[Athen] Working with ICL staff

ron at ahead.org ron at ahead.org
Tue Sep 18 15:18:47 PDT 2007


Greetings

While Bob was less than tactful in his reply, but as usual there is some =
insight in his reply. I will attribute that to the fact that he has actu=
aly has never worked as a campus AT person and has no idea of the politic=
al quandry you are finding yourself in. =20

My first piece of advice is to document everything, and at this point mak=
e sure all your communications are in writting in regards to this issue. =
I have dealt with this on a number of occasions, as a campus AT person a=
nd in my work consulting with too many insitutions to count. Unfortunate=
ly this senario is way to common across the country and is often the resu=
lt of an IT ignorant adminstration. My favorite csae was the institution=
that had a CIO that was answerable to no one, I like to refer to him as =
the little king, a legend in his own mind. Things did not change there u=
ntil he left, but once he did a lot of technology progress was made that =
he had sat of for a number of years. Another is the lab staff that delib=
erately broke the AT every time we fixed it because the student using tha=
t particular lab was really a pain in the rear.

In his reply Bob is really getting to the heart of it. This is that beca=
use of the unworkable way in which your IT folks are managing their syste=
ms they are descriminating against students with disablities by not provi=
ding equal and equivelent access to the IT facilities of your campus. Wo=
rse is the fact that your campus owns the AT necessary to provide access =
but because of draconian and counterproductive IT policies it is not perf=
orming as designed or intended.

It may take a complaint to solve this, and a little quite incouragement m=
ay bein order. From your position I would carefully document the specifi=
c issues at hand, what has been done to resolve them, and what the impact=
of this has been on the access issues for your students with disablities=
. This information should be passed up your chain of command and also pr=
ovided to the Director of the ILC. That may be all you can do, and then =
resolve yourself to the situation at hand, or start looking for employmen=
t elsewhere.

If you would like to discuss this off line, I would be more than happy to.

Ron Stewart


On Sep 18 16:37, "Robert Martinengo" <accessible.text at gmail.com> wrote:

>

> Subject: Re: [Athen] Working with ICL staff

>

> Larry,

>=20

> Just an opinion here, but it sounds like your administration is coming

> from a place of fear, so rational arguments will only take you so far.

> What will really shake their attitude is if they fear something else

> even more, such as a discrimination lawsuit. Short of that, you will

> be playing catchup for a long time.

>=20

> Bob Martinengo

>=20

> On 9/18/07, Larry Kiser <larry.kiser at sfcc.edu> wrote:

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Folks:

> >

> >

> >

> > Due to losing an AT person over a year ago, budget cuts and a freeze =

on

> > hiring at our institution I took on the responsibility of overseeing =

our

> > Adaptive Technologies Lab and institution=96wide adaptive workstation=

s just

> > before the start of the Fall Semester 2007. Besides our main campus =

we have

> > four other centers. When our AT staff member left the lab and other

> > workstations were somewhat neglected but continued to operate. For e=

xample

> > the Instructional Computer Lab techs held our copies of Kurzweil vers=

ion 10

> > for almost a year and only since I took over has it been installed. =

The

> > problems are numerous and I seek some guidance.

> >

> >

> >

> > The last AT staff member had administrative rights to install softwar=

e and

> > updates at all locations and conduct operational checks. According t=

o the

> > ICL techs in order to maintain "security and stability of computers" =

no one

> > except ICL techs will have administrative rights. Our administration

> > supports this restriction. That would not be a problem but for the f=

act

> > when ICL techs install software they do not conduct operational check=

s. If

> > I am informed that computers with adaptive technologies are back in t=

he labs

> > etc I find that most of the software is not useable. In August I inf=

ormed

> > ICL and network staff that Kurzweil 3000 had a 10.04 update. They co=

ntinue

> > to install version 10.00 only and consequently the audio output does =

not

> > function correctly. We have ZoomText version 8.0. the most recent up=

date

> > for that version corrects "crashes" when the reading features are act=

ivated

> > with Word 2007. ICL continues to install ZT without the proper updat=

e.

> >

> >

> >

> > ICL staff members I need to deal with insist they cannot install even=

JAWS

> > or ZoomText icons on the desktop or start menu due to security protoc=

ols.

> > This hinders our low vision students' access. I have expressed conce=

rns

> > about ensuring accessibility, as well as enhancing retention and acad=

emic

> > progress of students with disabilities. I have been told ICL will no=

t

> > install software updates unless a computer quits working and needs to=

be

> > ghosted. An ICL staff member expressed the feeling that adaptive sof=

tware

> > was only meant for home computers and not a secure network environmen=

t. It

> > has been suggested to me that students should bring their own compute=

rs to

> > school rather than expect that adaptive software will work on institu=

tional

> > computers or that AT computer workstations should be off the network =

with

> > the expectation they will not be well maintained.

> >

> >

> >

> > Over the years our institution has moved heavily toward the use of

> > information and communication technology. Our department matched tha=

t trend

> > in the purchase of a wide array of adaptive software and hardware. N=

ow due

> > to security measures students with disabilities are in danger of bein=

g

> > relegated to the technological backwaters. The administration suppor=

ts the

> > security protocols because a rash of viruses two years ago shut down =

the

> > network at a critical time. The ICL department wants our department =

to be

> > responsible for the licenses but not the installs. Do you have any

> > suggestions?

> >

> >

> >

> > Larry Kiser, Counselor

> >

> > Disabilities Resource Center

> >

> > Santa Fe Community College

> >

> > Gainesville, FL

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > _______________________________________________

> > Athen mailing list

> > Athen at athenpro.org

> > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org

> >

> >

>=20

> _______________________________________________

> Athen mailing list

> Athen at athenpro.org

> http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org

>=20

>=20





More information about the athen-list mailing list