On Monday, January 10 Dave Porter and I of Digit-Eyes: The Chicago blind
Computer User Network attended the Diversity and Access committee of the
Illinois Board of higher Education.  It was holding one hearing in Chicago
of several hearings statewide on approaches to access for people with
disabilities, among other topics.  Ironically enough, Dave and I were the
only people there with disabilities who did not represent or were
sponsored by a college.

Digit-Eyes member Sandra Saunders was there in her role as the disabled
student service coordinator of Chicago State University.  she was highly
articulate and had insightful and compelling comments.  Each speaker was
given only five minutes and not all ideas were explored with the necessary
depth.  I agreed to compose and file written comments, which are below.  A
30 page attachment documenting disability discrimination in 1996 and 1997
against vicug member Robbie Miller was included in the written submission
but is not attached here.  This is being shared here to aid other vicug's
in their efforts on improving services in their state and community.

kelly


Tuesday, 25 January 2000

Carol Guthrie
Illinois Board of Higher Education
431 E. Adams
Second  Floor
Springfield, Illinois 62701-1418


This is written testimony to the Illinois Board of Higher Education
Committee on Access and Diversity that supplements oral testimony
I provided on January 10 in Chicago.  I am the co-founder of Digit-
Eyes:  The Chicago Blind Computer User network.  We have more than
100 members and are the largest user group on assistive technology
in the United States.  The group has been in existence since 1994.
I also serve on Techwatch, a committee of the National Council on
Disability.  The Council is a federal agency that is charged with
developing policy and programs relating to people with
disabilities.

Information here is based on the experiences of our members who
have attended both four year institutions and community colleges.
Solutions to issues of technology and information access raised
here and elsewhere may require additional resource commitments.
However, more fundamentally and significantly are commitments that
enable the entire campus community to resolve access concerns and
support a diverse campus that includes people with disabilities.
It is this commitment to leadership and institutionalizing a long
term vision of access and diversity to all schools in Illinois that
will make the biggest overall impact.  It is clear that concerns of
information and technology are not being addressed in a way that
enables people with disabilities to participate independently in a
variety of areas of study.

Today the post secondary education environment is much different
from what it was as late as ten or even five years ago.  Textbooks
and course materials are changed yearly, if not every semester.
This means that a student who needs course materials in an
alternate format such as on cassette, in Braille, or in a digital
format that can be used with a talking computer, Braille display,
or large type, may likely not be able to reuse the same materials
used by a previous student in the class.  Use of technology in
higher education has increased dramatically in the past decade
where use of a computer and information technology is essential in
many classes and activities and for the attainment of a college
degree.  Yet, few institutions in this state have fully thought
through and developed adequate policies and programs for providing
access in today's technology rich environment with attendant issues
of complex communication.
One solution that could aid students with disabilities is
coordination of technology access and related services between
various departments and service units throughout institutions of
higher learning in Illinois.  There is a tendency to address
concerns of participation and access to programs by people with
disabilities through a centralized office or service system.
Access to technology requires a team approach where multiple
departments and service units across campus work cooperatively to
deliver an end result.  A single office or group of selected
professionals cannot adequately create this access by themselves.
The use of technology often extends to evenings and weekends and
reaches into libraries, computer labs, research centers,
departmental offices, and student organizations.  This makes
housing accessible information technology in a single centralized
place impractical and infeasible in many circumstances.  To create
such linkages and cross-campus ties, policies and an overall
administrative infrastructure need to be in place so that all
parties will understand their roles and responsibilities.  Often
access to technology has been delayed or denied because it was
unclear who was going to identify the need for the accommodation,
which department would pay for it, which staff would be used, and
where the equipment would go after it is no longer needed.  The
University of Illinois has developed such policies.  However, other
schools could benefit by understanding the reason for such policies
and the details of how technology access is achieved on various
campuses.

The lack of across-campus linkages often extends to faculty and
staff where a diffuse atmosphere may not exist to support or
deliver access and integration to programs.  Faculty and staff
often believe that they have little responsibility or role in
making the campus accessible and diverse.  Often there is little
leadership that encourages student-faculty collaboration to
cooperatively solve issues of access.  Sometimes instructors do not
understand the necessity to decide upon course materials months in
advance of the start of class.  It often takes a long lead time to
produce materials in an alternative format.  Some schools have a
system set up for producing these materials.  Others in the state
assert that it is a faculty member's academic freedom to decide
upon textbooks and other course materials on the first day of
class, ensuring that the print impaired student will never be able
to keep up with the class reading schedule because of the late
start.

