Putting Information Technology to Work for Persons with a Disability Copyright 1993 CAUSE From _CAUSE/EFFECT_ Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 1993. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, the CAUSE copyright and its date appear,and notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. To disseminate otherwise, or to republish, requires written permission.For further information, contact CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301, 303-449-4430, e-mail info@CAUSE.colorado.edu PUTTING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO WORK FOR PERSONS WITH A DISABILITY by Beverly Biderman ABSTRACT: At the University of Toronto, a study found many ways in which information technology could be used to address the needs of persons with a disability. The challenge was to deploy the resources and facilities of the computing and communications division to the benefit of the disabled population being served by the University's office for persons with special needs. This article describes the opportunities identified and the collaborative action plan developed to address them, as well as the conclusions drawn from the planning project. The University of Toronto[1] is both the best and the worst of places for persons with a disability to study and work. The institution is old and sprawling. It was founded 166 years ago in 1827, and many of the older buildings present an inhospitable physical environment for persons with certain disabilities. The two major suburban campuses at Scarborough and Erindale Colleges are located a distant 33 kilometers (20 miles) to the east and west of the downtown campus, respectively. However, in addition to an enormously rich assortment of programs, professional faculties, and affiliations,[2] the University also has a broad and well-developed range of computing and communications resources in one division and an energetic special needs office in another. UTCC planning study University of Toronto Computing and Communications (UTCC) is headed by a vice president, and composed of seven departments, responsible for most aspects of institutional information technology. The wide range of services and programs offered includes managing the telephone system, the backbone networks, and institutional automated systems; providing audiovisual, video conferencing, and satellite link services; supporting high performance and research computing; managing departmental computing facilities under contract; supporting faculty in instructional technology; developing administrative automated systems; and supporting microcomputer software and hardware with training courses, software distribution, and assistance with problems. Until recently, UTCC had provided support to persons with a disability on an ad hoc basis. When an interactive voice response system for student registrations was installed in 1990, for example, systems development staff worked with the Bell Relay Service[3] to help ensure that deaf students using TDDs (telecommunications devices for the deaf) could access the system. A number of blind professors had also received help with computer-based adaptive tools. While there had been awareness within UTCC of the need to make systems and the technology accessible, and much personal good will, accommodations-related work had not been mandated or coordinated, and resources available within the division were largely untapped. The vice president of computing and communications had expressed a strong interest in the past in having UTCC provide a coordinated response to the needs of persons with a disability. Partly in order to advise the vice president on how to reply to requests for assistance from the Office of Special Services to Persons with a Disability, the UTCC planning group prepared a formal report on how the resources and services of UTCC could be effectively deployed for the benefit of persons with a disability. The report included recommendations on how to proceed. The planning study was carried out in a four-month period during the fall and winter of 1991/1992. Information on what services and facilities were needed was obtained in interviews with staff at Special Services. Additional insights and suggestions for potential new services or enhancements were gained from a wide variety of other sources both within and outside the University.EDUCOM's Project EASI (Equal Access to Software for Information) put a wealth of publications at our disposal and provided us with many contacts. We also spoke to representatives at a number of other universities including the University of California at Los Angeles, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and Southern Connecticut State University to determine what they had done in the area of adaptive information technology (IT). ********************************************************************** THE LEGAL CONTEXT In Canada there is no counterpart to the strong and comprehensive U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act; however, in Ontario, there are two pieces of applicable legislation. One is the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which enshrines equality rights in the Canadian constitution. The other is the Ontario Human Rights Code, a provincial code that mandates accessibility. The Code specifies that accommodations be made for persons with disabilities unless such accommodations would cause "undue hardship." The University would not be eligible to claim such hardship, nor would it likely seek this exemption. The guidelines for adhering to the Code include the following explanation of what is required. "Accommodation of needs includes, for example, making buildings and transportation accessible, making print information available in alternative formats such as tape or braille, translating auditory information into visual or providing special devices or supports so that the person with a disability will be able to function independently, and altering the ways in which tasks are accomplished in order to allow for a person's disability."