Accessibility Commons^™

Pre-College Deaf Students’ Understanding Of Fractional Concepts: What We Know And What We Do Not Know, Keith Mousley, Christopher Kurz

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Mathematical knowledge and skills are crucial to success in academics and the workplace. The Common Core State Standards emphasizes fraction teaching and learning in elementary school. This mixed-method study explores fraction concept understanding among 14 deaf and hard of hearing participants between the ages of 8 and 16, as quantitatively measured by their ability to describe the properties of fractional numbers, convert between fractional numbers and their visual representations, and determine the order and equivalence of fractional numbers. Furthermore, the qualitative study was supplemented by interviews with the deaf participants and surveys with their parents and teachers to examine use …

Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Instruction In An Rti Framework: Supporting Emergent Bilinguals In The Secondary Classroom, Lisa Auslander

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the impact of teacher team collaboration and planning around culturally and linguistically responsive instruction for emergent bilingual students in a secondary school setting supported by a targeted intervention system. To provide a context for the importance of this study, the dissertation begins by 1) including observations of both academic teacher team and guidance collaboration to understand the strategies used to plan instruction and guidance interventions for students drawing on existing research around professional learning communities and guidance structures; and 2) use of an existing observation protocol and frameworks to identify key practices and characteristics of culturally and …

Fostering An Inclusive Stem Workforce, Cary A. Supalo Dr.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The following keynote address was delivered by Dr. Cary A. Supalo at the 2015 Training Workforce and Development and diversity conference which is one of the divisions that is part of NIH’s general medical sciences. This conference was attended by over 500 program directors from all of the T32 sponsored projects in 2015. This presentation discussed the importance of a full inclusive STEM workforce that includes persons with disabilities

Wheels Of Fortune: The Economic Impacts Of Wheelchair Provision In Ethiopia, Justin L. Grider, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

Although approximately 1 billion people in the world live with physical disabilities, there is a lack of rigorous research on the economic impacts of providing assistive devices for persons with disabilities. This study involves 261 people with disabilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where 121 had received wheelchair donations through nonprofit organisations. Using covariate matching (CVM), seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) and a series of robustness checks for endogeneity, it is found that those given access to a wheelchair devoted 1.75 more hours per day to work, 1.40 fewer hours per day to street begging and realised a 77.5 per cent increase …

Ilhan, Nura, Radwa, Ziagull And Children, Ilhan, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Ilhan, his wife Nura, and their children resided near Kabul, in a region where both the Taliban and ISIS were active. As Shias, Ilhan’s family faced numerous menaces, including threats from ISIS that they would be beheaded if they did not display ISIS flags. Ilhan’s sister Radwa, who is deaf and mute, was forced to marry a regional leader. In addition to being threatened on religious grounds, Ilhan’s family was also threatened by an elder of their town. Out of desperation, Ilhan’s family sold their house appliances, escaped Afghanistan, and arrived at the …

Using Fine Arts To Implement Inclusive Education: Inspiring The School Through A Schoolwide Art Project, Desiree Valentino

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper chronicles the development and completion of a schoolwide living mural project created through the cooperation of every student in an elementary school in Northwest Montana as a way to facilitate inclusive education. The project was fashioned to allow students who are educated in a self-contained classroom the chance to interact with their peers through a schoolwide art project. This involved creating two murals to experience the benefits of the arts; to educate the student body on how to interact with students with disabilities; to demonstrate to general educators how to facilitate the inclusion of all students; and to …

Collaboration Between The Library And Office Of Student Disability Services: Document Accessibility In Higher Education, Rebecca Arzola

Publications and Research

Purpose – The paper aims to discuss the relationship between interdepartmental stakeholders in higher education and the information identified as a result of collaborations. It proposes that collaborations can help clarify issues to then advocate for them.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper opted for a naturalistic case study design, gathering direct and participant observation of interdepartmental collaborations including 1 Student Share, 12 one-hour collaborative sessions and 1 Accessibility Conference.

