[Pibe-division] US Dept of Justice's & US Dept of Education's New Accessi...

EricGuillory at aol.com EricGuillory at aol.com
Tue Aug 2 12:10:42 UTC 2011


 
Eric, 
As the newly-minted president of PIBE, I am very  interested in meaningful 
projects our division can undertake. The initiative to  increase awareness 
about these regulations sounds like something the Board and I  should 
consider strongly. It truly will take a grassroots effort, but, properly  
facilitated, I am confident that it can be done. Given the exponential  proliferation 
of technologies in our schools, it is indeed a must. I will be  convening 
the PIBE Board in approximately one week, and will put this before the  
members. 
Thank you for your steadfast attention to this pivotal  issue. 
Eric Guillory 


 
In a message dated 8/2/2011 1:24:46 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
pumpkinracer at gmail.com writes:

Dear  All, 
If  the school districts & those in charge of Special Ed (LEAs/SELPAs) 
aren't  aware, then the odds of compliance are very small. 
How  can awareness & compliance be facilitated? 
Is  anything being pursued at an organizational or National level? 
Eric
On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 11:08 AM, Dr. Denise M.  Robinson 
<_dmehlenbacher at yahoo.com_ (mailto:dmehlenbacher at yahoo.com) >  wrote:


 
Eric
Thank you for the info--this is wonderful. No, schools do not  know about 
this, as they are always shocked when I tell them about the laws  and now we 
have even higher standards--fantastic. I will be forwarding the  PDFs to 
them 

 
       Denise  

Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D. 
Teacher of the Blind & Visually  Impaired
TechVision-Independent Contractor
Specialist in blind programming/teaching/training
_509-674-1853_ (tel:509-674-1853)     _ deniserob at gmail.com_ 
(mailto:deniserob at gmail.com) 
 
_http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/_ 
(http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/) 
 



 

From: DrV  <_pumpkinracer at gmail.com_ (mailto:pumpkinracer at gmail.com) >
To: Professionals in Blindness  Education Division List 
<_pibe-division at nfbnet.org_ (mailto:pibe-division at nfbnet.org) >; 
_braille-n-teach at mlist.cde.ca.gov_ (mailto:braille-n-teach at mlist.cde.ca.gov) 
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 10:23  PM
Subject:  [Pibe-division] US Dept of Justice's & US Dept of Education's New 
 Accessible Technology Guidelines




Hi  All,
 
I sat down  & read through the documents & have to say "WOW!" Take the time 
to  read these eye-opening documents – especially the FAQ (Frequently Asked 
 Questions). What a powerful set of guidelines for students, parents, &  
TVIs!
 
The bar of  expectations set forth by the US Departments of Justice & 
Education  has been set surprisingly high! I would love to know whose input went 
into  composing the guidelines - for it looks like they did a Great  Job!
 
The FAQ is a  MUST Read - The statements of what is expected of school 
districts &  universities & the examples they use are very clear.
 
I have attached  PDFs of the 2 letters & of the FAQ & took the liberty of  
highlighting some points & examples (the links are at the end of this  if 
you want clean copies).
 
In summary, the  FAQ makes the following points:
 
Point #1: The  FAQ makes the point the Dear Colleague Letters do not impose 
new legal  obligations, but rather reflect long-standing law as it applies 
to new  technologies.
 
2. Does the DCL  apply in the context of students with other disabilities 
that affect the  ability to use printed materials?
Electronic Book  Reader vs. Audiobook Example: The school is replacing the 
history  textbooks with electronic book readers as the principal means of 
conveying  curriculum content, including all homework assignments. In this 
example,  the electronic book readers provide greater functionality than 
audiobooks  provide, with the result that an audiobook would not afford the 
benefits  of the educational program in an equally effective and equally 
integrated  manner. For this reason the school may not continue to rely on audiobooks 
 to provide equal access to the curriculum. (Presumably this would apply to 
 embossed books as well – ie: an embossed textbook or even electronic file  
of a textbook is not the same as an electronic book reader  file.)
 
3. Does the DCL  mean that schools cannot use emerging technology?
Answer: No. On  the contrary, the Department encourages schools to employ 
innovative  learning tools. The purpose of the DCL is to remind everyone that 
equal  access for students with disabilities is the law and must be 
considered as  new technology is integrated into the educational  environment.
 