[4] ********************************************************************** Collaboration with Special Services The primary source of information was the Office of Special Services to Persons with a Disability. At the University of Toronto, this office is headed by a director who reports to the assistant vice president of student affairs, who in turn reports to the provost. Although Special Services, staffed by approximately twenty people, serves all members of the University community who have a disability, it generally gives priority to students enrolled in credit courses. In fact, the complete funding for this office since 1989 has been from designated allotments from the provincial government that are intended to improve accessibility for students. The Province of Ontario makes annual (but not guaranteed) designated allotments of varying amounts to institutions of higher education. During 1991/92, for example, $901,153 in Canadian funds was allotted to the University of Toronto for this purpose. Most of the funds went to Special Services. During this period, staff at Special Services served approximately 730 students with a variety of disabilities, the most common of which was a learning disability. Special Services estimated that there were approximately thirty employees with a disability who had sought help from the department during the same period. According to statistics provided by the University's Employment Equity Coordinator, a total of 322 employees had voluntarily identified themselves as having a disability as of April 30, 1992. The low number of employees with a disability who had asked for help was due in part to the fact that Special Services, because of the nature of its funding, served students primarily. A collection of computer-based assistive devices was managed by Special Services, but at widely scattered sites across the three campuses. Some of these devices were available for on-site use, some for loan. At Robarts Library, for example, especially equipped computers and other information technology devices were inside four study carrels in locked cubicles. Unfortunately, those wishing to use the equipment needed to arrange in advance to use a carrel, and then use it in isolation. The equipment was constrained by the small space, and the built-in tables were not adjustable. Moreover, there was no ongoing technical support at any of the sites for those who might require assistance while they were using the adaptive equipment. Special Services hired an established specialist in the field of adaptive equipment on a contractual basis to work two days per week to provide technical support for the equipment, and to work with individuals needing assessments, recommendations, and training for appropriate devices. The director of Special Services was interested in a collaborative arrangement between her department and UTCC to provide more extensive support. Special Services had used some of the designated allotment from the province to help fund a full-time career counselor in the Career Centre who was a specialist in services for students with a disability. Special Services wished to investigate a similar arrangement with UTCC. How we could put IT to work The planning report identified how information technology could address the needs of persons with a disability at the University. We determined that opportunities existed for information technology to be used in at least the following ways. * IT could provide alternative access to institutional information Students, faculty, and staff with a print handicap--those with visual impairments, poor upper limb dexterity, or a learning disability--often had difficulty using printed institutional information. This material could be provided in alternative forms such as in ASCII files on diskettes, on a voice-mail bulletin board system, or on an online campus-wide information system. Persons with mobility impairments who could access the information from a home computer or a public workstation would benefit from more convenient information delivery, and those with visual impairments could make use of microcomputer adaptive tools such as speech synthesizers and on-screen magnifiers. Some of the institutional information for which alternative means of access could be provided were: * program calendars (catalogues), * course, exam, and fee schedules, * important announcements such as deadlines for dropping courses without penalty, * Career Centre job postings, * University job postings, * staff policies, * admissions-related information for applicants, * public relations information for the general public, and * important institutional announcements. * IT could provide enhanced access to instruction UTCC could provide support to those faculty members who expressed a wish to have their students receive and submit assignments online via the communications network. This use of online facilities would enormously benefit students with a variety of disabilities (e.g., visual, hearing, or mobility). Needless to say, other students would benefit as well. As part of our support for instructional technology, UTCC could help those faculty members who wanted to develop courseware for their students to incorporate accessibility considerations in their instructional software. * IT could enhance access to institutional computing facilities and applications UTCC manages several student computer labs, and assists with the planning and implementation of new ones. Some labs were not completely accessible to persons with a disability for a variety of reasons, including narrow doorways, non-adjustable tables, the absence of microcomputer-based assistive software, and poorly accessible documentation in print form. In consultation with Special Services, UTCC could work to help enhance existing labs where possible, and develop procedures and policies to help ensure the accessibility of future ones. Computer systems and hardware needed by academic and administrative employees to fulfill their job responsibilities could pose special problems for some persons with a disability. Employees might have difficulties with keyboards, mice, screen displays, and audible signals issued by computers. Moreover, adaptive technology tools based on personal computers, such as software to provide magnified displays, could not be used with the University's mainframe-based administrative applications. UTCC could address many of these human-computer interface problems within the context of delivering microcomputer-based services to University offices. In some cases relatively simple