Findings – The paper provides observed insight about student needs to have documents that are accessible for assistive technologies to recognize and read how change is brought about during internal brand building. …

Organizational Transformation: Guiding Principles For Community Providers (Bringing Employment First To Scale, Issue No. 6), Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Amie Lulinski, Cindy Thomas, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

A key area of focus for our Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) is organizational transformation, leading to improved employment outcomes for those served by community provider organizations. Community provider organizations and their staff are the primary source of day and employment supports for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD). Among this large provider community, variation of services and employment philosophies exists. Many believe that facility-based programs are essential for individuals with disabilities who are having difficulty getting or maintaining competitive work in the labor force, and have limited plans to expand competitive integrated employment. Others believe that all …

Achieving Best Practice In Employment Supports: Defining Measures Of Effectiveness (Bringing Employment First To Scale, Issue No. 4), Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are among the most likely Americans to be unemployed, live in poverty, or rely on public programs. In 2013, only 23% of working-age people with cognitive disabilities—a broad demographic category that includes individuals with IDD—were employed, compared to 72% of people without disabilities. While over 30 states have adopted an Employment First policy (a declaration that employment is the priority outcome for people with disabilities), a key challenge is ensuring that supports meet the standards for best practice. Employment supports are delivered by what we refer to as “employment consultants.” We use this …

Policy And State-Level Strategies To Promote Employment (Bringing Employment First To Scale, Issue No. 3), Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

At the national level, integrated employment has become an important policy priority. Greater expectations are being placed on those charged with delivering employment supports, and disability systems are responding. However, the promise of integrated employment has yet to be realized for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The number of individuals supported in integrated employment by state IDD agencies has remained the same since 2000, participation in non-work services has grown rapidly, and promising practices for employment supports identified in the research are not widely implemented. What are the state-level strategies that can change this trajectory?

This brief: Describes …

Knowledge Translation And Support For Individuals And Families (Bringing Employment First To Scale, Issue No. 5), Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

With the persistently low competitive employment rate for working-age people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), a main focus area for the field of disability research has been on the interaction between the individual and the service system. Yet we know much less about the interaction between systems and families around employment. Family engagement is key to successful employment and life planning, often leading individuals with disabilities on the path to employment when family members serve as role models for work ethic and behavior. Family members may also provide logistical support, including coaching and advice, help with planning and organizing …

High-Quality Community Life Engagement Supports: Four Guideposts For Success (Engage: A Brief Look At Community Engagement, Issue No. 3, 2016), Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Community Life Engagement refers to supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to access and participate in their communities outside of employment as part of a meaningful day. States and providers report growing numbers of individuals with IDD in Community Life Engagement, yet the role of services related to engagement and participation in community life has to date been largely undefined.

Furthermore, the Department of Justice’s guidance around the provision of day and employment supports in integrated settings (U.S. Department of Justice, 2014; United States v. State of Rhode Island, 2014) has illustrated the need to define and provide …

Who Are Employment Consultants? Characteristics Of The Workforce That Connects Job Seekers With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities To Employment (Bringing Employment First To Scale, Issue No. 7), Oliver Lyons, Alberto Migliore, Kelly Nye-Lengerman, Derek Nord, John Butterworth, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

In 1987, the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston began a series of surveys aimed at providing a longitudinal description of the characteristics and service delivery provided by Community Rehabilitation Providers (CRPs)(Domin & Butterworth, 2012). Despite direct support staff comprising one of the nation’s largest labor market segments, there has been very little research into the wages and stability of that workforce (Bogenschutz, Hewitt, Nord, & Hepperlen, 2014). Additionally, most of the literature regarding employment consultants has focused on service outcomes of the individuals served. However, according to Luecking, Fabian, and Tilson (2004), “…Regardless of …

An Exploration Of Postsecondary Education Programs For Students With Intellectual Disabilities In Public Universities And Colleges In Florida, Lisa Jester

