8.0275 E-Workshop: Adapting Computers for Disabled Persons (1/92
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Fri, 21 Oct 1994 00:01:27 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 8, No. 0275. Thursday, 20 Oct 1994.
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 1994 09:40:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: PROF NORM COOMBS <NRCGSH@RITVAX.BITNET>
Subject: Email-delivered workshop on Adapting Computers for Disabled Persons
EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information), in cooperation with
the Rochester Institute of Technology, is providing an email-delivered
workshop on making computing facilities and information technology more
readily accessible to individuals with physical disabilities. All
materials are delivered over the Internet, and the course lasts for three
weeks. Workshops are scheduled to begin Nov. 9, 1994, Jan. 30, 1995 and
April 17, 1995. Registration is $125, and RIT grants a certificate of
completion at the conclusion of the course.
Below is an edited version of an article describing the workshop
from the RIT Information Systems and Computing Newsletter.
-< Adapt-it Workshop >-
Current attendees of an on-line workshop are "surfing the Internet" to
participate in "Adapt-it: Adapting Information Technology & Computing," to
find information about access to information for people with disabilities.
Spurred by the American Disabilities Act, access for people with
disabilities has become an important issue at academic, government, and
business facilities around the country. Attended by academic
administrators and disability advocates in industry and business,
participants have come from Germany, Spain, Thailand, Australia, Canada,
and more than 25 states in the U.S.
The workshop is being presented as a collaborative effort between Norman
Coombs, an RIT history professor and chair of EASI (Equal Access to
Software and Information), Richard Banks, an adaptive technologist at the
University of Wisconsin-Stout's library and moderator of EASI's AXSLIB1
(the leading Internet discussion list on library and adaptive technology),
and RIT's Educational Technology Center. The workshop is supported by
network resources provided by Information Systems and Computing.
Run on a quarterly basis, the first workshop was offered in January
1994. The content includes:
o Reasons to Adapt
o Legislative History
o Americans with Disabilities Act
o Lab Environment
o Alternate Output Systems
o Alternate Input Systems
o Computing as Compensatory Devices
o Planning and Funding
o Review and Other Resources
So the course would be accessible to the greatest number of people, Dr.
Coombs chose e-mail to deliver the workshop.
"I had always thought that a single stream discussion wouldn't
work." Delighted to be proven wrong, e-mail allowed attendees from K-12,
businesses, libraries, and Fidonet tojoin the course, which was a
first-time experience for the majority of attendees.
Dr. Coombs called the course "extremely successful," and the comments of
people submitting post-workshop evaluations echoed his feeling.
"Well worth both the time and money spent." "This course was a great
opportunity." "This has been a great workshop. I have gotten so many new
resources to tap." "I thoroughly enjoyed the content, format, and
instructors. I learned a great deal more than I expected to." "The format
was a little fast-paced, I really had to scramble to keep up."
Due to students comments that claimed too much material in too little
time, the workshop has been expanded to three weeks, and a review lesson
has been dropped.
To see a current syllabus for the workshop, send e-mail to
listserver@listserv.isc.rit.edu with this one line of text:
info workshop
The fee for the workshop is $125. To register, send e-mail to
listserver@listserv.isc.rit.edu with this one line of text:
sub adaapt-it (and your first and last names in quotes.)
You will receive an automatic reply informing you that you are
part of the discussion list and also providing full payment information.
For more information, write to either: Norman Coombs nrcgsh@rit.edu or
Dick Banks rbanks@uwstout.edu