ergonomic adjustments would not only improve accessibility for persons with a disability, but also prevent the development of work-related disabilities in others. The division could also undertake a project to make appropriate mainframe-based administrative applications compatible with microcomputer-based adaptive tools. * IT could be used as compensatory tools Information technology could be used in many ways to compensate for disabilities. For example, scanners could translate printed material into speech or into word processing files; laptop computers could be used to take notes for students or employees with a hearing (or other) impairment; word processors and spelling checkers could be used by students with a learning disability; and TDDs could be made available for persons unable to use the telephone. Although Special Services had a number of these tools for on-site use or loan to students, the technical support and the space available for them were highly inadequate. Moreover, the tools were primarily intended for students: departments with staff or faculty who had a disability needed to find their own sources of funding for adaptive devices.[5] There were no resources for assessing employee needs, demonstrating tools, and training individual employees in their use. Clearly, there was a need for much-improved facilities and support for compensatory tools. The voice communications department within UTCC could include assistive telephone devices (e.g., volume controls, keypads with enlarged keys and numbers, TDDs) in the set of telephone equipment for which it provided advice, training, and installation support. The education group within UTCC could offer word processing courses to students with learning disabilities, who would especially benefit from such software. * IT could help ensure equal access to library resources The library could be encouraged to obtain electronic versions of publications wherever possible. These versions could be more conveniently read by individuals with a print handicap. UTCC could work with the library to help ensure that the catalogue and other online library resources were accessible to all. Constraints Identifying what could be done was easier than determining how to proceed with an implementation plan. First of all, these initiatives would require a great deal of coordination across the UTCC departments that had responsibility for the affected areas. Secondly, collaboration with other University divisions would be necessary in order for us to be successful. We would need to work closely with Special Services, as well as with the human resources division, the library, and the provost's office. Thirdly, although the University was philosophically and strategically committed to integrated facilities for persons with a disability, the costs and logistics involved in retrofitting existing student computing labs in many cases would be formidable. Finally, the University was reeling from drastic cuts in operating funds from the government that made it difficult for us to consider initiatives that would require hiring new staff. Instead, we were being asked to restructure the division in order to carry out our mission with reduced resources. Action plan After considering the opportunities along with the constraints, we came up with the following action plan which was put to the vice president of computing and communications as a set of recommendations. Recommendation #1: That UTCC support an adaptive technology lab containing adaptive information technology equipment and software. The lab would be in facilities appropriate for demonstrations, training, loans, and on-site use of the equipment and software. It would be not only at the disposal of students, but also, with the collaboration of the human resources division, at the disposal of faculty and staff. There would be many potential opportunities for synergy with other groups at the University (and the external community) including: * academic departments at the University wishing to develop or evaluate new adaptive tools, or to use the lab for student field work; * the Career Centre which might wish to use the lab to demonstrate adaptive tools to potential employers; and * developers of information technology equipment and applications who might need to use the lab's facilities to ensure that their products were compatible with adaptive devices and software. We were impressed by the model of the adaptive technology labs at the University of California at Los Angeles and at Southern Connecticut State University. The lab at UCLA demonstrated that an enormous impact could be made with a very small space and a dedicated coordinator. The lab at Southern Connecticut was of special interest because of its strong outreach and training program for external professionals, agencies, and corporations. The lab would allow us to work toward integrated facilities in the long term while providing much-needed facilities and services now. It would provide a means for demonstrating adaptive technologies that could then ideally be placed in regular (mainstream) settings. However, in those cases where costs or logistics made integrated adapted facilities unfeasible, the tools would still be available for use at the lab. Recommendation #2: That the liaison between Special Services and UTCC be formalized and strengthened to ensure that UTCC effectively responded on an ongoing basis to the opportunities identified in the report, and to additional ones as they arose. To this end, it was proposed that a position be established within UTCC to provide a focus both for liaison between UTCC and Special Services and for support of the adaptive technology lab. It was apparent that the large number of opportunities for putting information technology to work for persons with a disability would, at least initially, require strong coordination. Moreover, a permanently proactive stance would be required to ensure that the needs of persons with a disability were not forgotten during the introduction of new applications of information technology. We were reminded of Gregg Vanderheiden's warning: "While the computer is advancing handicapped individuals two steps through the use of special programs designed for handicapped individuals, the computer is advancing everyone else in society five steps. Moreover, the five steps are being designed in such a way that the handicapped individual cannot take advantage of them, thus leaving them actually three steps behind in the net results."