Universal
Access
Tools
for Schools
Making Media Center Resources Accessible to ALL Students
Florida's Sunshine State Standards and the Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning (AASL & AECT) demand that today's media centers offer students opportunities to develop skills in accessing and using information. As students work to complete classroom assignments or prepare research projects, they have at their fingertips a vast array of resources. In addition to the traditional print materials, digital resources offer students information that is unprecedented in speed of access, quantity, and variety. It is critical that ALL students have access to these resources. As more information is delivered using computer and network technologies, media centers play an increasingly important role in ensuring that ALL students access and use a variety of digital media such as the Internet, information services, and other information resources.
Universal Access
In making digital resources accessible to ALL, media specialists should consider the principles of universal design. The term for designing buildings from the beginning for multiple purposes and multiple users is "universal design." You have only to look around a new school building to see that the plans definitely incorporate the concept of universal design--ramps instead of stairs, elevators in addition to stairs, and lever handles in place of doorknobs. Architects create spaces that are usable by every student, hence UNIVERSAL ACCESS.
Universal design principles suggest that rather than designing the media center services and facility for the average user, design instead for students with a broad range of abilities and disabilities. Media centers serve ALL students including students with learning disabilities and visual, speech, hearing and mobility impairments.
Universal design, as it is applied to media centers, suggests that resources be flexible, customizable, and exist in a variety of forms. Most media resources are inflexible and single-form. Like stairs in a building, they offer access for some students and create barriers for others. Encyclopedias provided in standard print formats are inaccessible to students who are blind and present barriers to students with low reading skills or to students for whom English is a second language. The same materials in a universally designed digital form can offer options for different learners. The materials can be read aloud by a computer or screen reader, printed on a braille printer, offered in spoken or written translation, and/or presented with highlighted main points and organizational supports. Digital media can empower individu-als in ways not otherwise possible.
Universal access ultimately benefits ALL students. A classic example often cited is the "curb cut." Originally designed so that those in wheelchairs could negotiate curbs, "curb cuts" ease travel for people pushing carriages, riding skate-boards, and walking with canes as well as the average walker. Similarly, making digital information available for students with learning difficulties inevitably leads to increased usability for everyone.
Media centers can accommodate ALL students through the establishment of a "universal access station" equipped with appropriate technology that allows the majority of students with accessibility issues to gain access to media center resources.
New information about brain research and cognitive learning theory combined with high-speed, net-worked computers is presenting media specialists with opportunities never before possible. And, as with most technological advances, there are challenges.
Legal Issues
- Are the media center staff members aware of the legislation supporting the rights of students with learning difficulties?
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities. According to these laws, no otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall, solely by reason of his/her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity of public entity.
In general, "person with a disability" means "any person who has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities including walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment."
Access Issues
Media Center Environment
- Is access to the media center adequate for the students served?
- Are the circulation desk and book returns clearly marked and wheelchair accessible?
- Are there ample high-contrast, large print directional signs through out the media center?
- Are shelf and stack identifiers provided in large print and for Braille if visually impaired students are served?
- Are call numbers on book spines printed in large type?
- Is equipment marked with large print and/or Braille?
Media Center Services
- Does the media center have a designated staff member who coordinates services for exceptional students, monitors assistive technology, and responds to requests for accommodation?
- Does the media center have a written description of services for exceptional students including services available and how to request special accommodations?
- Does the media center advertise the services to both parents and students?
- Are large print and Braille versions of media center handouts and guides available if visually impaired students are served?
Assistive Technology for Students
The media center may not have special equipment on hand for every type of disability but should have equipment and software programs which support common special needs. These technologies may be used by many students in the school. It might be best to start with a few items initially and add new technology as students request it.
- Is there at least one adjustable table for each type of station in the library that will accommodate students with mobility impairments or who use wheelchairs?
- Are large print key labels available to assist students with low vision?
- Does the station have a large screen monitor (17-inch minimum) to assist students with low vision and learning disabilities?
- Is there a speech output system to be used by students with low vision, blindness, and learning disabilities?
- Is there a trackball for students who have difficulty controlling a mouse?
- Is a wrist rest or keyguard available to assist students with mobility impairments as needed?
Media Center Staff
- Are media specialists willing to make necessary adjustments in the media center, environment, staff, services, equipment, and digital resources in order to establish a universally accessible media center?
- Do they have the training, resources and support required to make necessary changes?
- Are media center staff members aware of characteristics and learning needs of the various exceptional students?
- Does the media center staff wear large print name badges?
- Are media center staff members trained in the use of:
- alternative access to computers (keyboards, trackballs, switches)
- talking word processors
- word prediction software
- presentation software
- software tools that support reading (speech synthesis/ screen review)
- scanners and OCR software for scanning in text
- student writing tools
- tools that support cognitive organization
- the Internet for curriculum purposes
- use of screen readers
- When students cannot access some digital resources, are the media center staff members prepared to assist them by providing research consultation or materials in other formats?
Digital Resources
It is essential that the media center's Internet and other digital resources are designed to be accessible to students with learning differences.
- Do digital resources with images and sound provide text alternatives? Is the design consistent with clear navigation paths?
- Can the media center's digital resources including online catalogs, indexes and full text databases, and CD-ROMs be accessed with a variety of assistive computer technologies such as screen readers and speech synthesis?
- Does the collection development policy specifically state that digital products should be evaluated for accessibility as part of the purchasing process?
- Do media center web page style guidelines require that pages be designed in an accessible format?
Helpful Communication Hints
- General Guidelines
- Ask the student if he/she needs help before helping.
- Talk directly to the student not through friends or companions.
- Refer to the student's learning difference only if it is relevant to the conversation.
- Visually Impaired
- Be descriptive with students with visual impairments. Say, "The computer is about three feet to your left," rather than, " The computer is over there." When guiding students with visual impairments, offer them your arm rather than grabbing or pushing them.
- Learning Disabled, Emotionally Handicapped, and Mentally Handicapped
- If asked, read instructions to students.
- Physically Impaired
- Try sitting in order to make level eye contact with students in wheelchairs when you interact.
- Speech and Language Impaired
- Listen carefully and ask students with speech impairments to repeat what they have said if you don't understand.
- Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing
- Face students with hearing impairments and speak clearly when you talk to them.
References
Making Library Resources Accessible to People with Disabilities. University of Washington: DO-IT, 1997. http://www.washington.edu/doit/
Stahl, Skip. Where the Ramps Should Lead: Universal Design in the Curriculum. [Online] Available http://www.cc.umb.edu/massact/ramps.html, February 10, 1999.
Summary of Universal Design Concepts Online] Available http://www.cast.org/strategies/curriculum_future.html, February 4, 1999.
Developed by LaNelle Netherton in cooperation with FDLRS/TECH (May, 1999)