The lack of coordination among departments on campuses regarding
access to technology and information extends to the state's college
and university system as a whole.  Often policies, procedures, and
solutions are developed from scratch when the particular issue or
problem may have been already addressed at another school but
officials may not have any knowledge of and familiarization with
other policies, programs, procedures, and approaches relating to
technology or information access at other state supported
institutions.  It is fairly common for one institution to have
dealt with some issue of technology while other schools are unaware
that a nearby school has addressed the same issue and unfamiliar on
who to contact at the neighboring institution.  Facilitating
statewide alliances among schools can do much to propagate winning
solutions and actually teach what works and why.  One role that the
Illinois Board of Higher Education can play is to ensure evenness
of access among schools.  Some schools have the resources to find
readers to read a computer science textbook while students in other
institutions are effectively denied access to certain majors or
fields of study because their school must rely upon volunteers who
are not knowledgeable in technology to produce textbooks in an
alternative format.  It is highly worthwhile to consider how
material in alternative formats can be produced effectively and in
a timely manner.  California has led the way on approaching this
issue.  California State University at Fullerton serves as a
regional site for producing materials in alternative formats for
public post-secondary institutions throughout southern California.
This approach supplements the work of not-for-profit organizations,
such as Recording for the Blind, and relieves pressures from local
disability student services offices to find qualified readers and
deliver materials in a timely manner.  It is a chronic challenge to
produce timely materials for math, engineering, science and
technology courses.  It is often necessary to hire readers who are
familiar enough with the field to read it effectively for the
student.  Often these materials need to be in a specialized format
such as Nemith code Braille or in Triangle, a format that provides
access to mathematical symbols in an ASCII computer file for non-
braille readers.  In addition to centralizing large-scale
alternative format production, the State of California also amended
its human rights act to require textbook publishers to supply a
digital copy to the State of California upon request.  As all
textbooks and written materials today are produced using a
computer, producing a digital version is not burdensome and pro-
actively creates access and significantly reduces the barriers
encountered by blind and learning disabled students.  The State of
California amended its human rights act to require that textbook
publishers provide a digital copy to the state upon request to
provide for the information access needs of students with
disabilities attending a state-supported post-secondary
institution.  In 1999, California because the first state to adopt
such a policy for students with disabilities in higher education.


Pro-active planning and consideration of access and accommodation
needs is important in general and essential to deliver access to
information and technology.  One example of the failure to use this
process is with the Illino is Virtual Campus, a distance learning
initiative that would allow students to take college courses at
home from their personal computers.  Our organization has not been
contacted about any issues relating to the project.  Additionally,
I am not aware that the distance learning initiative is taking
access considerations into its planning, software development,
content delivery, or procurement.  I am not aware of any decision
to even consider existing guidelines on access to distance learning
that have been jointly developed in other parts of the country with
technology specialists, administrators, faculty, and people with
disabilities themselves.  The same can be said with other
technology related efforts, such as upgrading new software or
establishing computer labs.  It is fairly common to find that
consideration of disability access has occurred when accessible
paths of travel have been mapped out for a computer lab or
technology space and that tables are high enough to accommodate a
wheelchair user.  However, it is quite typical that the information
technology environment cannot be used by someone who is blind or
learning disabled.  There is not an overall consideration of access
for all people with disabilities including those with print
impairments when planning for new information technology.
Consideration at the beginning can avoid technology
incompatibilities and conflicts and costly retrofitting later.

Concerns of access to certain majors and fields of study for blind
students in post-secondary institutions in Illinois came to our
attention in 1997.  This is when an African American information
science student in the College of Business at the University of
Illinois at Chicago approached us for assistance and support.  We
assisted him in filing a civil rights complaint with the university
and word with the institution to provide access to computer labs,
computer classrooms, lectures, tests, and course materials as well
as develop policies on technology and information access.  We have
enclosed these materials.

Access to information and technology requires an interactive
process between people with disabilities, service providers, and
service units on campus where expertise and resources are shared
among individuals and pooled between campuses.  Full integration
into today's technology intensive knowledge environment requires
long range advance planning both in higher education technology
projects and in the student's own college career.  Together, we can
create a successful technology and information access strategy that
ensures access at all state supported institutions throughout
Illinois.

Respectfully,





Kelly Pierce


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