[6] What we needed was a staff person who would help ensure that information technology enabled all members of the University to move ahead those five steps. We debated the relative merits of situating the staff person within UTCC or within Special Services. We found that at other institutions we investigated, having a staff person located within the computing and communications group was considered of crucial importance to the success of the program. Moreover, Special Services had successfully used a similar model in funding a career counselor within the Career Centre who was a specialist in student services for persons with a disability. We decided that the strong commitment we wanted to give to this program could be better served by a model that placed a full-time adaptive technology specialist within the UTCC organization. We were concerned that the provincial grants given to Special Services could not be relied upon for the long term. However, to get the program moving as soon as possible, we were prepared to at least establish the position with the help of such funding. If the funds were discontinued, and the UTCC staff position had proved valuable, we hoped that a way would be found to continue it. Recommendation #3: That a campus-wide online information system be investigated. The system would post information of benefit to all students, but with information posted in a pilot stage of the project favoring those with a disability. In later stages, the system could be extended to include information useful to all employees, to applicants, and to the general public. Such a system would require collaboration with many groups in addition to Special Services, including the library, provost's office, human resources division, the providers of the information, and students. Current status As a result of the recommendations in the planning report, a number of developments were set in motion. * Adaptive technology support was explicitly included in the mandate of a restructured UTCC In the fall of 1992, the division reorganized in response to budget cuts and a need, with reduced resources, to take a more focused approach to the services we offered. The planning report had convinced the vice president that support for adaptive technologies should indeed be part of our mandate. A new department, Instructional and Research Computing, formed from existing units, was given explicit responsibility for this new service as part of its overall role. * Detailed planning for an adaptive technology lab commenced A task force was set up to develop a proposal for an adaptive technology lab. The task force was chaired by the director of Special Services, and was composed of representatives from the provost's office, the human resources division, and UTCC. An appropriate site was identified in Robarts Library, and the library became a new and welcome collaborator in the undertaking. A proposal to renovate the library's space for a lab received approval in principle from the University's Accommodations and Facilities Directorate in early 1993. This approval meant that the renovation of an appropriate space will be on the list of projects for which funds will be allocated as they become available during 1994/95. Plans are also under way to collect within the lab not only those tools already owned by Special Services, but also new ones that will be provided by gifts-in-kind or through donations. UTCC has a working relationship with several vendors of information technology equipment, and is actively seeking contributions for the lab from many of them. * A job description for a staff member working within UTCC and responsible for adaptive technology support was developed and posted The position will be funded in part by Special Services using a portion of the annual provincial government's allotment intended to improve accessibility for students. Additional support is being sought. The adaptive technology specialist will work from within the instructional and research computing department of UTCC. The incumbent will have direct access to the expertise and resources of the division, and will be in an excellent position to influence their deployment. The job description for the UTCC position was developed in tandem with a new job description for an adaptive technology coordinator who will work out of Special Services. The UTCC position is full-time, the Special Services position 50 percent of full-time. Both are contractual positions (at least for the initial development stage) for the same term, and were advertised at the same time in April of 1993. We expect that the job descriptions will evolve as the incumbents work together to carry out their functions. The Special Services adaptive technology coordinator will be the first point of contact for those at the University needing information- technology-based adaptive services. The responsibilities of the UTCC adaptive technology specialist will include the coordination of UTCC services for persons with disabilities, making equipment and software available, demonstrating it, and training persons on it. Both incumbents will be involved in the support of the adaptive technology lab. The UTCC specialist will also help develop UTCC and University-wide guidelines related to access to information technology resources, and generally help to ensure through a variety of means that persons with a disability can use information technology to move ahead the five steps to which Vanderheiden refers. The recommendation to investigate a campus-wide information system has not yet been acted upon. Once the UTCC adaptive technology specialist is appointed, we expect to further look into this recommendation. In the meantime, the division is directing its efforts to extending and improving the campus backbone networks to facilitate the many services that depend on, or are enhanced by, networking. Lessons Although we are now just positioning ourselves to better serve persons with a disability through information technology, we believe that we are moving ahead in the right direction. What were some of the lessons that we learned? First, collaboration was