I'm speaking here as an LIS faculty member who recently submitted an
article to the ALISE journal based on a survey I conducted of ALA-accredited
LIS programs. It's now in the review process. It was discouraging to see how
few LIS programs assure that all their graduates are exposed to the basics
of ADA, library services for people with disabilities, and adaptive
technology (including accessible web pages).
    As I said in that article, 20+ years ago I attended a workshop sponsored
by Gerald Jahoda at FSU. At that conference, we concluded that what LIS
programs needed was NOT a course on services to people with disabilities.
What we needed was to have the topics covered in all the required courses,
as well as in relevant electives. The idea was to provide examples and
discussion as a regular part of the other courses. Specialized courses are
appropriate and useful, then, for those who seek out more depth.
Unfortunately, this idea does not seem to be a part of most LIS programs
today. I feel fortunate in that I teach a required course (information
sources and services) in which I can talk about these topics. Our faculty
who teach the required and elective technology courses incorporate
accessibility into their teaching, and I'm sometimes invited to talk in
other required courses and electives. I manage to work the topics into all
the electives I teach (humanities information sources and services, academic
library administration, popular materials for adults, and diversity in
libraries). A number of other faculty do as well. I occasionally get to
teach a course on materials for children with disabilities, but I really do
believe that the most effective way is to educate and "sensitize" LIS
faculty so that they will incorporate these issues in whatever courses they
teach. Unfortunately, at ALISE meetings we find ourselves "preaching to the
choir," but we need to keep pressing our message!  Linda

Linda Lucas Walling
College of Library and Information Science
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
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Phone: 803-777-2298
Web page: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/linda/walling.htm