainstream teachers may not know how to respond to these specific behaviors and their standard classroom management techniques may not work with autistic students. It will take commitment and hard work to identify strategies to regulate the disruptive behaviors of students with autism. To address this issue, the perspectives of directors and teachers who specialize in autism, as well as mainstream public or private school teachers were obtained through interviews. Three options for action emerged from an analysis …

Teacher Efficacy Of Secondary Special Education Science Teachers, Celeste Bonton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Students with disabilities are a specific group of the student population that are guaranteed rights that allow them to receive a free and unbiased education in an environment with their non-disabled peers. The importance of this study relates to providing students with disabilities with the opportunity to receive instruction from the most efficient and prepared educators. The purpose of this study is to determine how specific factors influence special education belief systems. In particular, educators who provide science instruction in whole group or small group classrooms in a large metropolitan area in Georgia possess specific beliefs about their ability to …

Provision Of Assistive Technologies In Academic Libraries To Students With Visual Impairment In Ghana: A Case Study Of The University Of Education, Winneba, Ghana, Efua Mansa Ayiah Mrs

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Assistive technologies are tools used to promote access to information and general education curriculum for students with visual impairment. For students with visual impairment access to a diversity of high and low-tech assistive technologies, including screen readers, magnifiers, electronic braillers, braille n’ print, assist students in accessing materials in a standard print format which are not available to them. Provision of assistive technologies is to “level the playing field”, in conformity with the social model of disability where emphasizes is placed on physical and social barriers experienced by students with visual impairment and considers the problem as a society …

Preliminary Data Of The Smartsignplay Prototype: A Sign Language App For Families With Children Who Are D/Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing, Caroline A. Guardino, Brianna Balch, Sarah Rearick

DHI Digital Projects Showcase

SmartSignPlay is an app aimed to assist children who are d/DHH and their families learn functional signs to support early communication development. The app is interactive and can be played on smartphones and tablets. The process of developing the app and preliminary results of the pilot study will be presented.

The Book Trailer Project: Media Production Within An Integrated Classroom, Karen Festa

Journal of Media Literacy Education

A special education co-teacher in an integrated elementary classroom describes key aspects of media literacy pedagogy for all students, including opportunities for critical analysis and creative media production. After elementary school students learned about author’s craft, purpose, theme/message, three types of writing, and target audience, they began looking at these elements using Super Bowl ads and participated in rich discussions which demonstrated their analysis and reflection on advertising. Students created a book trailer project, working in small groups to create videos to promote a book written by a local author and illustrator. Such work bridges gaps in social-emotional development, communication …

Digital Media Production To Support Literacy For Secondary Students With Diverse Learning Abilities, April Marie Leach

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Producing digital media is a hands-on, inquiry-based mindful process that naturally embeds Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles into literacy instruction, providing options for learning and assessment for a wide array of students with diverse learning abilities. Video production learning experiences acknowledge the cognitive talents of some students labeled “disabled.” For some, the discovery of personal abilities activated when learning through the production process may motivate deeper learning. Although challenges of access, quality of teacher preparation and assessment strategies represent significant challenges, digital media production learning experiences offer diverse learners a rich, socially interactive environment that models open communication and …

Parent Perceptions Of The Transition Programs Completed By Their Adult Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Judithanne Arcaro

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The lifelong effects of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) impact the living, employment, and social aspects for individuals with the diagnosis and their families. In this study, I sought to determine parent perspectives of school transition programs completed by their adult children with ASD. Guided by the theoretical framework from Bronfenbrenner, Freire, and Mezirow, my purpose was to identify transition practices with which parents were satisfied and dissatisfied, as well as to seek their input about improving transition programming. With the unemployment rate for individuals with ASD reported by the Department of Labor as 80%, improvement of outcomes would reduce the …

Event Planner Sensitivity To The Needs Of Individuals With Visual Disability At Meetings And Events, Gina Fe G. Causin Ph.D., Tessa Mccarthy Ph.D.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Special events, such as fairs, conventions, ballgames, and concerts are typically activities people attend to participate in the festivities and enjoy with friends and family members. For individuals with disabilities, however, these types of events can create more challenges than enjoyment. Despite a thorough review of the literature, no studies were found which evaluated the experiences of individuals who are blind and have visual impairments at events and meetings. The aim of this study was to determine the current level of accessibility at meetings perceived by consumers who are blind and visually impaired. Respondents to the survey indicated many obstacles …

