[Athen] Accessibility vs Accommodation - what is acceptable?

[Poore-Pariseau, Cindy]

Another thing to consider in terms of how the data is used, is how to ensure that readers understand that numbers do not tell the whole story.  For example, 1 student who is blind or D/HH could be equivalent (in work load) to 10 students with ADHD.

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Heidi Scher
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 11:01 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] Accessibility vs Accommodation - what is acceptable?

Hello!

You've asked very good questions and have definitely put thought into them.  I would like to offer the following viewpoint. The goal of accommodations is to remove barriers that a student may encounter in a course. To that end, faculty (or instructional designers) do not typically need to know the specific disability when they are notified that accommodations are needed. Faculty DO need to know what accommodations will alleviate barriers for a student, and then assistance on how to achieve that goal.

In regards to reporting, one thing to be cautious about data is that is does not include any which could be used to identify a specific student. This is especially true if the data will be shared with entities outside of your immediate office. It truly does depend on the goals for data collection and interpretation.

Kind regards,

Heidi

+++++++++++++++
Heidi Scher, M.S., CRC
Associate Director - Assistive Technology --- Center for Educational Access
University of Arkansas --- 209 ARKU --- Fayetteville, AR 72701
479.575.3104 ph --- 479.575.7445 fax --- 479.575.3646 tdd
+++++++++++++++





+++++++++++++++
Heidi Scher, M.S., CRC
Associate Director
Center for Educational Access
University of Arkansas
ARKU 209
Fayetteville, AR 72701
479.575.3104
479.575.7445 fax
479.575.3646 tdd
+++++++++++++++

On Tue, Nov 22, 2016 at 8:42 AM, Preast, Vanessa <vanessa.preast at dmu.edu<mailto:vanessa.preast at dmu.edu>> wrote:
Thank you very much.  It sounds like we have a great deal of flexibility to share compiled (de-identified) data about accommodations with instructors and other areas on campus, especially if our intention is to be proactive and supportive in making content accessible.

I do not want to violate any laws or students’ rights. I do want to make recommendations to the institution that would allow us to prioritize our initial accessibility efforts & resources by identifying our highest need areas and making those areas accessible first. Thus it is helpful to know what information we can share with whom.

Thanks,
Vanessa


From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu>] On Behalf Of Lissner, Scott
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2016 10:52 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Accessibility vs Accommodation - what is acceptable?


Vanessa asks:


•         Would it be allowable for an institution to write in reports that they had X number of students with Y and Z types of disabilities and requests for accommodations of types A, B, C within Program F?



o   For example, perhaps a report might state that the underwater basket weaving program had 10 students with learning disabilities who are allowed extra time on tests.

o   If the individual students are not identified, is the institution allowed to report on the statistics related to the number and type of disabilities and the types of accommodations used?



Nothing in the ADA or Section 504 of the Rehab Act prohibit reporting. If the goal is resource planning (say space and proctoring resources for accommodated testing) it would be a good thing. If it were used to decide to change the program standards or policies because we have "too many of those students"; you might have a problem. We use aggregated data on race, gender, .... its not the data but what you do with it.





•         Is it allowable to send an instructor a letter indicating that a student with X type of disability will be in his/her course next semester and that the instructor is strongly advised to work with the accessibility team to make the course content accessible so it meets the needs for the student with disabilities as well as benefits all students in the class?



o   For example, a student may need an accommodation related to captioning an instructor-generated video or ensuring the instructor-created Word/PDF documents are accessible via screen-reader. Can we help the instructor make captioned videos or digitally accessible documents available for the entire class, including the student who needs them as an accommodation?  Does this somehow violate any rules or student rights, especially if there are no copyright concerns?



Without  spending time  on why waiting until you have an identified need is not a good idea. The only thing wrong with your hypothetical is "strongly advising" the instructor to do this rather than requiring it





•         Is the group that helps students identify accommodations allowed to tell the course accessibility people that a certain course has an un-named student with X type of disability so that this team can reach out to the instructor to make the course more accessible? (What information, if any, can the student disability team share with the course accessibility team?)



Yes, again it can be done well or poorly.


•         Is it acceptable for a report to indicate how the accessibility remediation efforts related to the types of disabilities common at the institution?

o   Could an institution say Program Z focused on X or Y accessibility remediations because they knew we had students with A or B disabilities? (The Underwater Basket-weaving program focused first on improving color contrast, font, and size in their documents because they knew they had students with color vision deficiency and low vision enrolled in the program.)



Similar to my answer above but I am not what useful purpose the information above serves

If there are resources that explain this sort of stuff in a brief and clear manner, please let me know where I should look.

Try the AHEAD conference this summer.

Thanks,
Vanessa
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Bristol Community College
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