4. Does the DCL  apply to elementary and secondary schools?
Answer:  Yes.
 
5. Does the DCL  apply to all school operations and all faculty and staff?
Answer: Yes -  all faculty and staff must comply with these requirements.
The law applies  to all faculty and staff - So, for example, if an adjunct 
faculty member  denies a student who is blind an equal opportunity to 
participate in a  course by assigning inaccessible course content, the school can 
be held  legally responsible for the faculty member's actions. Therefore, 
schools  should provide, and faculty and staff should participate in, 
professional  development about accessibility and emerging technology, and about the 
 role of faculty and staff in helping the school to comply with disability  
discrimination laws.
 
6. Does the DCL  apply beyond electronic book readers to other forms of 
emerging  technology?
Answer: Yes -  whether in a “brick and mortar,” online, or other “virtual”
 context - must  be operated in a manner that complies with Federal 
disability  discrimination laws.
 
7. Does the DCL  apply to … online content, such as online …. class  
assignments…?
Answer:  Yes
 
8. Does the DCL  apply to pilot programs … ?
Answer:  Yes
 
9. Does the DCL  apply when planning to use an emerging technology in a 
class or school  where no students with visual impairments are currently  
enrolled?
Answer: Yes -  the legal obligations described in the DCL always apply. 
Just as a school  system would not design a new school without addressing 
physical  accessibility, the implementation of an emerging technology should 
always  include planning for accessibility.
 
10. What  questions should a school ask in determining whether emerging 
technology  is accessible, or can be made accessible, to students with  
disabilities?
Answer: Schools  should begin by considering accessibility issues up front, 
when they are  deciding whether to create or acquire emerging technology 
and when they  are planning how the technology will be used. To that end, 
schools should  include accessibility requirements and analyses as part of their 
 acquisition procedures.
 
Example: A  school intends to establish a Web mail system so that students 
can:  communicate with each other and with faculty and staff; receive 
important  messages from the school (e.g., a message about a health or safety  
concern); and communicate with individuals outside the school. The school  must 
ensure that the educational benefits, services, and opportunities  provided 
to students through a Web mail system are provided in an equally  effective 
and equally integrated manner. Before deciding what system to  purchase, 
the school should make an initial inquiry into whether the  system is 
accessible to students who are blind or have low vision, e.g.,  whether the system 
is compatible with screen readers and whether it gives  users the option of 
using large fonts.
 
11. The DCL  states that where accessible technology is not available, a 
school can  comply with Section 504 and the ADA if it provides students with  
disabilities “accommodations or modifications that permit them to receive  
all the educational benefits provided by the technology in an equally  
effective and equally integrated manner.”
 
Example: A high  school teacher creates an online course that includes 
instruction, posting  of assignments and other course content, and a forum where 
students can  discuss their course work with the teacher and each other. 
The teacher  would like to incorporate video clips into the course, but is 
unable to  obtain the video clips with audio descriptions.  As a modification, 
the teacher creates separate audio descriptions for  each video clip that 
narrate what is taking place in the video, and places  them in a separate 
section of the online course. The online course  includes links that enable 
persons who use screen readers to bypass the  video clips completely and instead 
listen to the audio descriptions. Here,  the use of detailed audio 
descriptions that are a part of the online  course would provide students with 
disabilities access to the same  opportunities and benefits in an equally 
effective and equally integrated  manner.
 
In  short:
1.            Each teacher's  webpage, the assignments they post, & 
websites (including all video  materials) they suggest or require have to all be 
accessible.
2.           Calendar –  assignment – grade posting programs that 
schools/districts use, such as  Edline,  Grade Book Wizard, and others need to be  
fully accessible.
3.           If a teacher  refers students to textbook publisher websites 
the web-based materials  such as quizzes, study guides, and videos have to be 
fully  accessible.
 
The bar has  appropriately been set high by the US Dept of Justice & the US 
Dept of  Education.
I wonder how  many, if any, districts are truly in compliance with these  
guidelines?
What are VI  programs doing to ensure that district personal 
(superintendents,  principals, classroom teachers) are aware of the  requirements?
I'd love to  hear VI teacher input & VI program administrator on this  
topic.
Respectfully,
Eric  V
-----
1.            June 29, 2010  US Department of Education Dear Colleague 
letter: _www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-20100629.html_ 
(http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-20100629.html) .
2.           Guidelines in  the form of Frequently Asked Questions: 
_www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/dcl-ebook-faq-201105.html_ 
(http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/dcl-ebook-faq-201105.html) .
3.           May 26, 2011  second US DOE Dear Colleague letter stating that 
the same legal  obligations apply to elementary and secondary schools:
_www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201105-ese.html_ 
(http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201105-ese.html) 
 




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