Post-Acquisition Management And The Issue Of Inaccessibility, Beth Caruso

Charleston Library Conference

Though advocates are calling for publishers to develop born-accessible e-books to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) standards and the EPUB 3.0 measures now backed by the Society for Disability Studies, the realistic timespan for this achievement to become standard practice is far from ideal. To equitably serve users with disabilities, stronger technology and a mindset toward accessibility must become the standard in electronic collections. Librarians are expected to have a strong working knowledge of the library’s collections but receive little training in best practices for assisting patrons with disabilities. We cannot wait …

Keeping Up Accessibility Practices And How It Relates To Purchasing And Collection Development In Academic Libraries: A Case Study At The College Of Staten Island Library, Kerry A. Falloon

Charleston Library Conference

At the College of Staten Island (CSI) Library-CUNY, the library has access to over 160 different electronic resources. A concerted effort started in 2016 to start collecting relevant voluntary product accessibility template (VPAT) statements from new and current vendors and integrate these new practices into acquisition and electronic resources (ER) workflows. The paper will discuss the responsibilities of purchasing agents in libraries, acquisition or ER librarians, in regard to understanding disability law and how these legal mandates apply when investigating, acquiring, and maintaining electronic resources. Relevant tools will be discussed, in particular the use of VPATs and WCAG 2.0 guidelines …

Providing Access For Students With Moderate Disabilities: An Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program At A Catholic Elementary School, Matthew P. Cunningham, Karen K. Huchting, Diane Fogarty, Victoria Graf

Journal of Catholic Education

After a significant policy change led to the admittance of students with moderate disabilities, St. Agnes School (SAS; pseudonym)—a Catholic PK-8 school in Southern California—implemented an 18-month professional development (PD) program to improve teachers’ inclusive classroom practices. Grounded in the theoretical framework of Universal Design for Learning (UDL; Center for Applied Special Technology, 2015b), the PD program included cyclical, one-on-one instructional coaching sessions that were led by trained UDL coaches and consisted of lesson demonstrations and personalized feedback. While SAS teachers held state credentials, most had very little training to work with students with special needs prior to this PD; …

Designing Learning For All Students, Denise Shaver

Adventist Online Learning Conference / Conferencia de Aprendizaje en Línea

Please join me for an engaging presentation on how to design learning for all students, including individuals with physical, mental, health and learning differences and or cultural, racial and language diversity. This session will cover “the what, why and how” of developing accessible and instructional content and delivery. Discover or reimagine Universal Design for Learning to create an inclusive educational environment.

Designing For Universal Success, Nicole Martin, Trey Conatser

Greater Faculties: A Review of Teaching and Learning

Dr. Deb Castiglione is the Universal Design and Instructional Technology Specialist at CELT. She has worked to get a campus-wide license at the University of Kentucky for the software Read&Write Gold, which follows principles of universal design for learning. We asked Dr. Castiglione about what the software can do for learners, and why we should think more about inclusive practices such as universal design in our teaching.

“It Helps If You Are A Loud Person”: Listening To The Voice Of A School Student With A Vision Impairment, Jill Opie, Jane Southcott, Joanne Deppeler

The Qualitative Report

Students with vision impairment who attend mainstream secondary schools in Australia may not experience education as an inclusive and positive experience. This study of one senior secondary student with vision impairment provides a rare opportunity to give voice and provide understandings of the experience from the perspective of the student. The research question that drove this study was: What is the experience of mainstream schooling for a student with a vision impairment? The participant in this Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis study was Edward (pseudonym), a student in his final year of secondary schooling. Edward encountered significant barriers to inclusion, specifically teaching, …

A Direct Tex-To-Braille Transcribing Method, Andreas Papasalouros, Antonis Tsolomitis

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The TeX/LaTeX typesetting system is the most wide-spread system for creating documents in Mathematics and Science. However, no reliable tool exists to this day for automatically transcribing documents from the above formats into Braille/Nemeth code. Thus, visually impaired students of related fields do not have access to the bulk of study material available in LaTeX format. We have developed a tool, named latex2nemeth, for directly transcribing LaTeX documents to Nemeth Braille, thus facilitating the access of blind students to Science. In order to support the extensive set of Mathematics symbols covered by TeX, we propose some new symbols based on …

First-Year Performance: Students With Disabilities Transitioning To College From High School, Andrew S. Herridge

College Student Affairs Leadership

Laws such as the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (Amendments Act), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) govern the responsibilities of both secondary schools and postsecondary institutions in regards to students with learning disabilities. With an approximate 34.5% of students with learning disabilities in secondary schools within the United States transitioning into higher education in 2005, the transition from secondary school to a college or university can be a time full of stress, new experiences, and confusion for students with learning disabilities. The purpose …