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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Hi Susan,</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I am having a great day in spite
of being called unprofessional for expressing my opinions. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> <SPAN class=000545620-15042008>In fact,
</SPAN></SPAN>I cannot restrain myself from offering more of the same. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">You seem to contradict yourself
below. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>On one hand, you said, “The
risks for not doing what needed to be done were far costlier than doing the
right thing to begin with.” <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Then,
on the other hand, you said, “access does not follow advocacy. Advocacy
has no place in it at all; we provide access regardless of the demand, and
regardless of the cost.”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">So you say there is a risk. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In your opinion, what exactly is that
risk? <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I am genuinely interested in
your saying more about the motivational factors involved<SPAN
class=000545620-15042008>. I am especially interested in your saying more
about the perceived disconnect between the risk and the access.</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Lastly, thank you for your
advocacy. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I am still not clear what
motivated your advocacy, but it certainly seems effective. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Without your advocacy or without the
advocacy of another, the students with disabilities on your campus surely would
not enjoy the access they have now. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
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size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN>Susan, advocacy has everything to do
with <SPAN class=000545620-15042008>access</SPAN><SPAN
class=000545620-15042008>. BTW, Premier still cannot replace the good
stuff, either. (grin)</SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV><!-- Converted from text/plain format --><BR><BR>
<P><FONT size=2>Jim Marks<BR>Director of Disability Services<BR>University of
Montana<BR>jim.marks@umontana.edu<BR><A
href="http://www.umt.edu/dss/">http://www.umt.edu/dss/</A><BR> </FONT> </P>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV><FONT face=Arial
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size=2></FONT><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> athen-bounces@athenpro.org
[mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Kelmer, Susan
M.<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, April 15, 2008 1:51 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Access
Technologists in Higher Education Network<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Athen] Screen
readers/other software<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">Since
you asked, Jim, and I’m just in that kind of mood right now (don’t ask me what
kind of day I’m having), the truth is, I’m defending all the “good” institutions
out there that are doing the right thing. It NEVER occurred to me when I
took this job nearly 8 years ago that we would offer only what we could get away
with. I came in this job and cleaned house. I completely rehabbed
the lab I was handed, which was woefully understaffed, underequipped,
underutilized, and misunderstood. I spent $400,00 the first year replacing
computers, printers, networking equipment, adaptive software, furniture, you
name it. It never occurred to me to find out what would barely meet the
needs of the students I serve. I bought what they needed and I never once
bowed my head and begged the Dean. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">You
see, my background is not academic or nonprofit. When I came in here, I came in
with a business attitude; I came in with facts and figures and risks and
advantages. When I spent $5000 to buy new licenses for Zoomtext and Jaws,
no one blinked. When I spent $35,000 on sound-reduced enclosed rooms for
students to use Dragon, no one blinked. When I sat my network technician
down a week after I arrived and showed him the schematics for rewiring the
entire network in my lab at a cost of about $30,000, he didn’t blink either.
Two years later when I started our fledgling alternate format initiative
and made a demand for equipment and staff, no one blinked. We just did
what needed to be done. The risks for not doing what needed to be done
were far costlier than doing the right thing to begin
with.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">I
do not, in my heart or in my experience, believe that many other campuses are
taking the attitude of “budget first,” when it comes to adaptive
technology. What I see are campuses making a choice to provide what is
needed for the students, from high end to low end. I see campuses making
cuts when they have to, and finding alternatives when they have to, but these
alternatives are rarely at the cost of removing higher-end solutions that are
already there. And certainly on this list, and others that I’m on, I do
not see people trying to “dumb down” the system and use what is cheap. In
fact, I’ve never seen a single one of the requests for information about
lower-end products that hit this list say “we’re going to replace Kurzweil 3000
with Premier Software’s Scan and Read.” I don’t see that in their
messages. I assume they are looking for alternatives because they’ve heard
that there are alternatives, and they want to know what’s out there.
I am not making the assumption that they are trying to cheap out,
and I think that is what bothers me so much about your posts. That is the
first thing you assume about them, and respond accordingly. It is
unprofessional and counterproductive, in my opinion, to be taking that stance
with every post about Premier that hits this list. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">In
the case of my campus, and in the case of many other campuses out there, access
does not follow advocacy. Advocacy has no place in it at all; we provide
access regardless of the demand, and regardless of the cost. We provide a
complete working environment for our students and our potential students.
There is, truly, no other way to do it. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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