This month’s topic is was on adaptive technology for students of the University of Utah, and was provided by Scott M. McAward, Ph.D., the Director of the Center for Disability Services (CDS). McAward pointed out that technology can benefit all users – students, faculty, and staff. However, technology is not always accessible or adaptive for all.

McAward presented a chart showing the number of different disabilities they assist with, along with the percentage of students with disabilities involved. The CDS serves students at all levels and disciplines, and tracks 13 broad categories of disabilities. They have seen this population increase by 26% over the last five years, and they expect a larger group of veterans to be returning to campus in the future. Well over half of the students they assist have disabilities that are invisible — cognitive, psychological, etc.

The CDS provides adaptive and accessible software and technology to students with disabilities. These include providing interpreters and notetakers for students, changing and holding (restricting) classrooms to accessible locations, and providing computers with adaptive technology such as screen readers, text-enlargement, etc. McAward went on to demonstrate several types of software and hardware, including a pen that records what the presenter says as you take notes, and which can be played back when you are reviewing your notes.

MacAward ended his talk with a “What you can do” list of steps and actions that we, as academic professionals, can take to support students with disabilities:

• Become familiar with adaptive technology; an ongoing process.
• Install adaptive software in labs.
• Be able to teach/demonstrate t someone else how to use adaptive tech
• Begin with accessibility in mind (electronic content).
• Pay attention to closed captioning.
• Consult with other professionals.

Our speaker will be Scott M. McAward, Ph.D., the Director of the Center for Disability Services (CDS) and a Licensed Psychologist. At the University of Utah, CDS serves approximately 1,100 students with disabilities each academic year and is responsible for approving accommodations and providing adaptive software.

LIFT Forum details:

• Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
• Time: 12:05 p.m. – 1 p.m.
• Location: Health Sciences Education Building, Room 3515-B
• Contact: Jeanne Le Ber, 801-585-6744

This event is open to the public, and light refreshments will be served.

• When: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
• Time: 12:05 – 1:00 pm.
• Where: HSEB 3515B

See you then!

Enter the “bookmarklet” Web 2.0 application Readability from Arc90 Lab. A “bookmarklet” is a small application that you can install in your web browser to use on an as-need basis. Reviewed in the January 2010 issue of Macworld, Readability

“is a bookmarklet-based browser tool that reformats a Web page and presents the page’s text content in a plain, easy-to-read format. Inspired by Instapaper, the save-it-for-later-reading Web service, Readability lets you make almost any page more readable with a single click—or even a keyboard shortcut.”

Written for the Safari and Firefox browsers, users drag the free Readability button to their bookmark toolbar to install it. Clicking on the button from any web page removes the clutter around the content and presents text in a clean, easy-to-read format. While it occasionally misidentifies words and images as not part of article content, Readability is another free tool that individuals and libraries can use to make online content more accessible.