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From: ckrugman
Date: Sun, Sep 18 2011 12:39AM
Subject: Re: Are "options" for accessibility sake, discrimination or Universal Design?
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Actually, this should be discouraged at whatever cost from the standpoint of
what is actually in the best interest of the student. As a former disabled
student before and after the implementation of the ADA and accessible
services for disabled students doing too much of this actually does a
disservice to the student in that it creates a false expectation of what
will be done for the student when and if they get employed. Unfortunately, I
have seen students that were exempted from whatever and coddled through
their college career to such an extent that they were totally unprepared for
when they didn't have the college disabled students program to fall back on
when they were in the real world. This might sound like it is a good
intention but it might not always be in the best interest of the student.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ryan E. Benson" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 6:00 PM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Are "options" for accessibility sake, discrimination
or Universal Design?


> Karen,
>
> I have heard this discussion before. Usually the discussion is the
> student is supposed to watch something like a movie that is in an
> inaccessible player or something similar. Usually the instructor or TA
> sit down with the student and go through it. However your question is
> the other way around, can the student show their learning through
> other means than a 5 pg paper. My university laid down a rule saying
> professors cannot do this, because they would only do this for
> students with disabilities. Students without disabilities could
> technically sue the school (and/or professor - sorry I forget which)
> for giving preference. There is a school that allows this, I want to
> say Arizona State. If your team want to pursue this (which I support),
> you should talk to the teacher union for the school. They have to
> understand to legally do this they must allow the choice to all
> students. You should allow the instructor to pick what are good
> alternatives are because they know the subject matter is.
>
> Sorry I couldn't hit the nail on the head better, I haven't covered
> this topic in about 2 years.
>
> --
> Ryan E. Benson
>
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 10:17 PM, Karen Sorensen < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> wrote:
>> Hi -
>> We are working to implement accessibility guidelines for online classes
>> winter 2012. We have a committee of faculty, instructional support,
>> disability services, web services, distance learning and others helping
>> us
>> to figure out the best way to implement these guidelines. We ran into an
>> impasse today.
>>
>> The Quality Matters rubric from Maryland Online that we use to evaluate
>> online classes says
>> "The instructor provides documentation stating the degree of
>> accessibility
>> of any content, tools, and software used in the course. If any component
>> of
>> the course is inaccessible, instructions are provided on how to obtain
>> accommodation."
>>
>> The question and discussion that followed was whether an alternate
>> assignment would be considered a legal accommodation. There were some
>> strong
>> opinions on both sides. One side felt like that was good Universal Design
>> to
>> give the students a choice of assignments (some being accessible, others
>> not), the other side felt like if there was an accessible version why
>> wouldn't you just go with that.
>>
>> Anyone tackled this issue before? Have an opinion on the legalities of
>> it?
>>
>> --
>> Karen M. Sorensen
>> Instructional Technology Specialist
>> Accessibility Advocate for Online Courses
>> Portland Community College
>> 971-722-4720
>>