the key. Both UTCC and Special Services had facilities and expertise that could not independently address the problems that existed. Together, and with the further support of the human resources division, the provost's office, and the library, we could properly do so. Second, we learned that there was a great deal indeed that could be done using information technology, in many cases within the existing framework of computing and communications service delivery. For example, we were already supporting instructional technology, voice communications, and microcomputer hardware and software. With improved awareness of the problems and the possibilities, we could enrich those services to include the needs of all. Finally, we found that we needed patience and persistence. Collaboration across divisional lines in a complex university environment such as that at the University of Toronto, while enormously beneficial, takes time. We needed to allow time for negotiations, even with willing participants, and time for all the necessary ingredients--space, funds, staff, and policies--to be assembled. We had much in our favor. We had a vice president who was highly committed to providing improved support to persons with a disability. We had a collegial and cooperative working relationship with the other stakeholders in the initiative. We had special government funding to help smooth the way. And we had a great deal of enthusiasm and personal good will for a project for which the time had obviously come. For further reading: Berliss, Jane. Checklists for Implementing Accessibility in Computer Laboratories at Colleges and Universities. Madison, Wisc.: University of Wisconsin, 1990. Biderman, Beverly. Report on Technology-Based Services to Persons with Disabilities, University of Toronto, 1992. Available through the CAUSE Exchange Library as CSD-0647 (29 pages, $5.80 to cover reproduction and handling). Send e-mail to orders@CAUSE.colorado.edu or call 303-449- 4430. Computers and Students with Disabilities: New Challenges for Higher Education. EDUCOM's Project EASI, 1991. Available through the CAUSE Exchange Library as CSD-0642 (41 pages, $8.20 to cover reproduction and handling). Call 303-449-4430 or e-mail orders@CAUSE.colorado.edu. Or contact Project EASI for this and other reports, kits, and publications on computers and disabilities in higher education. The Project EASI electronic mail addresses are EASI@educom (BITNET) or EASI@educom.edu (Internet). Phone 310-640-3193. Heinsich, Barbara Shiller. "Establishing an Adaptive Technology Laboratory in a University Setting." Technology and Disability 1:1 (1992): 47-54. ********************************************************************** Number of Students Receiving Services from the Office of Special Services to Persons with a Disability (1991/92) Nature of Disability: Students Served: Learning Disability 334 Visual Impairment 44 Hearing Impairment and Deafness 46 Mobility Impairment 90 Medical Impairment 96 Functional Impairment 79 Speech Impairment 3 Head Injury 26 Other 49 Total: 767 Total Number of Students: 730* *The discrepancy between the Total and the Total Number of Students is due to some students being counted more than once if they had more than one disability and/or were served at more than one campus. ********************************************************************** (Photo caption) University of Toronto student David Condie, on the left, works on an assignment with his intervenor (interpreter) Dawn White. David, who is profoundly deaf and legally blind, is the winner of an award for academic achievement under severe hardship. The University has provided him with a computer adapted with a speech recognition system, screen magnifying software, and a large monitor. ====================================================================== Footnotes: 1 The University of Toronto, in the province of Ontario, is Canada's largest university, with 53,000 students and 11,000 faculty and staff. It is publicly funded, and manages operating and research budgets totaling $564 million and $210 million in Canadian funds, respectively. The library at the University of Toronto is rated among the top six research libraries in North America. 2 The University boasts sixty-six doctoral programs, fourteen professional faculties, and affiliations with thirteen teaching hospitals. At the University's department of rehabilitation engineering, for example, individuals from the disciplines of rehabilitation medicine, engineering, and computer science collaborate on many projects for the benefit of physically disabled persons. Members of the University community also work with the world famous Hugh MacMillan Rehabilitation Centre in Toronto in such areas as robotics, prosthetics, cognitive development, and computer access. 3 The Bell Relay is a service offered by Bell Canada to relay calls between TDD users and voice phone users. 4 Guidelines for Assessing Accommodation Requirements for Persons with Disabilities (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Ontario Human Rights Commission, 1989), p. 3. 5 Since the UTCC report was published, a task force sponsored by the human resources division to examine accommodations for employees with disabilities has recommended that compensatory tools be paid for out of a central pool of funds for this purpose. The task force also endorsed human resources' support for the adaptive technology lab that had been recommended in the UTCC report. 6 Gregg Vanderheiden, as quoted in Computers and Students with Disabilities: New Challenges for Higher Education, a report of EDUCOM's Project EASI, 1991, p. 5. ********************************************************************** Beverly Biderman is an applications planning analyst at the University of Toronto. She has been with the planning and education department of Computing and Communications at the University since November 1990. Prior to that she had worked in the admissions office as well as the systems development group. She has worked and published in the computing field for the past twenty years, and holds a degree in sociology from York University in Toronto. Adaptive information technology holds a special interest for her as she herself is hearing impaired. **********************************************************************