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 and The Workforce Innovative Opportunity Act of 2014, legislators have created opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities to participate in postsecondary education with their typically developing peers. This study utilized the results of web-based survey data from public universities and colleges in the state of Florida to explore the varying options available for students with intellectual disabilities. This study applied a quantitative approach to the survey of 12 state university system (SUS) and 28 college system (CS) institutions in Florida to explore current program options and services afforded students with intellectual disabilities …

Website Accessibility Compliance At Research Institutions, Jonathan D. Mcgough

All Master's Theses

Three websites from 34 research institutions were evaluated on six measures of website accessibility. All but one institution had at least one website fail the accessibility assessment, and the single institution that performed well had recently been investigated by the Department of Justice regarding the accessibility of its website. This study concludes that while disability service offices do perform better than institutional homepages and admissions websites on measures of accessibility, many websites are plagued by perennial accessibility concerns such as images that lack alternate descriptions and content inaccessible to individuals using keyboard navigation or screen reader software.

An Asynchronous Course/Laboratory Development For Automation Controls, Cheng Y. Lin, Mileta Tomovic, Vukica M. Jovanovic

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The development of asynchronous courses is to help students who are restricted by work requirements, family responsibilities, geographical distance, disabilities, and combination of these factors. It also provides flexibilities to on-campus students. In this paper, the framework structure of an asynchronous course and laboratory development for an automation control is presented. The challenge in this development is to implement the hands-on laboratory experience to those distance learning students who may not be able to access the real equipment. Results of the implementation including opinion feedbacks and grade distributions show that students welcome the format of this development.

Technology, Diversity, Web Accessibility, And Ala Accreditation Standards In Mlis, Adina Mulliken

Publications and Research

This paper discusses an interconnection between diversity and technology: web accessibility for all, including people with disabilities. Qualitative interviews were conducted with eight MLIS professors and two students or recent alumni. Findings showed attitudes regarding teaching web accessibility and recruitment of a diverse student body varied between professors who were familiar with web accessibility and those who were not. Participants who were familiar with web accessibility often thought it should be included within ALA Standards for Accreditation. Findings suggested that, in one school, incorporating diversity in their curriculum, including web accessibility, allowed recruitment of a more diverse student body and …

Focus On The Journey, Not The Destination: Digital Games And Students With Disability, Susan Main, John O'Rourke, Julia Morris, Helen Dunjey

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The way in which technologies support students with disability has been widely explored in recent times. Much of this research has focused on computer programs specifically designed to teach social and academic skills to students with disability. In the research reported in this paper we examined how students with disability could use technology designed for the general market. The impetus for the study was the principle of normalisation, which espouses that people with disability should have the opportunity to share in experiences of their same-aged peers. In previous research we demonstrated the benefits of using the commercially available hand-held games …

Teachers' Attitudes And Their Effect On Placement Recommendations For Students With Cognitive Disabilities, Kathleen M. Everett

Doctor of Education in Special Education Dissertations

The implementation of Public Law 94-142 in 1974 guaranteed that students with disabilities had the right to be educated alongside their peers in the least restrictive environment. However, decades later, administrators, teachers, and parents continue to struggle to resolve the issue on how to include students with disabilities in general education classrooms, as well as how to recognize why students with cognitive disabilities were embodied more in self-contained classrooms than in comprehensive environments. In this study, I aimed to understand how special education teachers’ attitudes about inclusion, LRE, and students with cognitive disabilities influence placement recommendations. Through the qualitative thematic …

Social Justice Education: Using Communication Activism Pedagogy To Help University Cultural Centers Increase Campus Diversity & Inclusivity, Sophia T. Vu

Journalism

This study examined how student affairs professionals, especially those in cultural centers, could increase campus diversity and inclusivity. More specifically, it sought to find a theoretical basis for social justice education programs that could increase campus climate. It was performed as a single site case study at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Three Cal Poly student affairs professionals were interviewed for qualitative data which were then compared and analyzed with the literature surrounding campus diversity and inclusivity. The study concludes that student affairs professionals can increase campus diversity and inclusivity by developing social justice education programs that not …