Accessible Education

In my last post, I asked that you consider the general experience of being sight impaired and trying to use the computer that sits in front of you. I imagine, if you took a minute to even ponder it, you realized it couldn't be done without technology to help the technology.

Fortunately, for those whose vision is impaired there are tools out there to make surfing the web, using twitter, and writing a blog possible. Screen readers are a commonly used device that reads the text on the screen aloud, or sends the info to a braille display. There are some special web browsers specifically designed for the sight impaired, but it's not the norm.

Here is a brief video from the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind that showcases a handful of the available technology http://youtu.be/lLaUx7BJ4r0. It's really quite amazing how connected one can be with the right tools!

However, there are still a lot of organizations and companies whose home pages are not designed accessibly. One area in particular that needs to be improved are online schools and educational systems. Getting a degree online is convenient and quite popular in modern times. And for those with any type of physical handicap, online programs can really be useful.

As you can imagine a serious visual impairment means that you cannot drive- and transportation may not always be readily available, but, if you can access your classes in your own home you aren't limited.

And, it's not just online schools who are marginalizing those with visual impairments. Colleges and Universities as a whole are not taking the efforts to design their websites to be accessible. Here is an article that gives more insight into the situation http://lvatug.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/lets-give-the-blind-better-access-to-online-learning/

As students ourselves, what can we do to ensure that the education we are receiving is available for others who may have a physical disability? Think about the application process you took in getting into your current program. What would the difficulties have been had you been visually impaired? The American Disability Association (ADA) works tirelessly to ensure that public places and buildings are designed to be accessible for all, but what can be done to make sure that opportunities like receiving higher education is easily accessible for those with impaired sight?

Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn't mean he lacks vision.
Stevie Wonder